Book Review: Endurance, Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

I recently read Endurance by Alfred Lansing. And to be honest, I was under the impression that I was the only one not to have read this famous account of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914–1917 (disastrous) Imperial Trans‑Antarctic Expedition. But I have since learned there are many people who haven't picked this one up, and if you are one of those people who have not read Endurance then you definitely should.  

    A couple of things I would mention before getting into this review.  First, the book was originally published in 1959. And if you are worried that the language might be old timey or stuffy or whatever, don't be too concerned. This one is extremely well written and reads like it could be written this year. So definitely not old timey. 

    Second, Lansing was close enough to events to have had the chance to talk and discuss the events with at least some of the crew. I can't remember now if he talked to all of them or not. And because he had so many journals written by crew members as the events on folded, you basically have a front row seat to the actual events of the expedition. This is not speculation written 2000 years after an event has occurred. It's amazing history and its right there! 

    So basically, the book is about Shackleton’s bold idea to cross the Antarctic continent on foot. With so many other explorers ticking off big firsts in the Arctic and Antarctic, Shackelton was looking for something huge and crossing the Antarctic continent by foot was to be the greatest polar expedition ever.  But perhaps, the riskiest.  

    Still, there were no shortage of applicants desperate to join and experience this amazing adventure. People were built differently back then!  In 1914, Shakleton’s ship, the Endurance, set sail with 27 men and a small crew of sled dogs, all with a goal to make history.

    Before the Endurance could reach land, the ship became trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea. Lansing details how, over months of pressure, the ship was slowly crushed until it finally sank, leaving the men stranded on drifting ice floes — thousands of kilometers from civilization and with no way to call for help. Remember, communication technology like two-way radio was its infancy and so basically non-existent back then – no satellite phones!

    They abandoned ship and set up camp on some older back ice. Along with their smaller lifeboats from the Endurance, they waited until remnants of the pack ice got close to a few islands to make their break from the ice flow. 

    After a terrifying voyage through freezing seas, the crew reached Elephant Island — bleak, uninhabited, and far from shipping routes. Shackleton realized their only chance of rescue was to attempt an 800-mile crossing of the South Atlantic in a 22-foot lifeboat, the James Caird, to reach the whaling station on South Georgia Island.

    Although this is a work of nonfiction, I feel like I shouldn’t describe it in any more detail or cover any of the other events, just to keep this review as spoiler free as possible. At the end of the day, I will just say that this book was a wild, intense and exciting read. It was as crazy and compelling as any novel, and I just can’t recommend it enough.

    It was so good that I am planning on digging in on the Shackleton expedition and looking at the other books written about the voyage.  I know Shackleton wrote a memoir, which must be great. There is a more recent book on the search for the wreck of the Endurance. Lots of opportunities to go down a fantastic rabbit hole on this entire story. 

About the author:

    Alfred Lansing (1921 – 1975) was an American writer and journalist best known for writing Endurance (1959).  

Publication date: April 28, 2015 (1959) Publisher: Basic Books  Page Count: 416

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