This was a expedition in which things just went wrong. The ship Endurance sailed from Argentina on October 26, 1914, for the remote sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. Their specific destination was the Grytviken whaling station, where they would wait for optimal conditions before heading for the great, white continent. Conditions delayed them for at least one month before they set sail on December 5th, nearly the official start of summer in Antarctica. Author Alfred Lansing does a magnificent job pulling the book together. He relies heavily on first person accounts and the many diaries kept by the crew to lend the narrative credibility. The party includes Frank Hurley, a photographer, who takes many beautiful shots during the expedition, several of them featured in the e-version of the book that I read. And I think his leadership in action as described in the book was evident in (A) setting a strong plan at any given point - they always knew where they were trying to go even if it sounded impossible (B) Removing emotion from his decision making, which led him to be right a lot about what to do in tough situations, and (C) knowing his men and paying close attention to morale. I think the middle point (B) was the most impressive thing - he knew when to turn around and when to press forward - and that's a super hard call to make to turn around. Register that, please. Despite their dire circumstances, not one man was lost or left behind! I can still remember sharing this information with everyone I knew when I first learned about it (undoubtedly causing eyes to glaze over). As to that final feat of mountaineering – no one was able to duplicate it until something like 2013. Koehn, Nancy (2017). Forged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times. New York: Scribner. p.38. ISBN 978-1501174445.

A 2022 image of the Endurance's stern reveals its name above a five-pointed star. The wooden ship was in the icy waters of the Weddell Sea. They had been within a day’s sailing of their landing place; now the drift of the ice was slowly pushing them farther away with each passing day. There was nothing else to do but to establish a routine and wait out the winter. On the book itself, the narrative was written by piecing together all the events experienced by the crew of the Endurance, accomplished via combing through every diary kept during the expedition and extensive interviews with almost all the surviving crew members. I believe this enabled the author to put forth an in-depth and intimate account of this most incredible and perilous voyage, which lasted almost two years. The audiobook narration added to the experience as the narrator was adept in modulating his delivery to suit the moment - be it desperation or acquiescence, excitement or relief. He also injected a bit of character to the different crew members through nuanced voices. Third man factor, refers to the reported situations where an unseen presence such as a "spirit" provided comfort or support during traumatic experiences.On November 21, 1915, 25 days after leaving the ship to camp up on the ice, Endurance was briefly raised by the ice sheets, and then sunk below the surface. Within 10 minutes the ice had closed over the opening... Al poco de adentrarse en el mar de Weddell, el Endurance quedó atrapado en una banquisa de hielo. Todos los esfuerzos de salir de esa prisión fueron en vano, después de meses intentándolo, la naturaleza engulló el barco. Así empieza la aventura, así empieza el libro. It is no spoiler to say that this is a story of survival – that fact is known to the reader at the outset. The story is well told and conveyed by Lansing, who had access to surviving ships logs and crew diaries – he also interviewed at length surviving members of the crew of the ‘Endurance’. For anyone who is not familiar this story – quite simply, this must be the greatest true story of survival against all the odds and is simply unparalleled in our times.

Wheeler, Sara (2001). Cherry: A life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard. 2001: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-05004-4. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location ( link)Después de una selección de personal un tanto sorprendente, a ojo, este si, este no, el Endurance partió de Plymouth con rumbo Buenos Aires cinco días después de que Gran Bretaña declarase la guerra a Alemania (primera guerra mundial) con 28 tripulantes (+ un polizón) a bordo. Foster, Jonathan. "Experiments with early wireless". The Secret Life of Harry Grindell Matthews. Archived from the original on 22 January 2016 . Retrieved 9 January 2016.