Riffenburgh recounts this journey in riveting detail, describing how Shackleton and his crew survived under harrowing conditions, sometimes brought on by their own tactical misjudgments, like the decision to rely heavily on ponies to carry supplies across the frozen landscape. The story also offers vital clues to Shackleton's personality, revealing how he first went to the Antarctic in order to impress his girlfriend and, more importantly, examining the competitive rivalry between Shackleton and fellow explorer Sir Robert Scott.

 

Scott had sent Shackleton home from an earlier expedition for health reasons, and when Shackleton vowed to return to Antarctica in part to prove he was strong enough to make it, Scott viewed it as a threat to his own plans and unfairly extracted a promise from his former crewman not to use "his" base camps, adding further complications to the journey. For those who thrilled to the Endurance saga, Riffenburgh offers an equally gripping adventure, which laid the foundations of Shackleton's capacity for brilliant leadership under pressure.

 

Much has been written about Shackelton's Antarctic expedition, during which his ship, Endurance, was trapped in the ice of the Weddell Sea and crushed, and about his open-boat journey to South Georgia, his crossing of that island's mountains, and the rescue of his men. What Riffenburgh believes were Shackelton's "most significant geographical accomplishments, greatest deeds, and most momentous decisions" were attained on the previous expedition that he led -- the British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-9, aboard Nimrod, a former whaler.

 

The members of this expedition not only achieved remarkable scientific results but also became the first to climb Mount Erebus and first to reach the South Magnetic Pole. It was for these exploits that Shackleton was knighted and received his greatest acclaim during his lifetime. Riffenburgh's book is based on original sources-- diaries, journals, letters, and papers of the expedition's members--and is the first study of that expedition since Shackleton's account, The Heart of the Antarctic, published in 1909.

 

New hardcover with Dust Jacket.