1-Page Summary

Endurance tells the story of British explorer Ernest Shackleton and his 27 men who in 1914 set out to cross Antarctica on foot but ended up achieving a feat of survival even more impressive when their ship became trapped between massive ice floes. After nine months aboard a ship that couldn’t move, they abandoned it and their original mission and began an 11-month journey through ice and open ocean to South Georgia Island and rescue.

Alfred Lansing, a US journalist who had served in the Navy, wrote the definitive account of the nearly two-year journey 45 years later. To construct the narrative, he relied on the diaries most of the men aboard the Endurance kept, and he interviewed every member of the crew who was still alive at that time.

Lansing’s desire to write the book came from his own experience in the Navy and from a book he read during his time there about an American ship during World War I. Years later, he encountered a biography of Shackleton, and it fueled his interest—even obsession—with the story. He became friends with Shackleton’s biographers and traveled to meet some of the survivors of the Endurance expedition. Those visits, correspondence with survivors, and his reading of their diaries informed the book.

This guide recounts their journey home against impossible odds, adds context on the Antarctic environment and history, and provides diary excerpts that Lansing didn’t include to help complete the picture of the key moments. We’ll also examine Shackleton’s successes and failures and what modern-day leaders can learn from him.

What Shackleton and Lansing Have in Common

Shackleton and Lansing have much in common besides their background in the Navy. Both are famous for a single—albeit significant—accomplishment: Shackleton for bringing his crew back to safety in impossible conditions, Lansing for writing the definitive account of what happened in that expedition. He didn’t write any other books or achieve much recognition as a journalist.

Also, in the same way that Shackleton’s reputation as a leader was short-lived in his time (his feat was overshadowed by World War I and his financial troubles), Lansing received two awards, but few people actually read his book during his time (it was overshadowed by books about World War II and the Cold War). Both finally became household names when Endurance was republished in the eighties, and a new audience could appreciate Shackleton’s feat and Lansing’s account of it.

Background of the Expedition

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition was Shackleton’s third journey to the South Pole. The expedition was intended to be the first to cross the entire Antarctic continent by foot, and it was an opportunity for the British Empire to leave a lasting legacy in the exploration of Antarctica.

(Shortform note: Before the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, the most important British achievement in the exploration of the Antarctic was the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-04, which didn’t reach the South Pole but got farther south than any exploration before it. Famed explorer Robert Scott led the expedition and Shackleton participated as the third lieutenant.)

The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration

The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration refers to the period between 1898 and 1922. Although Lansing doesn’t use the term, he cites events during that time that inspired Shackleton to pursue his expedition.

The British had conducted several expeditions to Antarctica but had few noteworthy accomplishments. In 1912, a Norwegian explorer was the first to reach the South Pole, beating British explorer Robert Scott, who died racing against the Norwegian. After 1912, Ernest Shackleton believed the only remarkable journey left was to cross the entire continent on foot, rather than stopping half way at the South Pole, and he believed the British empire had to accomplish it.

The Race to the South Pole

The Polar Race between Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and British explorer Robert Scott was actually never a race at all. Scott set out to be the first to reach the South Pole, but Amundsen originally planned to go to the North Pole. When his expedition was ready to leave Norway, he heard that an American explorer had just been the first to reach the North Pole, so he quickly changed his plans.

Amundsen reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911, and returned to Europe with mild weather (by polar standards). Scott reached Antarctica in early January, 1912. The ship and most of the crew stayed at the shore, while he led a team of five men to the Pole. They reached it on January 17, 1912, but became stranded by a blizzard as they returned to the ship. Scott and the five men joining him died of scurvy as they tried to find the rest of their crew that waited at their ship.

Shackleton’s Background

Lansing recounts that Shackleton had already been to Antarctica twice, but he felt that this third expedition would secure his place as a great explorer.

His previous expeditions to the South Pole had contributed to his reputation as an explorer. First, he was part of another explorer’s crew that managed to get deeper into the continent than anyone had before. His second expedition to the Pole was his own, and it established his leadership in emergencies. He got within 100 miles of the Pole but turned back because of a food shortage. He managed to get his crew back to safety, and he came back to the United Kingdom as a hero.

(Shortform note: Shackleton’s seafaring career began at an early age. Although his father, a doctor, wanted him to study medicine, Shackleton didn’t have scholarly inclinations and instead enrolled in the Merchant Navy at age 16. He quickly moved up the ranks, and by age 24 he could command any British ship in the world. Just two years later, in 1900, he was the third lieutenant on his first expedition to Antarctica, the British National Antarctic Expedition.)

The Goal of the Expedition

As Shackleton’s idea began to take shape in early 1914, some said it was too ambitious, but Lansing argues that it was in line with his style and self-confidence. His plan involved taking two ships: one with food stores that it would leave at outposts along the continent’s edge, and the other with a crew that would land on Antarctica’s northern tip and walk to the opposite end of the continent. This crew would take sledges and dogs and rely on the food stores left by the other ship’s crew.

