Endurance Part I: Ch. 1-4



The Seemingly Impossible,
sought by the Impervious



     The opening of Alfred Lansing's account of how Sir Ernest Shackleton and his beloved ship, the Endurance, attempted a Trans-Antarctic expedition at the outbreak of the first World War reminds me of a small mouse attempting to retrieve a piece of cheese from a mouse trap with the aid of nothing but a tiny helmet place upon its head. Shackleton was seen as both mad and brilliant by the people of his time, and even today, as he attempted a journey that had been rivaled by only one before it, also led by none other than Shackleton himself. He planned, with a crew of twenty-seven men, to voyage into the Antarctic waters past a point where no man had yet to venture. When that had been accomplished he wanted to continue on foot to the Pole itself and on to completely discover the entire continent in a single voyage.

     There are many obvious displays of the literary term dilemma that appear in the planning of such an undertaking. After hiring a crew and finally pulling together enough funds to begin his adventure, his country was thrown into WWI. Feeling a strong sense of nationalism, Shackleton was faced with a difficult decision: carry out the expedition he had been dreaming about his entire fourty years of life, or serve his country in war like a true hero. After much deliberation, Shackelton decided to put the decision in the hands of the government which encouraged him to proceed with his before-made plans to begin the first ever Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

     As the Endurance finally set sail to begin her voyage, Shackleton describes a sense of relief abtained from the actual beginning of what he had worked toward despite the years of work and planning it had taken to reach this pivotal moment:

"They were on their way at last, really on their way, and Shackleton was immensely relieved. The long years of preparation were over... the begging, the hipocrisy, the finagling, all were finished. The simple act of sailing had carried him beyond the world of reversald, frustrations, and insanities... only one real task remained-the achievement of the goal."

     Of course, as it has been known to happen, things did not go as planned for Shackleton and his crew, even from the very beginning. A stowaway was found just a few hours into the voyage, although he was welcomed as another set of hands to work onboard the ship. However, as they neared their first checkpoint at the beginning of the summer, the Endurance got stuck between two large ice floes as the result of an ill-timed southerly gale. After much effort by all the crew to free her over many months, Shackleton was faced with another dilemma. He decided it was best to conserve the coal they were using to try to break through the ice and instead prepare the ship for the winter. Men started hunting seal and other animals for their meat and blubber, and teams of sledge dogs were trained for the 60-mile trek across the ice that would lead them to the shore of Vahsel Bay.

     Like a small mouse attempting to steal a piece of cheese from a mouse trap, Shackleton and his team faced head on the dangers of the Antarctic and prepared themselves for the onslaught of nature that was sure to test them in the worst ways during the course of their journey.