Frank Worsley (1872–1943)

one review said there's a bit of hero-worship here. i don't find that especially accurate or fair. Shackelton is shown to be "paternally" obsessed with keeping the men safe, but he isn't absolved of his mistakes, and he isn't idealized, distant from human worry and the craving for reassurance.

honestly a little hero-worship wouldn't go amiss, here. what these men did should not have been possible. it'd be frankly unbelieveable if it weren't documented so thoroughly, including by show more photographs.

and then they went home and went off to fight in WWI, because of course they did.
i can barely get up in the morning.

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Worsley was described (elsewhere) as being a bit of an ass, and humorless, and that comes through here -- but again i feel like that's unfair, not the least because his narrative is anything but unfeeling. He's obviously entranced with the beauty of the place, describing the effect of sunlight on floes, the particular tint of winter clouds, the brutality of a sea lion, the way the penguins talk and bow.

At one point he describes himself as having been awaken via two kicks to the head, which he didn't notice at the time, having gone without sleep for several days; he was only told about it years later, during the war. The anecdote is delivered without comment but it seems to me he was amused -- that he wouldn't say it if he weren't amused. He certainly omits plenty about the men's fear and complaints etc, barely even acknowledging all that. So maybe he just doesn't like whining ...?

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Most of the men ("all who were able" wrote Worsley, with what i assume to be his characteristic tact) who went to the Antarctic with Shackleton signed up to see the Arctic with him, leaving the comforts of home to go again into horrible grisly murder-ice and the prospect of losing a limb to frostbite.
hard to think of a better show of faith and trust. show less

The heart-stopping story of an incredible journey over the raging ice-laden seas of the Antarctic. I'd heard a lot about Shackleton's boat journey when researching Antarctic explorers but stupidly, never gave a thought to his crew - I had always imagined he did it alone. As said one of the Norwegians at the whaling station where Shackleton and his two companions eventually arrived - These are men. Just amazing to realise what human beings can endure, their skills and resourcefulness. Also show more amazed by Worsley's memory and recollection of detail; I can only gaze in admiration. And his understated sense of humour.
Nicely produced book with attractively textured cover. On the downside, the photo captions are too close to the gutter (I did not want to crack the spine to open it more) and I don't particularly like the choice of all caps, but that's a minor detail. Love the Bodoni typeface.
Now I want to know more about these men.

A quote, p. 39:
(after landfall on Elephant Island where most of the crew stayed while Shackleton and five others set off in the Caird lifeboat heading for South Georgia):
"Gales of wind off the ice-sheet blew almost incessantly. In one heavy gale sheets of ice 1/4 in. thick and 1 ft square were hurled about by the wind, making it dangerous to venture out.
After the tents were ruined we lived under the upturned boats. The aristocracy slept in their bags on oars and sledge-runners placed on the thwarts. On the dirt and blubber-caked shingle 3 ft beneath the rougher Bolshevik element insolently reclined. The swells above kocked out their pipes or dropped dirty socks on the lower classes. This sometimes caused a slight unplesantness which, fortunately, never culminated in a class war.
In that narrow gloomy space McIlroy and Macklin performed an amazing operation. They amputated Blackborrows' frostbitten toes, saving his foot and possibly his life.... Seriously, I was always sorry for the twenty-two men who lived in that horrible place for four months of misery while we were away on the boat journey, and the four attemps at rescue ending with their joyful relief." show less

After Shackleton's ship becomes trapped in the Antarctic ice pack and sinks, he and his crew go on a grueling journey to escape the most desolate place on earth. With only three small life boats they must navigate in stormy seas to reach the safety of land and eventual rescue.

An amazing story of survival and endurance told by one of the men who were actually there.

Another truly great adventure story (although the saga of how he came to be in the predicament is a rather sorry one,) is that of Shackleton’s great boat journey. After his ship became trapped and crushed in the ice during an abortive attempt at a sea-to-sea overland journey across Antarctica, Ernest Shackleton led a group of six men (the remaining crew were left behind to wait for rescue) in a 22-foot boat across some 800 miles of the stormiest ocean known to man at the height of winter. show more The voyage is narrated by F.A. Worsley, captain of Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance.

It was an incredible feat of seamanship and navigation rivaling Bligh’s famous voyage (another unsung hero - Hollywood has really done dirt to Blígh.) After reaching South Georgia in the midst of a hurricane, Shackleton and his men still had to cross a mountain range and glaciers to reach the whaling station at the north of the island. From there he returned to rescue the men left behind. With amazing luck (or competence, more likely) no man was lost. show less