The harrowing tale of British explorer Ernest Shackleton's 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole, one of the greatest adventure stories of the modern age. The entire complement of 28 men safely reached Elephant Island, just off the tip of the Palmer peninsula, after one week. Even Frank Hurley's exquisite photographs which illustrate the book now engender a slight feeling of déjà vu--not least because they have already been better reproduced in a single volume published by Bloomsbury. The entire crew with 50 dogs left the doomed vessel, camping on ice and using small boats to attempt to reach the nearest island. It has to be born in mind the time that Shackleton’s voyage took place (starting out in 1915) and the enormity and ambition of that endeavour.

Through this exceptional leadership, he was able to keep spirits high which gave his crew courage and fortitude.

They teetered on the verge of starvation and freezing to death, lived and slept in the most miserably wet, frozen conditions, with little protection from blizzards and gale-force winds.

Considering how bad their situation was to begin with, this may be hard to believe, but seriously, they go from months of unending misery on the ice to living in conditions that make their ice camp seem relatively comfortable in retrospect. They mostly stuck to the facts of the expedition, but it takes nearly an hour before they get to Antarctica.Holy persevering manliness Batman, I was wincing, shuddering and cringing just reading about this ordeal from the creaturey comfort of my toasty, warm bed while maintaining a glass of wine within reaching distance.

He was, above all, an explorer in the classic mold—utterly self-reliant, romantic, and just a little swashbuckling. Pero, amigos lectores, cualquier artículo que se lea sobre esta aventura palidece ante este libro que la cuenta como una novela basada en los diarios de los protagonistas. It's been pieced together from first hand accounts handed down through interviews with members of the crew and from diary entries (some of the crew kept diaries throughout the ordeal). This didn't go well and finally, after many hardships, it was up to Shackleton to attempt the rescue of 22 of his men stranded on a barren island locked in by ice. The heart of this journey was Ernest Shackleton himself, a man who led quietly and competently and never despaired; a man who showed great care and concern for his men and made tough decisions without looking backward; and a man who never gave up his faith or tenacity in the face of unbelievable odds.In a very real sense he needed it—something so enormous, so demanding, that it provided a touchstone for his monstrous ego and implacable drive. I may not shy away from gleefully pushing back the critics who love to harp on my woefully wrong opinion on their favorite books, but the prospect of challenging half of Goodreads to a fight is a bit intimidating. I may have sounded less than adulatory of Shackleton, but I'm aware of the mesmerizing lure of Antarctica. The story tells of the amazing, nut-shrinking, bowel-tightening, faith-testing, life-affirming expedition of Ernest Shackleton and his crew of 27 as they were stranded while trying to make the first trans-antarctic crossing in 1914. What follows is a harrowing story of survival spanning several months, that nevertheless sees Shackleton lead his men back to civilization alive against all odds.