(Shortform note: A factor that made Shackleton’s plan particularly ambitious was that, until that point, only 10 people had ever made it to the South Pole—and of those, five died making their way back. No one, of course, had traversed it.)

Preparations for the Expedition

Lansing recounts how, with the help of private investors, Shackleton bought the two ships he needed for the expedition: the Aurora for the crew supplying food and the Endurance for the transcontinental crew. The Endurance (previously named Polaris) was built in Norway by polar shipbuilding experts. The name “Endurance” came from Shackleton’s family motto: “By endurance we conquer.”

The Lesser Known Story of the Aurora

Although Shackleton demonstrated great leadership in guiding the Endurance crew to safety, he was less capable as a project leader, which came at a tragic cost to the Aurora crew. The preparation for the entire expedition was rushed and haphazard, and although the Endurance was well-equipped for the journey, the Aurora had to procure its supplies and gear on its own. In addition, the Aurora crew included seamen with little experience, unlike those aboard the Endurance. To make matters worse, Shackleton didn’t let the Aurora crew know that the Endurance was late in setting out, so the Aurora team rushed to complete its assignment. If Shackleton had communicated with the Aurora crew, it might have prevented a tragedy.

The crew rushed to leave food stores for the men who were supposed to cross the continent. However, while venturing into Antarctica to leave a food store, 10 men with no gear or food supplies for themselves couldn’t get back to the ship. The Aurora was unable to get to them, and they were stranded for 198 days while they awaited rescue. During that time, three died and one became disabled, all of it for nothing since Shackleton’s transcontinental crew never even set foot on Antarctica.

Securing Support

Over two years, Shackleton rallied support from the government, private investors, and scientists. He appealed to the ego of the British empire to solicit funds. Although he didn’t have any scientific interests of his own, he allowed several researchers to join his crew to secure support from the scientific societies that had to vouch for his expedition. To secure further funding, he sold the rights to motion pictures and photographs that would be taken during the journey, and he promised to write a book and give lectures when he returned.

(Shortform note: Financing an expedition to Antarctica was a feat in itself. Shackleton was not wealthy, and the support he received from the government and scientific societies was not enough to fund the enterprise. He was creative in his pursuit of funding, and bet heavily on himself (such as promising to write a book when he returned, being sure that he would, indeed, return), his charisma, and his confidence in the role of the British empire in the exploration of Antarctica. He used both to convince private investors to lend him most of the money needed for the expedition. In return, he named landmarks and the three lifeboats after each of the expedition’s sponsors.)

Recruiting the Crew

Shackleton handpicked each member of his crew from the more than 5,000 people who responded to his call for volunteers. He chose for his core team five men who were experienced in Antarctic exploration and who had already worked for him or alongside him on other expeditions. He chose the other 21 men quickly, interviewing each for fewer than five minutes and following his instincts based on those first impressions. For example, he hired a meteorologist even though the man lacked the necessary training, because Shackleton liked his looks and the fact that he had just returned from a trip to Sudan. The man quickly took a course in meteorology after getting the job and turned out to be gifted at the job.

(Shortform note: Although Shackleton’s approach to interviews worked well for him, experts warn not to rely too much on first impressions and gut feelings when screening candidates, as those can be misleading. Instead, you should ask questions that uncover behaviors you’re looking for, such as learning from failures and resolving conflicts, and pay attention to nonverbal cues that candidates have less control over, such as making eye contact when listening.)

Kicking Off the Expedition

The Endurance set out from London on August 1, 1914. (Three days after the Endurance sailed from London, Great Britain declared war on Germany in what would become known as World War I.) The Endurance made the trip across the Atlantic without Shackleton because he had stayed behind to deal with financial matters. The entire crew met in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and this is where their adventure began. (Shortform note: Lansing cites August 1, but other sources record the date of departure as August 8. However, they don’t mention that Shackleton had stayed behind in London while the Endurance crossed the Atlantic.)

image1.png

Map of the routes of the ships Endurance and Aurora, the support team route, and the planned trans-Antarctic route of the British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton in 1914–15.

Sailing From Buenos Aires to South Georgia Island

The Endurance sailed from Buenos Aires on October 26 and arrived at South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic Ocean on November 5. The whalers on South Georgia warned Shackleton that the ice conditions were worse than ever and suggested they wait until conditions improved before beginning their journey. Shackleton decided to stay for a while and took the opportunity to learn from the locals about the environment they would be venturing into. Lansing argues that what Shackleton learned about the behavior of the ice packs and wind allowed him to plan his next moves.

(Shortform note: The month Shackleton and his crew spent on South Georgia was useful for several reasons. It helped them learn about the ice and wait for the waters to become more navigable, which was important since the South Atlantic is famously stormy because of the temperature contrast between the warm open sea and icy Antarctica. The month spent on the island also allowed them to build bonds with the whalers who lived on South Georgia, whose help they would need two years later.)

