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The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander.

"I doubt Shackleton ever realized how appropriately his ship was named. What he and his men endured is unimaginable and yet, he faces it with an unflappable, determined, rigid determination and loyalty to his crew. It is an amazing story of strength, survival and what people are capable of when their lives depend on one another."

4 Stars

Pros: An incredible story of survival and literally, endurance. It was an aptly named ship for everything that occurred/The photographs were hauntingly beautiful 

Cons: There were a lot of people on the ship who the author wanted to remember but in the end, they all ended up kind of blurring together. 

Full Review: 

Sir Ernest Shackleton had already cemented his fame as a polar explorer. But he wanted more. So he managed to cobble together a team and get a ship, aptly named the Endurance and set sail to do what no man had yet done. He wanted to sail to Antarctica and more or less, map the continent. Considering the ship sailed in 1914 and things such as a water proofing etc, didn't exist, it's incredible that none of the men were really seriously injured from the outset. 

They set sail with a full boat, filled to the brim with Scientists, Officers, Sailors and Dogs. Their plan was to dock the ship at the most convenient place and then start the long march across the continent. But it didn't work out that way. The Endurance made good headway against the pack ice for awhile, breaking through it like any good old wooden boat could do. But after awhile, the ice became too thick and she was stuck. The men spent most of their time doing menial tasks about the ship, waiting for the weather to warm up and the pack ice to break. 

Only that never happened. 

The pack ice that The Endurance was caught in quite literally, tore the ship apart. Shackleton knew it was coming and though he was determined to not let his men know how extreme their situation was, he had them prepared. They evacuated and set up camp on the ice floe, watching as The Endurance slowly sank into the arctic waters. 

After the ship sank, that's when the real trials began. 

Shackleton and all his crew were stuck, hundreds of miles from the nearest populated area and they were dealing with temperatures that averaged only a little over single digits every day. So after securing as much as they could from the Endurance, before she sank, he ordered the men to march across the ice, pulling the three life boats behind them. Food was obsessively rationed, and once they finally made it to land, a small, isolated beach known as Elephant Island, Shackleton knew what he had to do next. He chose six of his men to set sail on the open water in a the largest lifeboat they had and set out to St. George's island, the only place he knew to be inhabited. It was a good 800 miles over rough, choppy, churning ocean and he knew that it was suicide to even risk such a thing, but he also knew that if he didn't find help, he and his men would all die. 

This was an intense, deeply moving, amazing story of one man's utmost loyalty to his crew and his stubborn, unwavering belief that no one in his crew would be left behind. Shackleton and all his men showed the true meaning of the word endurance. Though his trans-Antarctic expedition failed, Shackleton himself survived and his story, as well as the others, was an awe inspiring, gut wrenching feat of perseverance and strength. And the photographs by Hurley just added to the ethereal beauty and stark wonder of Antarctica and the Endurance's tragic tale. 

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