
Stark images of Shackleton's struggle - yitchelle
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34856379
======
cellover
These images are amazing.

If you are interested in the subject I highly recommand the documentary about
the whole survival trip:

The Endurance (2000) -
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264578/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264578/)

~~~
s_dev
[http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/127493/The_Endurance...](http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/127493/The_Endurance_Full_Documentary/)

Very worth watching. I loved the way Shackleton changed his objective from
getting to the South Pole to getting his men back home alive. A fitting name
for the expedition.

And the trio of Worsley, Crean and Shackleton heading off on their own to a
row boat to cross the Southern Antarctic Ocean to get help is simply legendary
and worth retelling throughout history.

~~~
arethuza
_“For scientific discovery give me Scott; for speed and efficiency of travel
give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on
your knees and pray for Shackleton.”_

Sir Raymond Priestly, Antarctic Explorer and Geologist.

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grecy
For anyone interested in Arctic Exploration, I highly recommend the book "The
Worst Journey in the World" by Apsley Cherry-Garrard [1]

It tells the story of Scott's 1910-1913 attempt to become the first to the
South Pole.

I can honestly say this is the most extreme expedition I've ever read about.
Simply mind blowing.

[1]
[http://www.amazon.com/dp/1619491877/?tag=roadchoseme-20](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1619491877/?tag=roadchoseme-20)

~~~
wycx
In addition, I suggest "In the Kingdom of Ice" by Hampton Sides, about a US
expedition to the Arctic in the late 1870s. Those guys had really, really bad
luck.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Kingdom_of_Ice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Kingdom_of_Ice)

I just finished and recommend Anthony Brandt's "The Man Who Ate His Boots"
which is good summary of Northwest Passage expeditions up to Franklin and the
subsequent searches for Franklin.

~~~
arethuza
Fergus Fleming's _" Barrow's Boys: A Stirring Story of Daring, Fortitude, and
Outright Lunacy"_ is a highly entertaining account of some of the crazier 19th
century British expeditions.

NB One of the members of the Franklin expedition is buried not far from where
I live in Edinburgh.

Edit: [http://edinburghwalks.com/2014/11/30/heroism-cannibalism-
and...](http://edinburghwalks.com/2014/11/30/heroism-cannibalism-and-the-
north-west-passage/)

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scottshea
I love that someone stowed away on the ship. Worst luck of 1915.

~~~
thrownaway2424
Millions of people killed in WWI would probably rather have been floating
around with Shackleton.

~~~
justinator
Shackleton's crew, once rescued sailed back to England and were enlisted in
WWI.

Most of them then lost their lives.

~~~
MaximillianII
Nope, "only" 2 of them did: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-
Antarctic_Exped...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-
Antarctic_Expedition#Return_to_civilization)

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timonoko
No expert, but strikingly clueless this guy was. Compared to Amundsen and
Nansen. Those canvas clothes may be good for hiking in Scotland, but Amundsen
was using proven arctic technology: double layered Reindeer clothes. Worst
part was of course that Shackleton refused to eat his dead horses, which he
had plenty. When I was kid in Helsinki in 1950s, we mostly ate horse meat,
because it was very cheap.

~~~
s_dev
The man brought home all his men alive under extreme circumstances and faced
impossible odds, an achievement that suggested he did have priorities in
extremely good order and some wits about him. I think he was far from a
clueless fool, it's just you're judging him with hindsight - we can all see
there were mistakes and such a journey mistakes were inevitable but mistakes
alone don't make a fool nor someone clueless.

~~~
timonoko
Ok. I also now noticed what sucky boots they had. When I was in the Finnish
army, we always ordered them boots 3 sizes too big, so we could fill the
emptiness with toe-rags. Sami guys were using special grass "Kenkäheinä"
instead, which was better. but could not humble myself to such heathen
practice. Hence can I totally sympathize with Schackleton. Amundsen humbled
himself and lived years with Sami and Eskimos just to catch some essential
clues.

Correction: One guy was wiser, he had genuine "Pieksut"-boots on. They are
little bit better than Schackleton's Royal Riding boots.
[https://www.google.fi/search?q=pieksut](https://www.google.fi/search?q=pieksut)

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dougb
I love the ad he placed in the paper, it was perfect. "Men wanted for
hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness.
Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of succes"

~~~
jpatokal
Except that he most likely didn't: [http://www.antarctic-
circle.org/advert.htm](http://www.antarctic-circle.org/advert.htm)

~~~
DanBC
I'm interested to know whether this is a collective false memory, like
Berenstein Bears, or if it's true and misattributed.

That web page starts when a bunch of stuff wasn't available in digital form
(people speak about scanning microfiche) so maybe they're all just looking in
the wrong places.

There's probably some distributed historian project waiting to happen - OCRing
and proof-reading all the ads in all the newspapers, and then mining that
data.

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ucaetano
Also interesting is Herley's usage of photo manipulation to "depict" some
scenes: [http://www.sebcoulthard.com/hurleys-
tinkering.html](http://www.sebcoulthard.com/hurleys-tinkering.html)

