Description

pp. 380, appendix, index, black and white photographs and illustrations throughout. “In 1914, while thousands of young men were shedding their blood on the battlefields of Europe, a drama of an entirely different order was being played out on the other side of the world. Following on the heels of Captain Robert F. Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole, Captain Ernest Shackleton put out on the vessel HMS Endurance with a hand picked crew on a voyage to Antarctica. Ten years earlier he had made his first journey to the frozen continent serving under Scott’s command and then returned in 1909 leading an expedition to within one hundred miles of the pole. The significant scientific and geographical discoveries of this expedition won him a knighthood. Now he was determined to return once again this time to traverse the continent, a journey of over 2,000 miles. ‘South’ is Shackleton’s own account of this epic endeavor. In keeping with the landscape against which it unfolds, it is a story of extremes: ravishing beauty and almost insupportable bleakness, seperate solitude and the bonds of human loyalty and courage, unimaginable hardships and heroism. Shakleton’s greatest gift was his ability to sustain the morale of his men: ‘Not a life lost, and we have been through hell,’ he was later to remark. Following the loss of the Endurance to the ice, Shakleton encamped the bulk of his party on Elephant’s Island and then with a handful of companions traveled a distance of 800 miles through wild, uncharted seas and the unknown interior of South George Island to reach safety. There he outfitted a ship to return to rescue the men left behind. Shakleton’s courage and leadership continue to serve as an important example. Interest in the explorer has never been higher with new books on his life, museum exhibitions, and a soon to be released major motion picture on the epic voyage of the Endurance. This new edition of his classic work includes 24 of the original expedition photographs.”