Endurance
by Alfred Lansing
Alfred Lansing, renowned author, penned a historical novel
titled Endurance, which combines
portions of the journals of several shipmates on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s
Trans-Antarctic expedition to the South Pole in 1914. The twenty-eight-member crew began their
journey from England to head to South America before trying to be the first to
circle the area and return home. The
book outlines the harrowing journey in which the ship gets caught in ice and
has to set a new course, using small life boats to finish the trip. The intricacies of the crew’s survival and
hopes to be saved after it escapes in the smaller boats is one of the most
amazing tales I’ve read. Lansing does a
terrific job of taking separate crew members’ journals to piece together the
daily struggles which lasted over two years!
Shackleton and his crew are faced with many minute-to-minute decisions
that challenge their survival from being on the seas, stuck on an iceberg, or
when they are on the last leg of the journey, having to descend a thousand feet
down a cliff. The book keeps you at the
edge of your seat thinking there is no way they will live, yet they do! Unbelievable that men can live in subzero
temperatures, wet, with limited food, no water for 2-3 days and no way to get
dry. It makes one ask, why are we as a
society so weak today? Great story of
courage, passion and perseverance.
Lansing’s work is top notch and an inspiration to read how it all
unfolded. Read it!
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