Sailing Toward Vahsel Bay

The Endurance set sail toward Vahsel Bay on the Antarctic coast on December 4. On December 7, they encountered their first ice. Lansing describes how it took them 12 hours to safely go around their first floe (a sheet of floating ice) and two weeks to get through the larger ice pack, slowing their progress significantly. January brought younger ice that was easier to pass through, and they could run at full speed. On January 12, 1915, they were less than 200 miles from Vahsel Bay, where they planned to land the team that would cross Antarctica.

(Shortform note: The ice packs that accumulate around the continent of Antarctica cause it to double in size each year as it approaches winter. The ice packs that form can be anywhere from a few millimeters to 13 feet thick, depending on how long they’ve assembled and how low the temperatures have dropped.)

Dealing With the First Problems

On January 16, the Endurance became trapped between ice floes. For two days, they couldn’t move because of a powerful gale. However, the gale moved the ice and on January 18, they passed through the floes. But in the afternoon of the same day, they found themselves trapped again, this time by a soft, snow-like pack. They could see the open ocean on the other side, so they tried to get through but again ended up trapped between two ice floes.

Over the next six days, the gale packed ice all around the Endurance. A powerful wind from the north had moved the packs in the direction of the continent. The only way out for the Endurance was an equally powerful gale from the south.

Lansing makes clear that there was no possibility of rescue for the crew. They had no radio transmitters to ask for help, and even if they managed to contact someone, there was no means of transportation that could reach them and get them to safety.

(Shortform note: The weather and ice make sailing on the poles more challenging than sailing anywhere else on the globe. First, the clash of temperatures results in extreme weather with powerful winds and sudden storms. Second, the ice floes are not always visible until a ship or boat is right next to them—or has already crashed into them. The floes are partially covered by water, and often only small pieces are visible. So a ship’s crew might think they have an open ocean ahead only to find themselves trapped by ice.)

Giving Up on the Mission

On February 24, Shackleton told his crew they would have to spend the winter trapped between the ice floes, an acknowledgment that they wouldn’t achieve their goal of traversing the continent. Lansing recounts how Shackleton expressed regret in his diary for not getting the transcontinental party on land sooner.

They couldn’t get to Vahsel Bay any longer, even though they were only about 60 miles away. But even if Shackleton led the transcontinental party across the ice pack to Vahsel Bay along with the necessary food stores, gear, and dogs, he couldn’t leave the Endurance and the rest of his crew at the mercy of the ice. He hid his disappointment from most of his crew and led the process of getting the ship ready for the polar night in an upbeat spirit.

(Shortform note: Shackleton trusted a few crew members enough to confide in them his true feelings and concerns. One of the men wrote in his diary that Shackleton was optimistic and calm when making the announcement to the crew. However, another crew member wrote that Shackleton had confessed to him his worry. Shackleton knew that the ship wouldn’t last long trapped in the ice because “what the ice gets, the ice keeps.”)

Living Through the Polar Night

The polar night began as the sun disappeared in early May. Lansing describes how, from the time they had gotten stuck until the beginning of the polar night, the ice pack trapping the Endurance grew to about one million square miles, and it drifted about 130 miles from its original location. (Shortform note: The Antarctic polar night refers to the months-long period when the South Pole is completely hidden from the sun and as a result gets no sunlight. It has negative effects on humans, such as vitamin D deficiency and seasonal affective disorder.)

Keeping Good Spirits

The polar night can drive men mad, writes Lansing, but the crew on the Endurance kept their spirits high. The past few months had brought them closer together, and they had a genuine liking for each other. They played pranks on each other, played dice, raced with the dogs, toasted their “wives and sweethearts” every Saturday night, and listened to music together every Sunday. The crew’s photographer also presented monthly slide shows. On June 22, they celebrated midwinter with a variety show in which several of the men assumed funny personas and sang.

(Shortform note: The men’s positive outlook contributed to their well-being and cooperation, and it was also a source of strength for Shackleton himself. He wrote that, even though his responsibility weighed heavily on him, the men’s overall positive attitude encouraged him. In particular, he was grateful to them for not expressing uncertainty and for carrying out his orders with every expectation that his decisions would work out well for all.)

Surviving the Ice Pack’s Pressure

On July 16, they saw that the ice pack had fragmented. The individual floes on the pack moved with the wind, creating pressure on the floe surrounding the Endurance and on the ship itself. Around them, ice floes crashed into each other continuously, lifting into the air. Throughout August of 1915, the Endurance withstood the ice, and Lansing believes this gave the men confidence that the Endurance could survive anything.

(Shortform note: The polar ice packs consist of pieces of ice that freeze together at different points in time, called ice cakes (less than 66 feet in diameter) or ice floes (larger than 66 feet). The pieces of ice drift together or separate, driven by the current and wind (often in Antarctica the wind and current don’t go in the same direction). The ice pack’s pressure refers to the force each individual piece exerts on neighboring pieces, creating pressure ridges (small mountain ranges of ice) or fragments, depending on the conditions of the ice.)

