The Endurance trapped in ice

The Expedition team

This website has a wealth of background information on Ernest Shackleton and his astonishing expedition, as well as on his mentor Captain Scott. In addition, there are copious details about Antarctica itself - its history, its environment and how to travel there.

This was how Ernest Shackleton, the charismatic Anglo-Irish explorer, advertised for crew to accompany him on the barquentine Endurance to sail to Antarctica and attempt the first land crossing of the continent via the South Pole.

In the end, the 27 men who sailed with Shackleton on the Endurance would become renowned not for a triumph of discovery but for their survival against all the odds. First, their ship was caught tight in the pack ice and eventually sank. Then, after months of living on the ice, they made the extremely difficult voyage in three open lifeboats to desolate Elephant Island, where they fought the elements, starvation, boredom and despair before they were finally rescued.

But it was the astonishing leadership of Ernest Shackleton that saw them through. Not only did he maintain his crew as a cohesive unit in the toughest of conditions, but he and five others undertook what is now considered one of the most dangerous small boat voyages in history in order to get help. Finally, after reaching South Georgia, Shackleton and two other men made an astonishing trek across the uncharted mountainous interior of the island to reach the whaling station of Stromness.

This website tells the story of the Endurance expedition and provides details of both Shackleton and his forerunner in Antarctica, the unlucky Captain Scott. There is also a chronology of Antarctic exploration, some fascinating facts about this most inhospitable of places and information on how to travel there and how to find out more.