Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance

Antarctica is the intended destination of the Endurance, although the ship never makes it there. Although the climate was semi-tropical 160 million years ago when it was connected to South America, Africa, and Australia as part of a “supercontinent,” (2), it eventually broke apart and drifted south, turning it into a “hostile place” covered in ice and glaciers. It contains 80 different varieties of ice, the majority of which is “a form of consolidated snow called firn” (48). There are also many different types of icebergs. Every year, up to 10,000 icebergs break off from glaciers and drift out into the Southern Ocean that surrounds the continent, depositing minerals into the water as they erode. The mineral-rich ocean is teeming with aquatic life but is also susceptible to massive storms that have caused numerous shipwrecks. The ocean water can “turn to ice” (50), pushing out salt in the process. This makes the ice, while dangerous, a good source of drinking water.

Until the 19th century, no one had seen the continent. It was first spotted in 1820 by a Russian Navy ship under Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. In 1840, explorer James Ross made it to land. By the end of the century, “more and more of the continent was mapped” (4), although the interior remained a mystery.