The Endurance

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1998 £ 20

If I dreamed a sea voyage to the great ice barriers of Antarctica, the frightful conditions evoked by this most heroic book would surely apply. Beautifully produced on heavy gloss paper, the story of how Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship was trapped and slowly crushed is movingly told.

After the tortuous destruction of "Endurance" the amazing and successful small boat rescue attempt via South Georgia almost passes in the blink of a shutter, for this is also the story of the photographer Frank Hurley who painstakingly recorded every aspect of the expedition. His remarkable pictures, in evocative black and white, grace many pages and we wonder how he managed to preserve the film let alone actually point the camera.

After reading, two vivid images of Endurance's final voyage remain. How ever did Hurley get his wooden tripod and heavy camera balanced at the end of the main yard? How humbling to learn that the last survivor of those grim days of no radio or airborne rescue lived to see a man walk on the moon. To paraphrase the author, the entire book bankrupts the imagination. -EC

Page created 29 March 1999