Book Club October ‘21: Endurance
The Dead Foot Collective Book Club reads one book per month, and our first book, for October 2021, was Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (1959) by Alfred Lansing.
Over 100 years ago, Ernest Shackleton and a 27-man crew set off on the ‘Imperial Trans-Atlantic Expedition.’ Their goal, cooked up by Shackleton, was to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent.
The expedition left England aboard the ship Endurance in August 1914. In January of the following year, they were trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea, all before ever making landfall on the Antarctic continent. The men spent nearly two years stranded, first living on the ice floes for nearly a year, after their ship was crushed and sunk, then journeying to the remote, rugged Elephant Island in a trio of small lifeboats (April 1916).
The expedition’s ship, Endurance, stuck fast in pack ice in the Weddell Sea.
Eventually, Shackleton and five of his men set off in one of the lifeboats, the James Caird, traveling over 1,500 kilometers across the treacherous Drake Passage to South Georgia Island. Upon reaching the southern coast of the island, three of the men made a historic land crossing over glaciated peaks to reach a whaling station on the northern shore, rescuing their remaining comrades marooned on Elephant Island on August 30, 1916 (over two years after the expedition left England). Miraculously, every man in the expedition made it home safely. You can find an overall timeline of their experience HERE.
Although they failed in their overall mission (the Antarctic continent was not successfully crossed until 1958, by Vivian Fuchs’ Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition), the incredible story of the 1914-1917 Imperial Trans-Atlantic Expedition lives on, told by Lansing using an extensive catalog of expedition diaries and firsthand interviews with surviving expedition members. Three of our Contributing Editors leave their thoughts on the book below.
AOIFE BROAD:
It’s an unfathomable situation. Complete isolation. Long days filled with nothing but darkness. Not knowing if your only hopes had made their destination safely, or if their bodies floated lifeless in frozen waters.
I imagined myself in their shoes, not knowing if rescue, starvation, or some other form of cold death awaited. But I couldn’t equate the recount on the page to real-life experience; it was too foreign, too far away from my cushy little life. To me, the act of finishing the book itself was an accomplishment... I dream of the kind of adventure these men pursued, “Men [sic] wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”
But I don’t know if I could handle the reality of it. Months on end without word from home, not knowing if your loved ones thought you were lost, or how they were doing themselves. Adventures for me are characterised usually by a week in the alpine, with the knowledge of a nice warm bed waiting at home at the trip’s end. It takes a special brand of courage, hope, and a lot of stubbornness, to do what these men did.
I first read this story in South!, which is basically a direct transcript of Shackleton’s journal during this voyage. Lansing’s version adds some narrative direction, and some amazing photos, depending on the edition.
CAMMI NORVILLE:
Since I finished reading this book, I’m fairly certain that I have recommended it to more people than any other book before. When I first picked up Endurance, I was just expecting an exciting adventure story detailing the journey of the crew attempting to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. But once I started reading, I found that it was so much more. I was completely captivated by this story right from the start.
These men were put through absolute hell. They endured more hardships in a few years than most people go through their entire lives. While reading, I was constantly trying to relate the events that occurred back to my own life and experiences, and continually failed. I’m relatively used to being in uncomfortable situations or scenarios due to my lifestyle and work, but nothing compared to what these men went through.
What stood out to me was their ability to stay so focused and relatively positive in such harsh and stressful conditions. The mind is such a powerful tool in times of hardship and I think the outcome of these men’s lives may have been different if they had just decided to give up or lose hope. But I suppose when you’re faced with the possibility of death or being stranded forever, choosing to fight may come more naturally.
GENTRY PATTERSON:
There is no other word that can properly express my feelings towards this story than this: Awe. Page after page, Lansing’s telling of the incredible journey of Ernest Shackleton and his crew of 27 men had me utterly gripped. I thought I would read this book in the evenings, over the course of two or three weeks. Wrong. After opening the book up to peruse the first couple of pages, I quickly found myself sitting down, reading a couple more, then twenty, then thirty. I canceled all my plans for the next three days, and by the next afternoon, I’d finished the book. I’ve thought about the damn thing every day since.
The close calls in this story are so numerous it would be impossible for me to list them here. Literally every day these men faced certain demise. From the brutal cold to gigantic, aggressive sea lions to the tectonic power of crushing ice flows, Mother Nature threw everything she had at Shackleton’s crew every single day for over a year. And despite the overwhelming odds of death, they survived, every one of them. It’s completely unbelievable. It’s awe-inspiring. This story is the stuff of legend.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that this account has changed me as a person. Whatever cynicism, self-doubt, or limitations I came in with at the onset of this story were totally and completely blown away. Every page I thought with certainty, “This is going to be what kills them.” At least a few of them, anyway. And yet, they persevered. They kept up morale. They told jokes and laughed at the spectre of death, and then survived to tell the tale. The sheer amount of courage, self faith, strength, and toughness displayed on this expedition was enough to completely erase any doubts I might have held about myself or humanity. What Shackleton and his men had within them is within all of us. It’s up to us to rise to the task.
Aoife Broad is a crappy vegetarian and artist based in Wellington, NZ. Follow her on Instagram @aoifebroad.
Cammi Norville is a traveling wildlife technician and the social media manager for Dead Foot. She enjoys hiking, camping, climbing, and pretty much any other outdoor activity. Follow her on Instagram: @_nomadic_cam.
Gentry Patterson is an American writer and cartographer living in Birmingham, Alabama. He loves to be outside and enjoys spending time with a good book. He also runs the Dead Foot monthly book club.
