Review - Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

This is another Book Club read - An amazing story. I didn't know if I would enjoy the book when I first started it, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is the true story (compiled from the surviving diaries and interviews of crew members) of Ernest Shackleton. He made a number of expeditions to the south pole. Endurance (1914 -1916) is probably his most well known voyage. Mostly because the trip was planned to be an attempt to cross Antarctica from the Weddell Sea south of the Atlantic, to the Ross Sea south of the Pacific, by way of the Pole. The Voyage set out from London in August of 1914, and reached the Weddell Sea in January of the following year, where the pack ice closed in on the Endurance. The ship was broken by the ice on October 27, 1915. The 28 crew members managed to flee to Elephant Island, bringing three small boats with them.

All of them survived after Shackleton and five other men managed to reach the southern coast of South Georgia in one of the small boats, from where Shackleton organized a rescue operation to bring home the remaining men. (more)

Also amazing is the beautiful and striking black and white photos from the expedition. The pictures could stand all by themselves. The book is a reasonably easy read with a wonderful personal tone and feel. It makes you feel like you were there, right beside the amazing men who rescued themselves.