Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Shackleton, one of the world's greatest adventurers


One of the greatest tales of survival in expedition history: Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 voyage to the Antarctic. Just one day's sail from the continent, the ship Endurance became trapped in sea ice.

Frozen fast for ten months, the ship was crushed and destroyed by ice pressure, and the crew was forced to abandon ship.

After camping on the ice for five months, Shackleton made two open boat journeys, one of which—a treacherous 800-mile ocean crossing to South Georgia Island—is now considered one of the greatest boat journeys in history.

Trekking across the mountains of South Georgia, Shackleton reached the island's remote whaling station, organized a rescue team, and saved all of the men he had left behind.

Some folks at the Google Earth Community have been putting together a tremendous collection of facts, placemarks, pictures, panorama shots, tracks, and other historical information. You can download the Shackleton "documentary" here (currently V3.0).

No comments: