On 8th August, 1914, 27 men who had replied to an advertisement in The Times got on a ship leaving for the Antarctic. The name of the ship was the Endurance and the captain was an Irishman called Ernest Shackleton.
The goal of the journey was to cross the frozen continent through the South Pole﹣ a journey of 1, 800 miles. Shackleton thought the journey would last six months.
But when land came into sight, the Endurance became trapped in the ice. At that time, there was nothing they could do. And soon, pulling three lifeboats behind them.
After six days, bad weather forced them to give up and the men set up camps on a huge piece of ice which began slowly moving across the Antarctic Circle.
They survived on the ice for five months. Then, on 16th April, 1915, but much better than a floating piece of ice. When they reached the island, Shackleton came up with an idea﹣ it was a risk but he would have to take it. He and five men would take one of the lifeboats and sail 800 miles to South Georgia
It took Shackleton 17 days to reach South Georgia. Unluckily, he landed on the wrong side of the island and had to walk 36 hours over mountains to reach the camp. The whale hunters at the camp couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the six men walking down from the mountains.
Shackleton kept hispromise. More than three months later, he returned to Elephant Island to rescue the crew he had been forced to leave on the island. He had failed to reach the pole but he had saved the lives of all his men successfully.
