Chasing Shackleton

March 31, 2014
Ninety-seven years after Sir Earnest Shackleton saved his crew of 22 by leading a five-man journey into the Arctic Ocean in a makeshift boat and climbing a glaciated mountain, Jarvis, an accomplished adventurer himself, led an expedition to re-create that momentous odyssey. To capture the true nature of the experience and understand the hardships Shackleton faced, Jarvis and his crew created a replica of Shackleton's boat and limited themselves to the same equipment and food their forbearers had at their disposal. After a summing up of Shackleton's achievements, the story gets a little bogged down in the logistics of modern explorationâhiring of a crew, equipment preparations, chasing sponsorships, finding TV partners, transportation. Still, Jarvis has a way with words and brings crew's journey as they come to fully realize what they've got themselves into. Featuring great photographs from both explorations, as well as cool maps and interesting vignettes on navigation, artic exploration, and climate change, this work, like the exploration it mirrors, never surpasses the original tales of Shackleton's journey, but it has enough excitement and lessons-to-be-learned to make for a fascinating read. 163 photos.

November 15, 2013
Polar explorer Jarvis (Mawson: Life and Death in Antarctica, 2008, etc.) takes on the re-creation of one of the most difficult treks imaginable. Trying to "double" Ernest Shackleton's (1874-1922) desperate trip 800 nautical miles across the Southern Ocean in a 23-foot boat followed by a 35 kilometer trek across South Georgia's heavily glaciated mountains requires a tight team with a strong leader. Shackleton had no choice as he altered his planned adventure of crossing Antarctica on foot from the Weddell Sea coast to the Ross Sea. After his ship, the Endurance, was trapped in the ice for more than a year, Shackleton set off in a reconfigured lifeboat with five men in search of rescue. It was the greatest survival journey of all time. After he was "asked by Shackleton's granddaughter to undertake this journey and was inspired to want to do it as the greatest survival story of the heroic era of exploration," the author's attempt to repeat this desperate journey began with finding sponsors, which took three years. The author was lucky in finding TV sponsors, although the trek was limited by filming requirements. They also had to travel three months before the period Shackleton's crew did due to permit requirements. The story of their journey is bone-chilling at the least and breathtakingly frightening. There are certain elements that will confuse nonsailors and nonclimbers, particularly terms never explained--e.g., katabatic winds, nunatak and bergschrund. The author's description of icy seas soaking the crew as they tried to sleep like sardines in the hold is not reading for the claustrophobic. Surely it was difficult enough to attempt this voyage, but as they accomplished it without modern (waterproof) clothing or navigational aids, it was a most remarkable feat. A well-written, compelling read begging for a warm fireside and a hot cup of cocoa.

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December 1, 2013

The incredible story of Ernest Shackleton's 1914-16 expedition to the South Pole and the arduous odyssey to rescue his stranded crew members that ensued never gets old. Jarvis (Mawson: Life and Death in Antarctica), a veteran polar explorer, gathered a crew to re-create Shackleton's travels from Elephant Island to South Georgia and then achieve the "double": hiking over the mountains and through the glaciers to reach Stromness. Not only would Jarvis and his crew sail in a replica of his boat, the James Caird, called the Alexandra Shackleton, they would sail and mountain climb using the same sort of clothing and gear and eating the same hoosh and sugary milk as Shackleton and his men. This book documents the mind-boggling amount of preparation that went into the planning, funding, and management of the trip, from boat-building to obtaining permits and from locating the ideal crew to getting everything to Antarctica. The voyage itself, however, reveals the real accomplishment of Shackleton and his men. The conditions of ferocious seas in a small boat and the rugged, unpredictable South Georgia terrain made the journey nearly impossible and underscore the achievements of the original survivors, who did it because they had to. VERDICT A labor of love for Shackleton groupies and armchair explorers. An accompanying PBS version will boost interest.--Melissa Stearns, Franklin Pierce Univ. Lib., Rindge, NH

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2013
Here's a book whose subtitle employs world's greatest accurately, speaking of Ernest Shackleton's astonishing 1916 Antarctic rescue. Author-adventurer Jarvis has re-created in nearly every detail that harrowing trip ( in a replica James Caird using traditional navigation and period gear and equipment ) across the Southern Ocean from Elephant Island to South Georgia and up and down its mountainous terrain. Though others have tried this and failed, Jarvis, with help and patronage from Shackleton's granddaughter Alexandra and a team of brave, seaworthy men, made it, and the expedition's nuts and bolts (financial, emotional, and literal) are detailed here, accompanied by fascinating quotes from the accounts of members of Shackleton's original journey. Nearly every page of this oversize book features a map, or an illustration, or a period or contemporary photo, from close-ups of gnarled hands stitching the replica sails and the boat-making process to the seagoing men sleeping, just barely, under reindeer-skin blankets. The PBS documentary tie-in will flesh out this thrilling tale, but the book itself is a treasure-trove of minutiae and derring-do for both explorers and those who will simply gaze in wonderment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)