The narration discusses the ill-fated polar voyage of Sir Ernest Shackleton aboard the Endurance, which was crushed by the Antarctic ice in 1915. The expedition was not successful and no attempt to locate the ship has been successful since. Despite the hardship, the expedition made numerous geological and scientific discoveries and had many narrow escapes.
Shackleton, a veteran of two major Antarctic expeditions, set his sights on a new challenge: to be the first across the length of the entire Antarctic continent. His proposed Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition would consist of two parties and two ships.
The expedition began in August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. Despite the controversy and challenges, the expedition proceeded towards the Antarctic. The Endurance became trapped in the ice, and after months of attempts to free it, Shackleton decided to commit the ship to drift with the ice.
The ship drifted south, coming within 60 miles of the planned landing spot before being carried 130 miles northwest. The crew settled in for the long Antarctic winter. Initially, the ship's routine was abandoned as the crew prepared for the arduous journey ahead.
In July, after two months of continuous darkness, warning signs from the ice appeared. The ice was rafting up to a height of 10 or 15 feet in places, and the opposing flows were moving against one another at the rate of about 200 yards per hour.
Despite the ship's bravery and endurance, it faced unrelenting pressure from below. By late September, the ship faced danger again. In mid-October, with the ice retreating and the Endurance floating in water for the first time in nine months, danger returned with alarming suddenness. The returning ice immediately rolled the ship onto her port side at a list of 30 degrees.
Water began pouring into the ship when attempts to pump the water failed due to frozen and damaged equipment. Shackleton gave the order to abandon ship. The crew attempted to salvage what supplies they could from the flooded ship at great personal risk.
On November 21st, the broken Endurance slipped beneath the ice, not to be seen again for well over a century. After the loss of the Endurance, the crew pitched their tents on the ice floes at the so-called Patience Camp.
Over the next three months, the expedition's floating home was pushed further northwards by strong Antarctic winds. By early April, they had sighted the uninhabited Elephant Island. The lifeboats were launched on April 9, and after a harrowing few days at sea, the crew set foot on solid ground for the first time in 497 days.
Shackleton knew that rescue was not possible if they stayed put, so on April 24th, he and five other men set sail in the James Caird, their sturdiest lifeboat, in an attempt to reach South Georgia. It was one of the most daring open boat journeys in history.
Two weeks later, they landed at King Harbor Bay. After a week of recuperation, Shackleton, Worsley, and Tom Crean trekked for 36 straight hours over the mountains and glaciers of the island's uncharted interior, arriving at Stromness Whaling Station on the 20th of May 1916.
It required four attempts to reach the rest of the crew on Elephant Island, but they were finally rescued by the Chilean steamer Yelcho at the end of August 1916. Despite many close calls, all 28 men of the expedition survived.
1. The expedition is aimed at locating one of the world's most famous shipwrecks to Ernest Shackleton's Endurance, which was trapped and eventually crushed by the Antarctic ice in 1915.
2. No attempt to locate the Endurance has been successful since it sank.
3. Sir Ernest Shackleton was a veteran of two major Antarctic expeditions before the Endurance expedition.
4. Shackleton's Endurance expedition aimed to be the first to traverse the entire Antarctic continent.
5. The expedition consisted of two parties and two ships.
6. The expedition's departure in August 1914 was controversial due to the outbreak of the First World War.
7. Shackleton's team embarked, heading first for Buenos Aires, then the remote island of South Georgia, before finally departing for the Antarctic in early December.
8. The Endurance was trapped in the Antarctic ice and was eventually crushed.
9. The crew of the Endurance attempted to salvage supplies from the flooded ship at great personal risk.
10. The Endurance slipped beneath the ice on November 21st, 1915, and was not seen again for over a century.
11. After the loss of the Endurance, the crew set off on a harrowing journey across the treacherous ice floes.
12. Shackleton and five other men set sail in the James Caird, their sturdiest lifeboat, in an attempt to reach South Georgia.
13. Shackleton, Worsley, and Tom Crean trekked for 36 straight hours over the mountains and glaciers of the island's uncharted interior, arriving at Stromness Whaling Station on May 20th, 1916.
14. All 28 men of the expedition survived, and they were finally rescued by the Chilean steamer Yelcho at the end of August 1916.