Shackleton’s Epic

In 1916, a desperate Ernest Shackleton sailed across 1300 kms of hostile ocean in a tiny, leaking boat, then trekked across unmapped ice and snow to reach a rescue station. In 2012, British-Australian explorer Tim Jarvis set off to recreate Shackleton’s Epic It’s been called the greatest survival story of all time. In 1916, Ernest Shackleton’s ship the Endurance was trapped in pack ice, his supplies running were out, his men were exhausted, cold and desperate. Shackleton faced a horrible quandary: should he and the crew stay on a tiny inhospitable stretch of Antarctic island with the winter setting in or make what was almost certainly a doomed journey, sailing in a lifeboat across miles of the world’s wildest ocean and then trekking over unmapped glaciers to reach help? Showing astonishing courage Shackleton and a small band of men set off in their boat. They faced monstrous seas, icebergs, storms and vile seasickness. Even more astonishingly, they survived. In 2013, explorer Tim Jarvis and a crew of five, set out to replicate Shackleton’s journey, using the same equipment, eating the same unpalatable food, facing the same hostile ocean and desolate conditions. Here for the first time is the whole story of that trip, the wretched lows and the occasional highs, the gruelling mental and physical toughness it takes to test yourself in one of the last wildernesses on Earth. Moving between the past and the present, and combining a thrilling survival story with over 200 beautiful contemporary and historical photographs, this is a must-read book for all Shackleton fans and lovers of epic adventure.