The Legendary Survival Story of Sir Ernest Shackleton | Hacker News Reader

The Legendary Survival Story of Sir Ernest Shackleton

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46 pointsgmays24 comments

Is Shackleton’s own book on the expedition, South, mentioned in anything more than a footnote? I can’t see that it is.

The book is really good.

The Endurance was found a matter of days ago. Extremely well preserved. https://youtu.be/H6kztLDU0xU

I don’t have time to watch the video, but I’ve been staring at the pictures since lunch today. Why is everything so well preserved? It’s astonishing!

IIRC, from the previously discussed article since trees aren't native to that environment, the microbes etc. that would normally exist in more moderate climates and would feed on the ship aren't present. So being submerged has actually helped preserve it.

That sounds plausible and super interesting. I was thinking about this tonight because the explanation that “it’s cold” seems incomplete to me. It’s certainly quite cold at the Titanic wreck and that thing seems to be mostly devoured by the sea at this point.

Wood doesn't rust.

Super cold water preserves them better. Less creatures nibbling for one.

Yes indeed—discussed a few days ago:

Endurance: Shackleton's lost ship is found in Antarctic - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30611859 - March 2022 (69 comments)

One of the great leaders of all time. Shackleton did not lose a single man during their 2 and a half year Arctic ordeal

One account I heard gave most of the credit to the ship's doctor.

Everyone played their part, and the doctor's was no doubt larger than many, but someone had to say "this is what we are going to do", and make it happen, when every option was most likely to end with everyone dying. The crew apparently had enormous trust in Shakleton's judgement and executive abilities, and I, in turn, will trust their judgement.

They also needed a lot of luck, but when the odds are that stacked against you, you can't afford to make many mistakes.

And only a few years later many of the survivors would be killed in WW1...

The other half of his expedition the Ross sea party lost 3 lives though

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Exp...

One of the deaths was due to a medical problem (possibly a consequence of scurvy), and the others occurred when Aeneas Macintosh, the leader of this part of the expedition, chose to cut across sea ice, with another expedition member, and they were blown out to sea by a storm. Macintosh had narrowly escaped from this fate in an earlier incident, but for the wind shifting and blowing them back again.

This was reportedly the job offer:

"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success."

(It's not proven that he actually posted this job offer)

I get that Shackleton is an icon of persistence, but counterpoint, his voyages and business ventures mostly ended in failure, and at one point while stranded in the ice he shot the ship's cat which he thought was a 'weakling'. I get he survived harsh conditions, but I'm not sure he's a role model to look up to.

I think that's more a function of where his expeditions were taking place. Everything had to line up perfectly for "success" in those sorts of environments and with the resources they had. The trick is knowing when to bow out gracefully and admit defeat (and just get yourselves out of there alive), something that Scott failed to do.

I'm more of a fan of Chippy McNish and captain Frank Worsley, some of the shit they pulled off is amazing, often having to battle Shackleton to do the right thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_McNish

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Worsley

His failures are more interesting than most peoples’s successes.

These takes are interesting, as invariably I think they don't give much thought into the context of the person in question. I'm not excusing the execution of the cat, it is indeed distasteful, however you're applying moral restrictions on his actions as an equal, i.e. from the context of our safe, armchair observer position. Would I randomly execute a cat in my position? Hell no. Can I guarantee under life or death survival situations my morality might malfunction? I'm quite sure of it.

In one of Sir John Franklin’s books about mapping parts of Canada he describes shooting a man because the chap has gone mad (if I remember well).

Shackleton was rather renowned for being, um, headstrong. If he got an idea in his head, that was what would happen, and how it would happen.

While this may have been endemic in them surviving, it was equally relevant in them ending up in the situation in the first place. Whalers at South Georgia, where they set in before heading for the continent, warned him that the sea ice conditions were unusual, and that he postpone a month for the sea ice to move. I forget which of his crews’ journals it was that has the account, but to say he was dismissive would be an understatement.

In addition, their provisioning was all over the place, he having paid more attention to which brand associations would be profitable than what would store well or provide adequate calories in the conditions. He did the same on his previous expedition, although the shortfall was made up for by pony meat, as the ponies, which he had been advised would be ill-suited to Antarctic conditions, were, unsurprisingly, ill-suited to Antarctic conditions. Oh, and he brought a car along, which also went as well as you’d expect.

I guess he’s a role model for the idea of move fast and break things, and for the idea that ignoring the advice and wisdom of others will get you into interesting situations.

Just want to say if you are interested in old time sea ice adventures “the terror” is a great show.

Great book, very enjoyable. The part with the sea lion has made me respect those animals a lot hah.

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