Shackleton's Boat Journey
by Frank Arthur Worsley
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Book Summary Information
Author: Frank Arthur WorsleyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-02-01
ISBN: 1841580635
Number of pages: 164
Publisher: Birlinn Ltd
Book Reviews of Shackleton's Boat Journey
Book Review: Incredible Survival Tale, Beautifully and Humbly Told
Summary: 5 Stars
In the summer of 1914 Ernest Schackleton's ship Endurance became trapped in Antarctic ice in 53 degree below zero weather. The following winter, the ship was crushed and sank, leaving the crew to camp on the ice while eking out subsistence under unimaginable conditions. In April of 1916, the ice broke apart beneath their feet, and twenty eight men piled into the lifeboats they had rescued from the wreck of the Endurance.
These hair raising events are not part of the story of Shackleton's Boat Journey, but simply the preamble, described in less than a page, that sets the stage for the real action that is to follow.
The tale is told by F.A. Worsley, the Captain of the Endurance. And what a saga it is, as the entire crew barely makes it to Elephant Island and from there an advance party navigates across the raging, freezing ocean in a tiny boat, all the way to South Georgia Island, from which the balance of the crew are eventually rescued, without one man being lost.
What these men endured is beyond belief, yet Worsley recounts it humbly, with understatement, and with considerable grace. Here is an example of his prose:
"Squall by squall the wind grew fiercer and the sea heavier. Through a rift in the clouds the moon shone out on the stormy sea and for two minutes revealed the ghostly white uplands and glaciers of the island. Another squall blotted everything out. We heard whales blow right alongside. They may have been killers, but, whatever they were, a push from one of them would have capsized us. If they were killers we would have had a quicker end. Soon to our great relief they left us for some nobler quarry than dirty smelly little men in Burberry overalls".
It is amazing that in the midst of a Herculean struggle for survival the author was able to take note of beauty in what must have been a living hell, and to describe it so elegantly. Here for example, is his description of icebergs, "All the strange fantastic shapes rose and fell in a stately cadence, with a rustling, whispering sound and hollow echoes to the thudding seas, clear green at the water line, shading to a deep dark blue far below, all snowy purity and cool blue shadows above".
This combination of gripping action and poetic insight makes for a richly rewarding read.
Highly recommended.
Summary of Shackleton's Boat Journey
This is an account of the Shackleton boat journey. The journey began in August 1914 in London and the next the world knew of Shackleton was in May 1916, when three ragged men staggered into the whaling station at Grytviken on South Georgia.Historical Books
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