Endurance - Shackleton's Transantarctic Expedition of 1914

A Rumbolo Family Web Site Production

Ernest Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914 - 1916. was to be the last great goal of Antarctic exploration following the reaching of the South Pole by Roald Amundsen in December 1912. In the words of Ernest Shackleton, the expedition's organizer and leader "After the conquest of the South Pole by Amundsen .... there remained but one great main object of Antarctic journeyings--the crossing of the South Polar continent from sea to sea".

The Trans-Antarctic Expedition was organized and lead by Sir Ernest Shackleton, a noted Antarctic explorer who had participated in Robert Scotts 1901 Discovery expedition and in 1907 he led the Nimrod expedition which came within 97 miles of reaching the South Pole, turning back only when perilously low on supplies.

Shackleton's goal was to travel from the Weddell sea side of Antarctica across the continent to the Ross Sea - a journey of roughly 1800 miles across the most inhospitable terrain on the planet. While Shackleton's attempt was to end in failure, the resulting struggle to survive is one of most inspiring achievements ever accomplished in the struggle for survival.

The Endurance, the expedition's ship, would be caught and eventually crushed in the Antarctic ice floes, stranding Ernest Shackleton and his party of 28 men on the Antarctic ice beyond hope of rescue. Over the next 22 months, under the leadership of Sir Ernest Shackleton these men would survive hunger, cold and deprivation. Eventually Shackleton and 5 other men would take an open boat across 800 miles of some of the most roughest waters in the world to reach help on South Georgia Island.

I first became familiar with this incredible story when I was 12 years old and read Alfred Lansing's work "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage". The indomitable spirit and energy of these men, particularly Shackleton's determination not to lose a single man has been an inspiration. Over the years I have collected a small library of books around the life of Ernest Shackleton, his Antarctic explorations and the crew of the Endurance.

This web site is a small tribute to a gallant group of explorers..............may their memory live on.

this site courtesy of

this site is a tribute to the heroism of sir Ernest Shackleton and the men of the endurance
All photographs by Frank Hurley, expedition photographer onboard the Endurance
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