Endurance: Shackletons Incredible Voyage - Book Report/Review Example

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage The Adventure The immensely popular book, Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage written by Alfred Lansing explores the heroic expedition by Edward Shackleton and his crew of twenty seven men. The story explores the courage and endurance exhibited by Shackleton and his men when their Imperial 1914 Trans-Antarctic Expedition failed as a result of their ship Endurance getting trapped in pack ice in January 1915. Shackleton and his men were left with no choice other than spending the entire winter in the ship. In October 1915, the ship started to shred and so to save their own lives, Shackleton led his men across the pack ice. After this began their waiting period that lasted for four months before autumn set in. By this time, the entire crew was lost in the frozen sea and there was no possibility of any kind of rescue mission. In search of shelter they used the three lifeboats that they had dragged across the pack ice, to reach Elephant Islands which was 100 miles away. From there, Shackleton embarked on the mission to find help. He took with himself 5 of his men and then traveled 800 miles across the Antarctic Ocean. As the men explored aimlessly, they reached to a area belonging to South Georgia Island which was totally devoid of population. Over the next 36 hours the six men made arduous journey to cross the 4000 meters high mountain ranges. Eventually, they succeeded in finding help on May 19, 1916. After this, Shackleton returned along with his two men to the Elephant Islands to rescue his remaining twenty three crew members back to safety on August 30, 1916. This rescue mission was equally frustrating as the ice pack surrounding the Elephant Islands made it virtually impossible for Shackleton to reach the castaways. In this entire 18 month adventure, no life was lost. The story teaches the readers about the courageous Edward Shackleton’s leadership qualities who under severe conditions did not lose optimism and hope. It was his heroic qualities that helped his crew members to sustain the 18 month ordeal without breaking down emotionally or physically (Lansing). In the entire 18 month ordeal, it was Edward Shackton’s efficiency as a leader, his courage and “never say die” attitude were the factors that sustained hope in his crew members. Moreover, the trust of the men on their leader was infallible which kept the 22 men who were stranded in the Elephant Islands optimistic when Shackleton began his journey with only 5 men to search for help. Throughout the story, Shackleton’s leadership personality was revealed as he endorsed optimism, moral courage and compassion towards his crew members. Shackleton’s encouragement and lesson to his men that at times of utter crisis, it is wise to keep oneself entertained so as to hinder their minds from expecting the worst. The men stranded on the Elephant Islands constituted two doctors who played their banjo and cracked bad jokes to divert their minds from drifting hopelessly. Above all, it was their trust on their leader that kept them cheerful throughout the difficult times. The entire expedition has become a memorable event in the history of explorers. Shakleton has set an exemplary example of how to fight against all odds and at the same time as a leader of a team how to boost the courage and confidence in the hearts of teammates. In the subsequent decades, Shakleton’s story had been narrated by many filmmakers and authors. It is shown the way the estranged men did not lose hope and instead sustained their cheerful selves all through the 18 month ordeal. Hunger, extreme cold and almost no rescue possibilities – nothing could break the morale courage of the men. The entire credit has been attributed to Edward Shackleton’s leadership qualities, “one of the greatest rescue stories of the century took place when 22 men, stranded almost without hope in Antarctica, were saved from death without a single loss. The events that led to their plight and subsequent rescue in that polar winter of 1916 will always be associated with one name – Shackleton” (Dunnett). Shackleton has proved his virtue of keeping hope and optimism alive in his men. His story has been narrated through decades as example of “heroic determination and extraordinary leadership” (Simons, 6). His ability to keep morale high has overshadowed the fact that the expedition has essentially been a failure and the horrors that his men have experienced ultimately proved to be unnecessary. His victory lies in his indomitable determination to protect his men and make them survive till the end. For this purpose, he was ready to go through any kind of insufferable agony. Moreover, the fact that noone died made Shackleton a hero figure and his capability to fight all adverse situations have been glorified with time. It was only because of Shackleton’s virtues that his men were always cheerful and found ways to entertain themselves when they were stranded for many months in the Elephant Islands. There are however two perspectives to the Shackleton saga. One is that it can be regarded as story of a hero’s victory over adverse conditions and his successful mission of rescuing all his men. The second perspective can be that the entire event was ultimately a spectacular failure. Much like the sustained morale and confidence of the men and their eventual safe return can be attributed to Shackleton’s courage and determination, similarly the failure of the expedition is also Shackleton’s unsuccessful engineering of the voyage. The major reason behind the men getting stranded in the Elephant Islands was because of their leader’s over-confidence and ill-preparation to fight the adverse weather conditions. His belief that mental strength and determination are the only virtues needed to overcome any challenges led him to a mission that could turn fatal for the 27 men who trusted him implicitly. For instance, when Shackleton started his voyage on August 8, 1914, he realized that it was late and they could get trapped in the winter ice. His plan was to travel through Antarctica using skis and sleds that were pulled by dogs. However, in reality noone in his team had the knowledge of training and handling dogs, and only one person knew how to ski. Such unplanned and unprepared voyage was doomed to a failure (Simons, 6). However, Shackleton as a leader proved to be flawless as he induced indomitable spirit and enthusiasm in the minds of his men. When he left with only 5 men to search for rescue, the other 22 men left in the Elephant Islands remained alive only by trusting that their leader, without fail, would return to save them. Such trust even in dire situation can only prove Shackleton’s success in keeping positive spirits in the hearts of his men, “No matter what the odds, a man does not pin his last hope for survival on something and then expect that it will fail” (Lansing, 195). Conclusion The story of Edward Shackleton is very similar to the risk taking strategies applied by top executives of corporate houses; “No risk no gain” is believed by leaders of all ages and under all circumstances. Although, the stories of triumphs by heroes are the ones that inspire the young generation, it is nevertheless true that Shackleton’s leadership qualities concerned with encouraging and keeping morale high of teammates are worth emulating. Shackleton’s adventure puts forward that even if a mission turns out to be failure, it is competency and determination of a leader that can help the people involved to fight all odds and emerge victorious psychologically and spiritually. References Dunnett, Roderic. “Shackleton’s ‘great adventure’: Roderic Dunnett looks at how one mans name became a byword for heroism and endurance”, Financial Times, August 31, 1996 Lansing, Alfred. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, Basic Books, 2008 Simons, Tad. “What are the true lessons of Shackleton’s survival saga?” Presentations, 16.5 (2002) 6 Read More