South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition 1914 1917

Ernest Shackleton sailed to the South Pole as the First World War broke out in Europe, intent on making the first ever trans-Antarctic crossing. [i]South![/i] is Shackleton's first-hand account of the epic expedition, which he described as the last great journey on earth.During the journey, their ship, the Endurance, became trapped by ice and was crushed, forcing the men to survive in and escape from one of the world's most hostile environments. With no hope of rescue, Shackleton and four others set sail in a small open boat on a 600-mile crossing to South Georgia. Shipwrecked on the uninhabited side of the island, they were forced into making the first ever winter crossing of the island, all the time threatened by brutal cold and hunger. [i]South![/i] solidified Shackleton's name as an explorer. The dramatic story, one of the most astonishing feats of Polar escapology, remains as enthralling as when it was first published in 1919.Stanfords Travel Classics feature some of the finest historical travel writing in the English language, with authors hailing from both sides of the Atlantic. Every title has been rest in a contemporary typeface and has been printed to a high quality production specification, to create a series that every lover of fine travel literature will want to collect and keep.

Hailed as "a rousing read" by The New York Times, this breathtaking chronicle of Antarctic exploration was written by expedition leader Sir Ernest Shackleton. In 1914 he and his 28-man crew boarded the ship Endurance and sailed away to do something no one had ever done: to traverse and chart the mostly unknown territory of the South Pole. But within weeks of their arrival, their vessel became trapped in ice, drifting helplessly for months before sinking and leaving the crew stranded on a melting ice floe. This account of the expedition's two-year struggle in one of the world's most uninhabitable regions relates a near-miraculous escape from multiple dangers: thousands of miles, traveled in lifeboats across tempestuous seas and in unforgiving landscapes of glaciers and icebergs; relentless cold; and the constant threat of starvation. A century later, Shackleton's firsthand account of the crew's harrowing experiences and their triumphant survival remains among the most thrilling adventure stories ever told.