|
|
||
|
Dramatic photography of the Endurance expedition. This must be one of the greatest survival stories of all time. These dramatic photos by Frank Hurley, tell the tale. Not one man lost his life Shackleton's third polar expedition came in the wake of the tragic death, in the Antarctic, of Robert Falcon Scott, Frank Hurley Antarctic Photography the famous English explorer, and as Europe was preparing for the First World War. Endurance with England having lost both poles to the Norwegians, Shackleton was determined to be the first to cross the Antarctic by foot and claim the last prize in polar exploration for Britain. A week after the war began, Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven seamen and scientists set sail on the Endurance not to be heard from for nearly two years. Frank Hurley the Australian from the Mawson expedition a few earlier was the photographer on that expedition. |
|
For Shackleton and the men of the Endurance it was a particularly cold winter, and the pack ice of the Weddell Sea extended further north than anyone could remember. The Endurance began following leads to navigate through the pack ice, on route to its intended landfall. Just one day's sail from the Antarctic continent, temperatures plummeted and the ship became trapped. Frozen fast for ten months.During this time Frank Hurley took the most dramatic images of the Endurance Expedition. The leadership of Shackleton was really tested and during this time.The Endurance was about to be crushed by ice pressure, forcing the men to abandon ship.
After five months of camping on drifting ice floes, open water appeared, and the men sailed their three lifeboats through stormy seas to a rocky, uninhabited outcropping called Elephant Island. Knowing that his men would never survive on the desolate spot, "the boss" Shackleton decided to attempt an incredible seventeen-day, 800-mile journey, in freezing hurricane conditions, to the nearest civilization - South Georgia Island. The James Caird lifeboat miraculously landed on the island, having achieved what is now considered one of the greatest boat journeys in history. Once on land, Shackleton and two of his men trekked across the mountains of South Georgia, finally reaching the island's remote whaling stations where they organized a rescue team, and returned to save all of the men left behind on Elephant Island.