Abandoning the Endurance

Despite the men’s optimism, the ice pack struck the ship with increasing intensity several times, tearing its sides. Finally, on October 23, the Endurance became trapped by three ice floes that split it in half. Lansing recounts how the crew tried for three days to save the ship.

On the second day, the side of the ship was completely deformed by the ice. Shackleton ordered the men to lower all the essential items onto a nearby floe. On day three, more water reached the deck and froze there, weighing the ship down.

On October 27, 1915, nine months after the ship got stuck in the ice, they realized it was a losing battle and decided to leave the ship. They took 49 huskies, essential gear, and two lifeboats down to the ice. They set up camp on a floe, but they quickly had to move again when it started breaking up. Lansing describes how, less than an hour after the last man had gotten off the ship, a piece of ice pierced the side of the Endurance, and the water coming in caused it to partly submerge.

They were now in the Weddell Sea, halfway between the South Pole and the nearest populated town 1,200 miles away. Shackleton planned to get to Paulet Island, which was 346 miles away—in 1903, the crew of another ship crushed by ice had awaited rescue there, and they had left stores of food on the island in case anyone else found themselves stranded in the region.

(Shortform note: In his diary, Shackleton recorded the events of the day they abandoned the ship. He remarked that it was the end of a long period of wondering and anxiety, punctuated by moments of optimism. However, the ship was now irretrievable and they had to begin the task of reaching land with all the members of the crew. Finally, he wrote, “It is hard to write what I feel.”)

Leaving the Ship Area

After getting some rest after several days of fighting the ice, they left the ship on October 30 and headed on foot in the direction of Paulet Island, pulling their lifeboats and supplies. Lansing says that, before leaving, they tied the Union Jack to a still visible part of the ship so that it would go down with its colors flying.

Shackleton urged the men to take only the nearest necessities so they wouldn’t be unnecessarily burdened. The only non-essential items they took were their diaries and a banjo. Also to avoid burdens, Shackleton ordered them to kill some of the animals they had on board: the three youngest dogs, an older dog that wasn’t harness-trained, and the cat.

(Shortform note: Although the Endurance went down, 107 years later, in March 2022, a team of scientists rediscovered it. Despite having been more than 3,000 meters (1.8 miles) underwater for over a century, the ship is well preserved and its name on the stern is intact. One reason the ship is so well preserved is that wood-eating marine life doesn’t live in the coldest sea on the globe. The geographers and archeologists who discovered the Endurance had to battle the same weather conditions as the ship’s last crew—unbearable cold, moving ice packs, and blizzards—but they had the advantage of technology to make their mission a successful one.)

Living on the Ice Floes

After leaving the ship, Shackleton and his crew set up several different camps on ice floes while they waited for better weather conditions to continue their journey. They had to move camps often because their floe cracked or melted, and they eventually abandoned the floes and got on their boats when the ocean drift took them away from the islands they were aiming for. Lansing narrates their moves in detail, as well as the mood changes among the crew during this time.

(Shortform note: The term “ice floe” refers to any piece of ice that is held together. The smallest ice floes are called small ice cakes, and they’re about two meters (6.5 feet) wide. The largest ice floes are called floe giants, and they can be over 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) wide.)

Ocean Camp

Their first ice floe camp was Ocean Camp. Advancing by foot and dragging sledges and boats, they managed to walk only two miles in two days from the place the Endurance had sunk. When the ice became impossible to get through with the sledges and boats, they decided to camp on a massive floe and let the drift take them away from the ice pack surrounding Antarctica.

While they lived at Ocean Camp, they went back to the Endurance several times to retrieve the third lifeboat, food stores, and personal items. Even though the ship was filled with water, some items were still salvageable. But Lansing explains that they stopped the trips back to the ship when a blizzard carried the entire floe north, away from Antarctica.

They made good progress thanks to the drift. The blizzard took them 16 miles in two days, and then the wind changed as summer drew closer and it became stronger. They were confident that they could reach Paulet Island, but they also made several alternate plans in case the wind took them in a different direction.

On November 21, they saw the Endurance disappear entirely below the ice and water—their last connection to civilization and the only thing other than ice as far as the eye could see.

Lessons on Leadership in Times of Crisis

Leadership experts who have studied Shackleton’s story highlight some lessons for leadership in times of crisis that can be learned from the Ocean Camp period:

1. Share vulnerabilities carefully. During this time of uncertainty in which the plan to get to Paulet Island was the first choice, but unlikely to be successful, Shackleton took care to confide his doubts only to his second-in-command and in his diary.

2. Embody confidence. The rest of the crew saw Shackleton walk and talk confidently. When the Endurance sank and the option of going back to the ship to retrieve food was gone, he calmly gathered his crew and simply announced that, now that the ship and food stores were gone, they would have to go home. His optimism and confidence kept the men confident as well.

