Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World
Jennifer Armstrong
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2000 Random House
ISBN: 0375810498

The true story of Shackelton & The Endurance.

“MEN WANTED: FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS, CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL. HONOUR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS. SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON”

This was the advertisement the expedition leader placed in a London newspaper. 27 men responded.

To meet the crew in full do check out:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackleton/1914/team

I listened to Audio Bookshelf's four tapes (which sadly had no notes at all) read by Taylor Mali. In this reckless 1914 expedition, just as The War to End All Wars broke out, Sir Ernest Shackleton & his crew sailed from England with the intent to cross Antarctica from one side to the other.

What they in fact did, trekking hundreds of miles in search of Elephant Island after the Endurance froze over & was crushed, has gone into the annals of epic human effort. Shackelton's open sea journey in a lifeboat in the middle of nowhere, in search of the whaling village on South Georgia Island, is awesome, as too their trek over the island to safety. In the face of crushing odds they all survived 19 months without contact with the outside world -- this was long before cell phones, satellites & GPS.

That all returned to tell their tales is astonishing. That several crew members later were killed fighting in the trenches of WWI is a sad irony.

Jennifer Armstrong has recreated this survival story of legendary travail with 10 year-olds in mind. It is simply & rivetingly told.

One of the houses at my boarding school was named after this intrepid explorer so I knew a little of his derring deeds. Of his having survived & brought every one of his men home in relatively intact condition -- the stowaway did lose some toes to frostbite. Shackleton went on to enjoy a few years of worldwide celebrity (the retired headmistress of our school heard him speak) before the Great White South drew him back in the 1920s where he suffered two heartattacks & was buried in South Georgia Island. The other houses were Shakespeare, Nelson & Scott.

You have to get the map out & follow their trek over melting icepacks during the brief summers where the temperature rises a hair's breadth above freezing & the long, long night of winter when ultra-subzero weather howled & growled around their flimsy tents & the then top-of-the-line expedition wear of wool. The list of their stores, what they ate, the games they played to keep their spirits up, the descriptions of the many forms of ice & snow, & their dog teams, are fascinating.

Jennifer Armstrong has captured, from journals, memoirs, & speaking engagement notes, the energy & character of these explorers of yesteryear.

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World is a thrilling experience & Taylor Mali's reading, with his grasp of the many accents of the crew, is memorable. The book has over 40 black & white photographs, saved from the hundreds Frank Hurley had to discard.

More from Jennifer Armstrong, an award-winning author:
Black-Eyed Susan
The Dreams of Mairhe Mehan & more!
(11/16/03)

Rebecca