by A. Lansing
The story of Ernest Shackleton's incredible (and disastrous) voyage to the south pole. There have been other books on the subject, but this one is supposed to be the definitive work- and after having read it, I couldn't imagine a more gripping account. It's the story of Shackleton's planned crossing of the antarctic continent- how it all started, and the six distinct phases of the disaster. Disaster because the mission hardly got underway before it started going south.
Shackleton decided that since England had been beaten in the race to the pole (Scott's antarctic disaster), the next best thing would be a crossing of the continent. The mission was well planned by Shackleton- he acquired the right ship, hired the right crew, accumulated the right equipment (unlike Scott), and put in place a plan to succeed. He would land on one side of the continent, start out with about half of the supplies needed, while another team would land on the other side, and leave supplies in place for the final half of the journey across the continent. But even the best planning is no match for the unbeatable team of bad luck, and the unknown. Both were put in play against Shackleton's team to ensure failure, and promise death to all.
The first phase was the start of the voyage, starting in South Georgia Island, and ending just 30 miles from their planned destination on the coast of the Antarctic continent at Vahsel Bay, where their ship, the Endurance, was captured by ice floes on all sides.
The second phase was a several month journey north, as the currents carried the ice floes and the ship through the winter months, ending in the crushing of the ship by vicious pack ice. The third phase was living on the ice floes in tents, living off seal meat for many months, until the pack ice started breaking up.
The fourth phase was the 8-day journey, by 28 men in 3 open boats, from the middle of the Weddell Sea to the desolate mass of glaciers known as Elephant Island.
The fifth phase was the incredible 7-day journey from Elephant Is. to South Georgia Island, by 6 men in an open boat, during which even the slightest error in navigation and seamanship would have doomed them all.
The sixth phase of the journey was a 3-day hike by 3 men with almost no equipment, over mountains and glaciers, from the south shore of South Georgia Island to the north shore, and finally, civilization.
Fyi- Shackleton managed to save every man on the expedition- those left behind on the south shore of South Georgia, and those left behind on Elephant Island. For the enterprise, I have one word: incredible. For the book: captivating. An excellent narrative by Lansing- I literally could not put this book down. Now, I absolutely must see the HBO mini-series...
No comments:
Post a Comment