Managing the Crew

While they lived on the ice floes, Shackleton’s main worry was losing control of the men and therefore the situation. He felt it was his duty to bring them to safety, and he tried to anticipate anything that might interfere with the harmonious cooperation that goal required.

He managed the personalities of the crew members to avoid friction and demoralization. For example, he knew which man needed to feel important, so he consulted him on key decisions. He knew which ones had annoying personalities, so he distributed them between his own tent and the tent of his second-in-command, so they could keep them under control.

Shackleton tried to balance the pressure he felt to keep the men safe with the need to get close to them and show them he wasn’t above sharing the daily chores and suffering the same discomfort. He tried to bond with them, but he was also strict with his orders, especially when they pertained to avoiding unnecessary risks, such as venturing far from camp to go hunting.

(Shortform note: Leadership experts note that Shackleton’s prioritization of team morale and rapport was key to their survival. He created multiple opportunities for bonding, including pulling interesting conversation topics from an encyclopedia he had retrieved from the ship and asking the crew to play the banjo, which he called “mental medicine.” He also made sure that everyone knew they were all equals, and he created chore calendars where anyone, whether they were officers, scientists, or low-ranking sailors, shared the same responsibilities for keeping their living quarters clean and keeping a lookout for changes in the ice and water.)

Leaving Ocean Camp

As they drifted along, camped on top of their ice floe, a powerful wind began blowing them east, away from Paulet Island. The men became demoralized, which was Shackleton’s biggest fear, so he came up with a new plan to keep making progress toward Paulet Island: They would leave Ocean Camp by foot on December 23, after celebrating an early Christmas and eating as much of their food as they could so they’d have less weight to carry.

They trekked for several days but it was painfully slow. They were always wet with snow, boots filled with water, and pulling impossibly heavy loads. At this point, some of the exhausted men became irritable. One of them even refused to continue, arguing that now that they were off the ship he was under no obligation to follow orders. Eventually, he relented and rejoined his mates.

They set up a new camp nine miles from Ocean Camp when the ice became too thin.

(Shortform note: Shackleton’s fear of declining morale led him to lean on his optimism to inspire his crew when they were not making progress and to resort to clever tactics to keep the men’s psychological needs met. For example, celebrating Christmas early and allowing everyone to eat as much as they wanted served the practical purpose of not carrying too much weight, but it also gave the men a chance to focus on a positive event and to feel taken care of.)

Getting Restless

Throughout their stay in the subsequent camps, the men were restless and irritable, and they quietly questioned some of Shackleton’s decisions. For example, they wanted to continue hunting and storing meat in case they were still stranded by the time winter began. However, Shackleton ordered them not to store any more meat. Continuing to store meat would have been an admission that they would have to winter there, which he refused to accept. He was optimistic and believed his men should be as optimistic as he was; he took pessimism as a sign of distrust. Days later, Shackleton ordered most of the dogs killed so they wouldn’t have to use their own food rations to feed them. Many of the men felt the loss deeply and blamed Shackleton’s lack of food planning for the tragedy.

Killing the dogs didn’t resolve the problem of a diminishing food supply, and hunger increased as their rations declined each day. Some men began to make jokes about cannibalism. They held off on eating the remaining dogs in case they needed them to make a sledge trip back to Ocean Camp to retrieve food stores they had left there. Hunger also made the cold more biting because they had fewer daily calories to warm their bodies. To make matters worse, most meals were cold so as to save the remaining blubber (used as cooking fuel) for emergencies.

In addition, health issues plagued them. One of the men collapsed from hunger after a hunting trip. They all suffered from constipation because they mostly ate seal meat, and from chafing because they didn’t have toilet paper and had to make do with snow. They also began developing sores on their faces from the wind and ice.

(Shortform note: Shackleton resented the men who openly questioned him or refused to follow his orders. When the entire crew made it back to Great Britain safely, the government offered Shackleton Polar Medals for himself and the 27 men who accompanied him. However, he refused to award medals to four of the men, and research indicates that it was due to his frustration with the lack of loyalty he perceived from their questioning of his decisions.)

The Floes Become Unsafe

The drift and ocean swell (a series of surface waves) made reaching Paulet Island impossible. The drift drove their floe straight north, but the island was northwest. Then, the ocean swell caused their floe to crack several times, requiring them to move their camp to an ever-shrinking chunk of the floe. Nevertheless, their floe was the largest piece of ice anywhere near them.

Since a trip to Ocean Camp for food was impossible after the breakup of their floe, they killed and butchered all the dogs and puppies for meat. Some of the men were upset but knew it was necessary. They enjoyed the dog meat for a change after months of eating seals and penguins.

The wind kept changing and moving them too far east, away from the islands and any known land. They also had no guarantee that their floe wouldn’t crack and drown them, so on April 9, 1916, Shackleton ordered everyone into the boats, and they left their last floe to row toward land.

Strategic Decision-Making Is a Key Leadership Skill

One of Shackleton’s greatest leadership strengths was the ability to pivot to new plans and tactics quickly and often to keep making progress toward his goal: bringing all of his men back home alive. Whether it was leaving the ship, trekking through the ice, setting up camp, or getting on the boats, his actions were all aimed at achieving the ultimate goal. His men knew this, too, which allowed him to make decisions with the confidence that they would trust him and follow his lead.

Leadership experts argue that his flexibility in terms of plans and tactics reflects an understanding of “strategy as strategic decision-making,” which sees the ability to make strategic decisions as the key capacity of successful organizations. In the business world, it refers to companies making the right decisions quickly to adapt and survive in high-velocity markets which, much like the Antarctic environment, are unpredictable and change daily.

Rowing Through the Ice and Open Ocean

On April 9, over five months after abandoning the ship, they boarded their lifeboats and began rowing toward land. They rowed away from the pack and into the open ocean, battling the floes crashing into them along the way. They rowed all day and when it got dark, the three boats huddled, and they looked for a floe to camp on for the night. The first night, the floe they slept on cracked, and Lansing says one of the men fell into the water, trapped inside his sleeping bag, but Shackleton managed to pull him up. They decided camping on floes was no longer safe.

(Shortform note: Their boats had oars and sails, and they chose which to use depending on the weather conditions. Since the wind was often not in their favor, they couldn’t rely on their sails and had to row through most of the journey. However, rowing was no guarantee of progress. The current overpowered them often, especially since they were cold, thirsty, and had little to eat, and rowing with all their force just barely made progress in the direction of land. To make matters worse, their oars were covered with thin layers of ice, making them even harder to grip.)

Camping on an Iceberg

After some time, the open ocean became too dangerous for their small boats, so Shackleton decided to camp on an iceberg, the only body large enough to hold all of them. They climbed up and pulled the boats up vertically. Lansing recounts how, in the process of pulling up the boats, one of the men fell into the water, and others who were still below rescued him.

The next morning, they realized a gale had packed the floes surrounding the iceberg tightly. Their boats wouldn’t make it through the ice without being crushed and the iceberg was falling apart with each crash of the neighboring floes. Shackleton spent his time stationed on the highest point, looking to the horizon and calculating when it would be safe to board the boats.

Thankfully, after they had spent a day on top of the crumbling iceberg, a freak current developed, moving in the opposite direction from the wind, clearing the ice on one side of the iceberg, and opening a way to the open sea. They scrambled to the boats and sailed as the current took them. To take advantage of the current, Shackleton decided to aim for King George Island.

On the morning of April 12, they realized the wind had moved them farther from land than they had been when they left their last camp on the floes. Shackleton changed their target from King George Island to Hope Bay.

(Shortform note: The difference between icebergs and ice floes, at first sight, is that floes are flat and bergs are tall and jagged. However, the key difference is not immediately obvious: Ice floes are flat because they’re the result of seawater freezing, whereas icebergs are the result of enormous piles of snow that froze before the wind could disperse it.)

Fighting the Water, Wind, Ice, and Snow

The three boats huddled together trying to sail toward land, but they faced the brutality of the ocean and the weather in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea. They couldn’t sail through the night because the smaller boats would get lost, and they had to stop whenever the wind and ice became too treacherous for the boats. Lansing describes how they arranged the boats in a line formation, fastened to each other but kept apart by oars stretched out from the center boat. This way, the stronger boat could help the smaller boats along and they wouldn’t become separated.

They finally made it through the ice pack and into the open ocean, but that was the beginning of some of their worst days. They sailed continuously while the weather allowed them to, but made little progress because the wind was often not in their favor. Every time the wind changed, Shackleton had to change the island they were aiming for.

The wind brought water in continuously and it froze as soon as it reached them. They had to break the ice that formed at the bow of the smaller boat every 30 minutes so it wouldn’t go under. Some of their oars froze and broke, making rowing even more difficult. They had to keep every part of their bodies moving so they wouldn’t freeze. They suffered from diarrhea, seasickness, and hunger. They were so thirsty that they chewed raw seal meat to wet their throats with blood. It began snowing and the men were freezing and unable to sleep. One of the men lost his toes to frostbite.

On the third day at sea, a change in the wind direction made Shackleton change their target once again. Now, they were aiming for Elephant Island.

(Shortform: The hardships Shackleton and his crew faced were characteristic of the Weddell Sea. Although modern-day boats and ships are better prepared to cross the sea today, the harsh weather and ice conditions still make oceanographic exploration difficult. Much of what scientists know about the sea is thanks to modern technology that allows exploration without on-site human supervision. The effects of sailing and rowing under such difficult conditions were significant, and a member of the crew later wrote that during those days “at least half the party were insane.”)

Arriving at Elephant Island

On April 15, 497 days after they were last on firm land and eight days rowing through the ice, they finally reached land: Elephant Island. As they landed, several men collapsed in exhaustion and pain. One had a heart attack, and three were unable to walk. Despite those difficulties, Lansing explains that they were elated to be on land. There was plenty of wildlife on the island, so they could finally hunt and eat fresh food. There was also a glacier where they could collect ice to melt for drinking water.

(Shortform note: The crew could reach Elephant Island thanks to the island’s mountain peaks, which they could spot even in severe weather. The island also looks like an elephant’s head. The island’s name might come from that characteristic shape, or its elephant seal population. Some even claim it comes from the Endurance crew nicknaming it “Hell-of-an-island.”)

Making a Plan for Rescue

After taking time to rest, Shackleton announced on April 20 that he would take five men and the largest boat and sail 800 miles to South Georgia Island to find rescue.

Before leaving, Lansing recounts that Shackleton had long conversations with his second-in-command, who would stay on the island, so the man would know exactly what to do in any situation. Shackleton left a letter in his diary, passing responsibility to him for the camp, the men, and the boats. Shackleton also left a letter in the photographer’s diary, bequeathing him all rights for the photographs taken during their expedition, if Shackleton didn’t survive. (Shortform note: The photographer was the Australian Frank Hurley and his photographs are striking records of their incredible adventure.)

As soon as the weather became milder, they got the biggest boat ready. On April 24, Shackleton and his smaller crew sailed away as the rest gave them three cheers from the shore.

(Shortform note: Shackleton’s second-in-command was Frank Wild, an experienced polar explorer who had joined him in a previous expedition. In Wild’s diary, he wrote that after sending Shackleton off with three cheers, he saw some of the men with tears in their eyes, so he immediately put them all to work. To keep the men busy and entertained, he organized daily hunting expeditions and nightly sing-alongs.)

Waiting for Rescue

The men who stayed on Elephant Island worked hard under Wild’s leadership to make their living situation more comfortable. They built a hut using the boats and set up lights for reading, a place for indoor cooking, and finally a flagstaff on the highest accessible point of the island. They settled into a new routine on the island peppered by daily bickering but no real arguments.

The men spent much time discussing what they would eat if they could choose, and one of them even conducted a poll on the issue, which made it clear there was a general hankering for sweets. (Shortform note: Lansing took care to list the answers each man gave to the poll, including various types of pudding and cream.)

Meanwhile, the two surgeons on the crew took care of the sick men and even performed two surgeries, including amputating the toes of the man who had suffered from severe frostbite.

Every day, they climbed to the highest point of the island to observe the horizon, hoping to see their rescue ship coming. However, Wild convinced them not to expect rescue before August 15.

With that date in mind, they prepared to spend winter on the island. Temperatures began dropping and the sun was now only visible for about six hours a day. As the weather deteriorated, the glacier on the island cracked often, dropping enormous chunks of ice into the water and causing the beach and their hut to flood. They started referring to their hut as a sty because it was always wet, and food remnants as well as penguin guano pooled on the floor; it was impossible to clean up.

August 15 came and went, and there was still no rescue.

(Shortform note: This was not the only time that Frank Wild took over a leadership role from Shackleton. On Shackleton’s last expedition in 1921, Wild was once again second-in-command. When Shackleton tragically died halfway to Antarctica, Wild became the leader of the expedition and completed it. On their way back to Europe, he took the ship near Elephant Island to see the familiar shore where he had led 21 stranded men for four months. Another former member of the Endurance crew was with him, and he later wrote “Once more I see the old faces and hear the old voices—old friends scattered everywhere. But to express all I feel is impossible.”)

Sailing for Rescue

Meanwhile, Shackleton and his crew sailed toward South Georgia Island. On the first night out, Shackleton sent everyone but the boat’s captain to sleep. He stayed up with him, going over his reasons for separating the group and attempting to carry out this unlikely bid for rescue. Lansing believes Shackleton needed reassurance, and the captain offered as much as he could.

(Shortform note: Shackleton knew they were the only chance the 22 men left on Elephant Island had of survival. But he also knew that the odds of making it safely to South Georgia on their little boat were slim. Contemplating the possibility that he might not survive, he said he would “feel like a murderer” if something happened to him and he couldn’t rescue the men he left behind.)

Surviving the Drake Passage

Shackleton and his crew soon found themselves at the Drake Passage (between Cape Horn and Antarctica), the stormiest sea in the world. At the passage, the wind often reaches hurricane intensity, creating waves 90 feet tall.

Sailing through the passage was punishing. Lansing describes how the men were soaked through and cold all the time. Their navigational books, which they relied on to know which way to go, were soaked, too, and the pages began sticking together, making reading them difficult.

A third of the way to South Georgia Island, they faced a gale of 60 miles per hour. Their boat wasn’t capable of withstanding the wind and the waves, so they let down a sea anchor to wait for the wind to pass. Overnight, the boat froze in place. They chopped at the ice with axes to try and free the boat. Meanwhile, icicles had formed inside the cockpit, and the anchor’s chain was frozen stiff. They lit the stove to melt the ice on board the boat and bailed the water out. Finally, after two days, the boat set sail once more.

