Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

The first half of the book is very interesting and well written. THe second half is thrilling through and through. It seems to have been written more for men; there are some politically incorrect and crude but realistic descriptions, really only a handful. The writing is excellent! Two thumbs up!

In Albanov's epic "In the Land of White Death" the root cause of disaster is also less-than-brilliant planning, although Shackleton seems to have had more foresight than Albanov's captain. The disasters are indeed somewhat parallel. Both ships became imprisoned in ice...

When the Endurance steamed south into the splitting ice pack of the Weddel Sea in the summer of 1914, she carried aboard the renowned British explorer Earnest Shackleton. The Endurance was specially designed and massively constructed by one of the world's finest shipyards, staffed with scientists and qualified volunteers and outfitted with meticulously tested equipment. Shackleton himself was an experienced polar veteran who had once come within a day's march of being the first to reach the south pole. But in spite of careful planning, the Endurance was doomed, and this expedition would be Shackleton's last Antarctic voyage. Unexpected cold weather froze the ship solidly into the ice, and 7 months later, the mounting pressure of millions of tons of ice crushed the three-foot wooden hull. The Endurance sank into the black water, and left the 30 exhausted men marooned on the treacherous melting ice flows of the storm-churned antarctic sea. For six months the poorly-equipped castaways would struggle under inconceivable hardship until the drifting ice broke up enough for Shackleton to lead his expedition in three open lifeboats through freezing open water to a lifeless bit of rock called Elephant Island. With 5 companions aboard the remaining battered lifeboat, Shackleton left his crew and stuck out across the open ocean in a desperate attempt to reach a remote whaling station to obtain help. His faithful men would remain behind to weather the winter storms sleeping under the upended wreckage of a lifeboat -- their lives dangling by the frail promise that he would someday return. Alfred Lancing is an experienced journalist whose detailed research combines with direct and perfectly-paced prose and a handful of the expedition's original photographs. It is a tale of leadership, unflagging courage, and determination in the face of impossible odds. But maybe the real definition of heroism is to be undaunted by the impossible. After sixteen days covering 900 miles of water in an amazing feat of open boat navigation, Shackleton struck land at South Georgia Island -- and after a three-day sleepless march over the 10,000 foot mountains in the huge island's interior, Shackleton and his remaining companions finally stumbled into a remote whaling outpost. And 450 days after being shipwrecked, after 5 attempts in three different ships, Shackleton managed to return to Elephant island to rescue his 22 remaining crew members in a tugboat borrowed from the Chilean government -- finally delivering all 29 of his men without the loss of a single life -- and making Endurance one of the most inspiring stories of human survival every written.

--Auralgo

The author has clearly been rigorous in piecing together diary extracts and interview notes to put together this account of an adventure, or perhaps ordeal, which required of its survivors a degree of courage, composure and determination that cannot fail to humble yet uplift and inspire the reader. The style of narrative is rather matter-of-fact, rather than dramatic, and its coverage is limited to the expedition itself without dwelling much on the lives of the key players before or after.

Alfred Lansing's book, Endurance, dramatically details the 1914 expedition to the Antarctic led by Sir Ernest Shackleton. Although a non-fiction book, Lansing manages to make it read like a thriller, adventure. He wrote his story using first person accounts, interviews of survivors, journal entries, etc. While sometimes history can be a bit dry, this novel truly makes you feel a part of the adventure and reads very quickly. Ernest Shackleton's leadership abilities ensure not only the survival of the crew, but demonstrate his character as a man. Crew and officers were treated alike and shared in the duties of survival. Order was maintained and his personality and command of the situation enabled the group to survive what could have been a disaster.