The Christmas meeting of the 646 book club was held at Magdalen’s house in Midgley – many thanks to her for hosting the evening, and to everyone who came and brought along food. All tastes were catered for – can’t remember who made it, but can I just say the carnivore’s chilli was delicious!

The book under discussion was Endurance by Alfred Lansing, my (Trizia’s) choice, which not everyone had read, but I was gratified to find that those who had enjoyed it greatly, as an outline of the story sounds rather bleak.



The book charts the attempt of Shackleton and his 27 strong team to reach the South Pole via the Weddell Sea in 1914, in his ship, the Endurance. The ship was quickly trapped in pack ice, immobilised for many months, before eventually being crushed. The crew had to make camp on ice floes before finally reaching the open sea and setting sail in open boats to make their own way back to civilization. For 20 months the men endured the freezing temperatures, limited diet (seal, penguin, more seal, more penguin), attack by sea leopards, splitting of their camp in two when the ice floe broke, immersion in the Arctic waters, and boredom as crushing as the ice which surrounded them.



It is a tribute to Shackleton’s leadership and to Alfred Lansing’s recreation of the expedition over forty years later from diaries, letters and interviews, that the story which emerges is so immensely uplifting. Shackleton had some unorthodox traits as a leader – for example, he spent very little time interviewing his crew and failed to ask what about their specific skills. (Three women applied, but were turned down – we’re not told why. In some cases, the men were engaged to do a particular job, and then had to go off and bone up on their skills before setting sail!



Yet it was the combination of these many different characters under Shackleton’s courageous, resourceful and inspiring, if sometimes unorthodox, leadership which ensured that every single one of them survived. This is story about when men were men!



By no means did they all get on all the time, with some men failing to pull their weight, and others complaining relentlessly. There were times of great danger, aching tedium and always the threat of hunger. Yet Shackleton brought out the best in each of them, and never asked them to do anything he wasn’t prepared to do himself. He showed himself aware of all the nuances of relationships, the weakness of each man’s character, and organised and allocated work and rest teams accordingly.



Lansing’s book is a triumph of research, bringing to life so vividly the details of the men’s relationships and their daily existence that it is hard to believe he had only documents to work from. Although there may well have been some editing on Lansing’s part, and also on the men’s when they first wrote their diaries, what comes across is an overwhelming sense of their respect for Shackleton and confidence in his ability to get them out alive. His leadership seems unquestioned, and yet he was very much one of them, not a remote authoritarian figure at all.

I was initially drawn to this book because of the photographs –their very existence an amazing feat. The glass plates on which they were made, and the cumbersome photographic equipment were rescued at the last minute from the stricken Endurance. That the equipment then not only survived the freezing temperatures but the salt water, and that the motivation was somehow then found to document the expedition is incredible to me.

If you only dip into this book, look for these passages:

 -the account of the sea leopard attack
 - the account of an amputation to prevent frostbite
 -the warming of frostbitten hands in a freshly killed seal’s entrails

-how Ocean Camp was split in two when the ice floe cracked
-how they navigated their way to land in open boats across hundreds of miles of open icy water

I love this book because it shows real men at their best, in the worst of conditions. In the Shackleton team we see how courageous, resourceful and determined men stuck together and endured.

A three man expedition is currently under way to replicate part of Shackleton’s expedition. The team includes the jockey Richard Dunwoody! Take a look at this link for more information.

This is also an excellent website.

http://www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/shackleton/index.shtml

And here are some comments from the 646 members. Can you guess who said what?

“I don’t understand the motivation…it’s enough excitement for me just going to Asda.”

“I didn’t think I would like this book, but I’m going to apply for the South Pole writer in residence post next time it comes up!”

“I will read the version with the pictures.”

“The account of the elephant seal attack was incredible.”

“What outlet is there for men like that nowadays?”

“We tend to speak about men as wimps, telling them they should try childbirth if they want to know what pain is. But this shows that men are actually incredibly capable.”

“I’m in awe of their resourcefulness, they were real manly men.”