After several similar encounters with gale-force winds, they realized that the freshwater they were carrying had been contaminated by seawater and was no longer drinkable. But by this time, they were near South Georgia island.

However, between them and the shore were massive waves breaking into the island that would have destroyed their boat before they reached land. Instead of nearing the island, they circled it, trying not to get sucked into the open ocean or dragged against the waves on the shore. Meanwhile, it began to hail, and their boat found itself in cross-currents, slammed by waves and wind in every direction. It was impossible to stand up without getting blown over, and they were barely holding on as they were unbearably thirsty.

Finally, on May 10, after two weeks in the most treacherous sea on the globe, they reached the island through reefs that buffered the wind and the waves. They drank fresh water at last.

(Shortform note: The captain of the Endurance, of the group of three boats, and later of the boat that took Shackleton to South Georgia was New Zealander Frank Worsley. Although Shackleton led the expedition, Worsley had the seafaring and navigational skills needed to captain the ship. In fact, his navigational skills were sorely tested as they sailed to South Georgia, because the mist only allowed him four sightings of the sun’s position in the 16 days of their journey. He relied on those four sightings and his instinct to make their way to the island.)

Arriving at South Georgia Island

They set up camp and got ready for Shackleton and two other men to cross the island to find Stromness Whaling Station where they expected to get help. Lansing explains that they prepared for their trek by removing screws from the boat and placing them in the soles of their shoes to make them ice-worthy.

Before leaving the other three men, Shackleton selected the crew’s carpenter, Harry McNeish, to take charge and wrote a letter in his diary designating him as the leader. Shackleton also left McNeish with written instructions for what to do if he didn’t return.

(Shortform note: Of the four men Shackleton refused to give a medal of honor to once they got back to London, the one who gets the most attention is Harry McNeish. It seems that their strife began when Shackleton ordered McNeish’s cat killed, and it worsened when McNeish openly criticized Shackleton’s plan to drag the lifeboats across the ice instead of using them right away. Despite their differences of opinion, McNeish was vital to their survival since he was responsible for making the boats seaworthy, he accompanied Shackleton on his final journey for rescue, and he even prepared their boots to trek across the ice using screws from the boat.)

Crossing South Georgia on Foot

On May 19, Shackleton and his two companions started their trek. They went up and down cliffs and glaciers, retracing their steps several times when they encountered the ocean or a cliff too steep to descend. Lansing says they stopped a few times to eat and rest, but Shackleton didn’t let them sleep for more than five minutes since sleeping was a precursor to freezing.

On May 20, 36 hours after beginning their journey on the other side of the island, they arrived at the whaling station and found the factory manager so they could request rescue of the rest of the crew. Every man on the station stared at the three men as they walked to the manager’s office. When Shackleton identified himself, the manager turned around and cried. On May 21, a whaling ship rescued the three men Shackleton had left on the other side of the island.

(Shortform note: South Georgia Island is inhospitable and no one lives there permanently. The whaling station closed in 1965, and the only inhabitants today are scientists and government officials, all of whom stay only for a few seasons at a time. Besides its distance from civilization, the island isn’t welcoming to permanent settlers because it’s covered by ice almost year-round, and the ground below is rocky and not suited for growing crops.)

Accomplishing the Final Rescue

Lansing tells us that while at Stromness, Shackleton made several attempts to rescue the rest of his crew on Elephant Island. They tried to rescue them with three different ships, but none was strong enough to get through the ice pack, and each time they had to turn back.

After three failed attempts, Shackleton finally rescued the 22 men on August 30, 1916. Shackleton had convinced the Chilean government to lend him a steel ship and on August 25 he left Stromness and returned five days later with every last man alive.

(Shortform note: As Shackleton approached Elephant island, the 22 men ran out to the beach. From the ship, Shackleton counted them through his binoculars to be sure they were all there. Frank Worsley, who was with him during the rescue, later wrote in his diary that Shackleton cried as he reported that all were accounted for.)

After the Expedition

Lansing writes that it was more than four decades until someone else attempted to cross the Antarctic continent on foot. In 1955, Vivian E. Fuchs led the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition that crossed the continent by foot with more resources and better technology than had been available to the Endurance crew. Also in 1955, a group of well-equipped, expert climbers crossed South Georgia Island on foot.

(Shortform note: In 1921, Shackleton embarked on his fourth journey to the South Pole with the goal to navigate around Antarctica. However, when the ship was at South Georgia, he died of a heart attack. At the request of his wife, he was buried on South Georgia Island. His death marked the end of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.)

Exercise: Reflect on Shackleton’s Leadership

Ernest Shackleton won respect for his leadership under extreme circumstances. How can you incorporate some of his traits into your own leadership style?