Chasing Shackelton: Re-Creating the World’s Greatest Journey of Survival, Tim Jarvis, 2013

A marvelously told marvelous tale about the recreation of Ernest Shackleton’s incredible voyage of 1914-1916.  Shackleton (b. 1874-d.1922) led an expedition which left England just before WWI began and was to land at the S. American end of Antarctica and then be the first to cross the continent, meeting another ship which was to dock at the Australian side of Antarctica.  Experiencing the coldest winter in history, the Endurance became locked in the pack ice and was destroyed.  ES and his 27 men crew survived 10 months on the stricken ship, five months on the shifting pack ice , and a five day open sea journey to reach Point Wild  on Elephant Island.  From that site, ES and five men sailed the James Caird  800 miles with dead reckoning through the fiercest seas and weather on the planet to reach King Hanaakon Bay on South Georgia Island.  ES and two others then climbed mountains, traversed glaciers, and reached Stromness on the eastern coast of S. Georgia Island in a 36 hour heroic trek and the 27 men on Elephant Island were rescued by a Chilean ship.  Jarvis works for years to raise the money, the insurance, the crew, and the sponsors (TV included) to reproduce ES’s heroic journey.  Building the Alexandra Shackleton (named for ES’s granddaughter) to the same specs and sailing with five others (2 world class sailors, a Royal Marine, a cameraman, the boat builder), Jarvis completes the sail and makes the hike despite losing five others scheduled to do it as well to injuries and health issues.  The story is told well with spectacular photographs and is a fitting triumph to Shackleton, ‘the Boss’, who sadly died six years after the dramatic rescue on his return to South Georgia.