Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

in Arctic & Antarctica History

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

 Experience “one of the best adventure books ever written” (Wall Street Journal) in this New York Times bestseller: the harrowing tale of British explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole.

 This is a new reading of the thrilling account of one of the most astonishing feats of exploration and human courage ever recorded.

 In August of 1914, the British ship Endurance set sail for the South Atlantic. In October 1915, still half a continent away from its intended base, the ship was trapped, then crushed in the ice. For five months, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men, drifting on ice packs, were castaways in one of the most savage regions of the world.

Lansing describes how the men survived a 1,000-mile voyage in an open boat across the stormiest ocean on the globe and an overland trek through forbidding glaciers and mountains. The book recounts a harrowing adventure, but ultimately it is the nobility of these men and their indefatigable will that shines through.

My Review:

I always seem to be attracted to the old sailing ships and their stories, probably because of my grandfather’s stories, paintings, and poems. So of course I jumped on this as soon as I saw it. It didn’t disappoint.

There were a number of occasions on which I experienced deja vu. Well, not of mine, but that of another sailing story read and loved, The Wager by Davis Grann. Hard put to say which I loved the most—loved The Wager. And while there were striking similarities, each were very different stories, each told with heart-thumping descriptions landing you right in the middle of the men struggling to survive.

The story of the men of the British ship Endurance follows the historical chronicle of her as she set sail in August of 1914, more than one-and-a-half centuries after the story of The Wager, also a British vessel that left England in 1740.

The Endurance had a whole nother mission—that of an early attempt to cross the South Pole. But timing is everything and it definitely went wrong when the ship was trapped in ice, then crushed. How do men live on ice flows, much less survive a voyage of 1,000 miles in an open boat to habitation?

I would wager physically impossible, if not psychologically, except for one minor detail. The Captain. Ernest Shackleton.

Some credit must go to his men—there were no mutinies.

And no deaths. They all survived? Under those conditions for over a year? Yes.

The man was more than an optimist. He was a brilliant strategist and sailor, and he had good, smart men (27 of them) under his command. But no matter the worsening conditions, no matter the horrible mind-numbing weather enough to drive men mad, he continued with unflailing confidence. And his navigator—unbelievably guiding them to civilization with almost pin-point accuracy. Back then–

First to lose the ship, then to be divided into separate ice flows, through starvation, illnesses, blinding psychotic provoking weather patterns, sleep deprivation, and predators. Good grief, to survive one of these would be hero-inducing visions of invincibility. They fought it all together and won.

This tale of the odyssey was kept in journals by a number of the men and researched meticulously, bringing the story together. A Morgan Stanley video was released seven years ago on PBS called Dare to Survive: Shackleton’s Voyage of Endurance 2002. You might wish to watch.

There are a number of cringe-worthy chapters certainly more monumental than the chapter that describes their tearful decision to kill and eat their dogs, after them having been more than working companions. Yes, I know, I know.

They were starving.

Still, amazingly creative (aside from the dogs) in discovering ways and means for their survival and one you shouldn’t miss. I particularly recommend the audiobook beautifully performed by the narrator. Another instance of what the human body is capable of enduring. 

Book Details:

Genre: Arctic & Antarctica History, Expeditions & Discoveries World History
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
ISBN-13: ‎978-065-58792
ASIN: B0018DNFY6
Listening Length: 10 hrs 21 mins
Narrator: Simon Prebble
Publication Date: April 08, 2008
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links:   Amazon-US
Amazon-UK

 

The Author: Alfred Lansing (July 21, 1921 – 1975) was an American journalist and writer, best known for his book Endurance (1959), an account of Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic explorations. Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [Amazon\

Born in Chicago in Chicago, IL, in July, 1921, Lansing was an American journalist who wrote for Collier’s, among other magazines and was later an editor for Time, Inc. Books.

Alfred Lansing served in the US Navy from 1940-46. He received the Purple Heart for his wartime service.

Later he attended North Park College, 1946-48, Northwestern University, 1948-50.

Lansing became a member of the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, England in 1957. [Goodreads]

©2025 V Williams