The Endurance : Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
by Caroline Alexander

This is an incredible story. Shackelton left England just as WWI was starting. His plan was to cross Antartica. It didn't work out. After weeks of working there way through pack ice they became trapped in the ice. The drifted in the ice pack for months and eventually their ship, the Endurance, was crushed by the ice and sank. They waited on the ice until it broke up and then took to their three open boats. They made it to Elephant Island where Shackelton took one of the open boats and made one of the most famous sailing journeys in an open boat in some of the most hostile water imaginable. They made it to a whaling station and were able to rescue all the men. No one was lost. Alexander tells a good tale but the photographs are incredible. I've mentioned Frank Hurley, the photographer, before. He used whole plate (6 1/4" x 8 1/2") and half plate (4 1/4" x 6 1/2") plate cameras. As in glass plates. The photographs are printed well and show amazing detail that is typical of large negatives. Incredible photographs under the most primitive and dangerous conditions. And it was fucking cold!