Library Journal12/01/2013
The incredible story of Ernest Shackleton's 1914–16 expedition to the South Pole and the arduous odyssey to rescue his stranded crew members that ensued never gets old. Jarvis (Mawson: Life and Death in Antarctica), a veteran polar explorer, gathered a crew to re-create Shackleton's travels from Elephant Island to South Georgia and then achieve the "double": hiking over the mountains and through the glaciers to reach Stromness. Not only would Jarvis and his crew sail in a replica of his boat, the James Caird, called the Alexandra Shackleton, they would sail and mountain climb using the same sort of clothing and gear and eating the same hoosh and sugary milk as Shackleton and his men. This book documents the mind-boggling amount of preparation that went into the planning, funding, and management of the trip, from boat-building to obtaining permits and from locating the ideal crew to getting everything to Antarctica.
