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Frank Arthur Worsley

F. A. Worsley

Shackleton's Boat Journey : The Narrative from the Captain of the 'Endurance' Mass Market Paperback – January 1, 1978

by F. A. Worsley (Author), Sir Edmund Hillary (Introduction)

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The astounding and inspiring true story behind the forthcoming Wolfgang Petersen film Endurance : the firsthand account of an incredible Antarctic adventure. "One of the great survival stories of all time."â€” Library Journal Frank A. Worsley was the captain of the H.M.S. Endurance , the ship used by the legendary explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton in his 1914-16 expedition to the Antarctic. On its way to the Antarctic continent the Endurance became trapped and then crushed by ice, and the ship's party of twenty-eight drifted on an ice floe for five months. Finally reaching an uninhabited island, Shackleton, Worsley, and four others sailed eight hundred miles in a small boat to the island of South Georgia, an astounding feat of navigation and courage. All hands survived this ill-fated expedition; as Worsley writes, "By self-sacrifice and throwing his own life into the balance, [Shackleton] saved every one of his men . . . although at times it had looked unlikely that one could be saved." "This remarkable book . . . shows [Shackleton] both luckless and lucky, and supremely cool and courageous throughout. Worsley writes without heroics . . . but makes us feel to the marrow the conditions that the party endured before all hands were rescued."â€” The New Yorker "Worsley's account of that journey is a breath-taking story of courage, skill and determination under the most appalling conditions."â€”Sir Edmund Hillary Illustrations

Print length

190 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Jove
Publication date

January 1, 1978
ISBN-10

0515044865
ISBN-13

978-0515044867
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Frank Arthur Worsley
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Jove; First Edition (January 1, 1978)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 190 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0515044865
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0515044867
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.01 pounds

Best Sellers Rank: #4,164,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.7 313 ratings

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Andrew Schonbek

Incredible Survival Tale, Beautifully and Humbly Told

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2007

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In the summer of 1914 Ernest Schackleton's ship Endurance became trapped in Antarctic ice in 53 degree below zero weather. The following winter, the ship was crushed and sank, leaving the crew to camp on the ice while eking out subsistence under unimaginable conditions. In April of 1916, the ice broke apart beneath their feet, and twenty eight men piled into the lifeboats they had rescued from the wreck of the Endurance.

These hair raising events are not part of the story of Shackleton's Boat Journey, but simply the preamble, described in less than a page, that sets the stage for the real action that is to follow.

The tale is told by F.A. Worsley, the Captain of the Endurance. And what a saga it is, as the entire crew barely makes it to Elephant Island and from there an advance party navigates across the raging, freezing ocean in a tiny boat, all the way to South Georgia Island, from which the balance of the crew are eventually rescued, without one man being lost.

What these men endured is beyond belief, yet Worsley recounts it humbly, with understatement, and with considerable grace. Here is an example of his prose:

"Squall by squall the wind grew fiercer and the sea heavier. Through a rift in the clouds the moon shone out on the stormy sea and for two minutes revealed the ghostly white uplands and glaciers of the island. Another squall blotted everything out. We heard whales blow right alongside. They may have been killers, but, whatever they were, a push from one of them would have capsized us. If they were killers we would have had a quicker end. Soon to our great relief they left us for some nobler quarry than dirty smelly little men in Burberry overalls".

It is amazing that in the midst of a Herculean struggle for survival the author was able to take note of beauty in what must have been a living hell, and to describe it so elegantly. Here for example, is his description of icebergs, "All the strange fantastic shapes rose and fell in a stately cadence, with a rustling, whispering sound and hollow echoes to the thudding seas, clear green at the water line, shading to a deep dark blue far below, all snowy purity and cool blue shadows above".

This combination of gripping action and poetic insight makes for a richly rewarding read.

Highly recommended.

