Ernest Shackleton

Few adventure stories can compare with that of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his famous trans-Antarctic expedition, which attempted to cross the Antarctic continent. He had long dreamed of attempting it. After long years of planning and fund raising, Shackleton and his twenty-seven companions embarked on their journey, confident despite dire predictions. The winter of 1914 was expected to be the harshest ever recorded. They had not prepared for such ice — huge floes that shifted with a series of freak gales, trapping the Endurance in its icy grip. After a long, sunless polar winter, the tough wooden ship finally met her death at the hands of the merciless pack. Now ill-equipped and alone, Shackleton and his party determined to travel across the shifting ice in hopes of reaching land, over 270 miles away.

Nothing went as planned. The men had to sledge three heavy boats and supplies over crumbling pressure ridges and through melting slush. They worked cold, ate little, and slept soaking wet. Still, somehow Shackleton managed to keep their morale high and devotion complete. Finally, after long months on the ice, it began to break up and they took to the boats. As new wind and current conditions constantly showed themselves, Shackleton repeatedly changed their attempted destination. Several consecutive nights they woke only just in time to avoid sudden peril and certain death. But again, by some miracle, they reached land — the first in almost 500 days. But cold, windswept, sea-battered Elephant Island provided no safe haven for the marooned explorers. So, after repairing and strengthening the most seaworthy boat, Shackleton and five others set out on the impossible.

They would sail over 800 miles to South Georgia, through the roughest, bitterest, most turbulent sea on the planet. Somehow, weeks later, through a miracle or tremendous navigation, they threaded the needle and landed in a small cove on the western tip of the island. The problem: the only settlement lay on the other side, and the boat had been damaged. After pondering all night, Shackleton decided they would cross overland. Huge mountains and glaciers blocked the way, forming a landscape deemed simply impossible to traverse. After several grueling days, however, Shackleton and his companions walked into the whaling station of Stromness — the first human contact in seventeen long months. I admire Ernest Shackleton because of his amazing leadership and his spirit of adventure; but mostly because he simply would not give up. His story proves that nothing, regardless of the odds, is impossible.