“Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage” by Alfred Lansing – A Cold Year in Hell

Many years ago a ship named the Endurance set out to sail for the Antarctic, with Ernest Shackleton being its captain. This wasn’t his first time exploring the Antarctic, and he hoped to unveil some of the many mysteries the land of ice holds for them. 

Unfortunately, the Endurance became stuck in ice, eventually forcing Shackleton and his crew to abandon the ship and set up a camp on an ice float. 

Ernest Shackleton

After more than a year spent in this white hell, drifting this way and that in an attempt to find someone who would rescue them, the crew finally managed to find civilization and make their way back to where they started. 

Endurance by Alfred Lansing is a chronicle of this journey, detailing what happened during that infernal year during which the crew spent floating in the rather inhospitable waters of the Antarctic.

In my humble opinion, Endurance may very well be one of the most enthralling accounts of its kind, mainly because Lansing based his writing on first-hand accounts from the survivors of the expedition. 

He used some diaries as well, but the personal accounts really help to make the story relatable, even helping you get into those peoples’ mindset and experience their terror for yourself. 

At some points, it even feels as if you are reading a fictional novel rather than a truthful account of the events. In other words, Lansing hit the nail on the head when he tried to make this book an entertaining one.

As far as the actual story of the expedition goes, I believe that those of you interested in learning about it will have a field day here. Everything is described in a lot of detail, from what went on in the crew members’ heads all the way to the boring day-to-day tasks they had to keep up in order to stay alive.

It describes the kind of adventure very few will ever come close to actually living, especially when you take into consideration the “primitive” technology (compared to today’s standards at least) they had available at the time.

All in all, Endurance is the definitive account of what happened to the Endurance and how its crew managed to survive in one of the most brutal places on the planet for over a year with help from none but themselves.

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Alfred Lansing (July 21, 1921 – 1975) Alfred Lansing is a renowned American journalist who lived from 1921 to 1975, served in the Navy for five years before majoring in journalism. His most famous work by far is Endurance, the chronicle of Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition where he and his team survived for more than a year.