18 people found this helpful

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A. Shutt

Powerful story

Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2007

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This book is an interesting first hand account of the Shackleton expedition and their journey by small boat to South Georgia Island. As a narrative by the captain of the Endurance, it can make for laborious reading, as it is not written as a spell-binding novel. As well, it requires some basic foreknowledge of the Shackleton expedition; their mission and the result. The Endurance sinks on the first page of this book, so there is really no background information about the expedition. If you know nothing about Shackleton, you probably should read a more comprehensive history before you read this book. If you already know a bit about it, though, this narrative provides an interesting look at their boat journey from the perspective of the captain. The details of the journey are clearly understated, but you can still gain a glimpse of the horrors of the voyage by reading between the lines. This was a nearly impossible journey, completed by tough and capable men who triumphed against the odds. The story is awe-inspiring and powerful, just make sure you have some background knowledge before you read it.

3 people found this helpful

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Mac the Lad

I enjoyed Worsley's relating of his own experience

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2016

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Often reading about polar explorers means only getting the view of the lead character, usually the "Boss" or the "Owner" of the expedition. These characters are in themselves well worth reading, but their fame often over shadows the other central figures who the expeditions could never have been made without. Worsley is such a figure. I enjoyed Worsley's relating of his own experience, modestly told, easy to read, and supplying the viewpoint of one of those central characters which puts so much more into the understanding of what the explorers were like as human beings. Shackleton often gets recognition for the great feat of the boat journey, as he should; he was an inspiring leader, but it was Frank Worsley's navigation in incredibly difficult conditions that got them to South Georgia.

6 people found this helpful

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sewin'sq

Gripping Narrative

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2012

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An engrossing first person narrative by one of the 6 men that accomplished the amazing, hair-raising 800 mile voyage from Elephant Island to S. Georgia Island in an open life boat, in order to accomplish the rescue of Shackleton's men left standed on the former island after the almost-2-yr survival in the ice floes of the Antactic when the ship had become trapped then crushed & sunk. I have read many different accounts of the whole heroic venture of the Endurance, her crew, and selfless & inspiring leader--Sir Ernest Shackleton. Each account gives a different perspective, & it is interesting to be able to put them all together for a fuller picture of the whole mission. Along with it also goes the story of the Ross Sea Party that had their own drama unfolding on the other side of the Continent at the same time. The entire saga is amazing and thoroughly engrossing!
Adding to the whole experience are the phenominal pictures taken and preserved by the expedition photographer, Frank Hurley--boy do these ever add to the drama! An amazing epic!

6 people found this helpful

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Jackbooted thug

An Epic true story

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2013

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One of the best books on history and leadership I've ever read. Many people are aware of the fate of the Endurance and Shackleton's voyage to save his men but few know of the details. This book, written by Worsley, tells those details in a fairly concise manner. Worsley was the Captain of the Endurance and accompanied Shackleton on the 800 mile open boat voyage to South Georgia. Worsley was clearly an intelligent man but not a writer. His writing style shows the reality of the danger without the excessive drama some authors would add. The book reveals the great danger and harsh conditions faced by the six men in that 22' boat. It also gives the reader insight into the intelligence and skill possessed by those dedicated sailors. Those men were tough, strong, brave and smart. The book is a quick read and I couldn't put it down. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone in a leadership role.

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SM

A deceptively simple account, but vastly more gripping for that.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 26, 2011

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This is the best and most famous account of the destruction of Shackleton's expeditionary endeavours in the Antarctic, both physically and aspirationally. Told by that most complete professional seaman and navigator, Frank Worsley, whom Shackleton was inspired to appoint as captain of the "Endurance", it has never been equalled as a straight and understated narrative of unrelenting hardship stoically and heroically endured. Told as it is with such economy of style, it is often essential to pause and take in just what it is this man is recalling. The very first page sets the tone. In three and a half lines their fine ship is caught in the ice, drifts with it, is crushed, the ship's boats, with great foresight, saved through enormous effort and got onto the ice, where on the broken floes they survive for three full seasons, moving meanwhile 800 miles in the wrong direction, before making the move to start saving themselves by launching the boats into perilous leads of sea. The voyages of the three boats bearing all the members of the expedition through every kind of peril - storms, fog, broken ice, savage cold and near-starvation - to a bare toehold on desolate Elephant Island, and from there by six picked men in the "James Caird" on the famous mission to South Georgia for help, forms the rest of this slim book. This indomitable crew, which included the master seaman, Worsley and the three iron Irishmen, Shackleton himself, Crean and McCarthy, got through the madness of the high latitudes of the Southern Ocean and made a miraculous landing on the island of South Georgia. Dividing into three again and after a brief rest, they set off to traverse the ice and snow of the mountains of the interior to the whaling station at the east end of the island, in itself another epic of endurance over 40 hours of slog for men who simply didn't know how to give up. Shackleton was able to organise a ship to rescue all of the crew. Not a single life was lost, which says much for Shackleton's great care, and even love, for his lionhearted men. Having left before the Great War, they returned in 1916 to a western Europe and an England where all was changed, changed utterly and forever.
Get this jewel of a book.now, happily, reprinted and read it slowly. Read between the lines and even the words, and try to feel what it must have been like to have been pitched against the worst of conditions in the most inhospitable place on earth, with none at all of any kind of communication to the outside world, and with only strength, courage, will and comradeship to rely on. You begin to realise, through these men, what Tennyson, in his "Ulysses", meant when he wrote, "To strive, to seek, to find, but not to yield". A great seaman, and a great and sparing writer too, and one who had an eye for beauty in the midst of struggle against Nature, Worsley has left us with an immortal testament to the nobility of man undergoing the ultimate test.

11 people found this helpful

N. W. Fowler

When men were men

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 2, 2022

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Having heard and read about Shackleton’s voyage of discovery to Antarctica in 1914, on his ship ‘Endurance’, I thought it would be interesting to read a detailed account of his rescue mission sailing in an open topped rowing boat across the Southern Ocean between Elephant Island and South Georgia in the most appalling conditions imaginable. That he, and five of his crew members, including his incredibly talented captain, Frank Worsley, actually succeeded in making the crossing and secured the rescue of all the men left on Elephant Island is incredible and nothing short of a miracle. This is a must read and tells of when men really were men.

Arianna

Perfect

Reviewed in Italy on March 6, 2023

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Consegna rapida prima del tempo indicato e condizioni del libro perfette, così come indicato nella descrizione

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magicaltrevor

Front cover image sums up heroic endeavour

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 11, 2012

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This book is perfect for anyone wanting to read in more detail about the incredible boat journey that Frank Worsley and five other men took from Elephant Island to South Georgia in the James Caird. Worsley's narrative fleshes out Shackleton's formal account of the Endurance expedition and gives a fascinating insight into the experiences of this group of survivors. Format-wise, the book is a retrospective account of the journey, interspersed with entries from Worsley's log written at the time.

Worsley includes a detailed explanation of how he navigated during the South Atlantic crossing, along with the challenges of navigation in partially unchartered waters. He also gives an insight into the pressure he was under at this time, knowing that the entire party's lives depended on his accurate navigation. His description of conditions aboard the boat are wince-inducing and it's staggering that any of them survived that journey, let alone the crossing of South Georgia's mountain ranges.

Worsley also sheds light on the care Shackleton took of his men, describing him as "fussy" and "almost womanlike" in his attentions to everyone's health. He recalls how Shackleton gave his last pair of dry socks to one of the men, regularly stayed awake so others could sleep longer and made everyone stop for a drink of hot milk if he thought one of the men was struggling.

There is a very good selection of glossy photographs in this book. Many are fairly famous but there are several that I had never seen before, including some of the sea camps and the whaling station at Grytviken. I would advise reading Shackleton's `South' before reading this, as his full account of the expedition puts Worsley's account of the latter half into context. After reading this book you will never again feel justified in complaining about being cold!

10 people found this helpful

mike

A very impressive account of a perilous sea journey

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 19, 2022

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Very focused on what is effectively the rescue mission and the boat journey to South Georgia.It is very succinct and a short read but captures the the drama and hardships of such an expedition perfectly.This is the Captains own story if you want to know more about The Boss ie Shackleton then I recommend Caroline Alexanders book which as is her way a very extensively researched account of both Shackleton the man and the mission.However I rate Worsleys' book as compulsive reading.

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