Watching the NOVA episode on the Shackleton Expedition

Chmee · Post by **Chmee** » 2004-12-29 12:01am

Still the most amazing tale of human survival and ingenuity I know of ....

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-12-29 07:56am

I never saw the end of that show. I think I left off with when the small group of them get to the island where I think they expected to find some sort of help on the other side of the island.

I never did find out if they were able to rescue the rest of the men they left behind.

There are times when I am seriously impressed with the leadership in this group but there are other times when I just want to smack people for being such jackasses and getting themselves into that predicament in the first place.

Plus, they killed all the sled dogs.

kheegster · Post by **kheegster** » 2004-12-29 08:25am

Tsyroc wrote:
There are times when I am seriously impressed with the leadership in this group but there are other times when I just want to smack people for being such jackasses and getting themselves into that predicament in the first place.

Plus, they killed all the sled dogs.

It's called exploration. Not for exploitation, finding new resources, claiming lands for King and Country, but just to be the first to be there. Although there probably was a bit of glory and hat-waving crowds involved as well.

Their predicament is like that of Apollo 13, to take a more modern analogy, only that they required far more guts and old fashioned balls to get back (rowing a thousand miles in a leaky rowboat in freezing weather is no joke, I would imagine).

And I would think that Antartic exploration is significantly cheaper than the lunar landings...

Yes, they killed the sled dogs, but I think it was because they ran out of food to feed them.

Chmee · Post by **Chmee** » 2004-12-29 11:07am

The part where they kill the dogs is truly heartbreaking (for a dog lover, anyway). Yes, they ended up hiking overland across 22 miles of snow and glacier of South Georgia to the whaling station, and four months later (after 3 unsuccessful attempts) successfully rescued the men they'd left behind on Elephant Island. That's really the most amazing part of the tale, that Shackleton didn't lose ONE guy.

btw, when I was in Ireland I happened upon the pub founded by Tom Crean. Crean survived 2 of Scott's polar expeditions *and* Shackleton's journey (he was one of the guys who made the overland march at South Georgia). When he returned to County Kerry after the Shackleton journey, he opened a pub and never left Ireland again.

Smart man.

Tsyroc wrote:I never saw the end of that show. I think I left off with when the small group of them get to the island where I think they expected to find some sort of help on the other side of the island.

I never did find out if they were able to rescue the rest of the men they left behind.

There are times when I am seriously impressed with the leadership in this group but there are other times when I just want to smack people for being such jackasses and getting themselves into that predicament in the first place.

Plus, they killed all the sled dogs.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-12-30 11:30am

kheegan wrote: It's called exploration. Not for exploitation, finding new resources, claiming lands for King and Country, but just to be the first to be there. Although there probably was a bit of glory and hat-waving crowds involved as well.

Their predicament is like that of Apollo 13, to take a more modern analogy, only that they required far more guts and old fashioned balls to get back (rowing a thousand miles in a leaky rowboat in freezing weather is no joke, I would imagine).

That's probably part of my problem with it. Doing things for glory, with "balls" coming into play more than good planning. Your analogy of the space race is probably right on so I'm a little more understanding about the expedition now. Watching the show makes my toes and fingers ache thinking about the cold they had to deal with.

Yes, they killed the sled dogs, but I think it was because they ran out of food to feed them.

I understood why they killed the dogs, but it still made me feel bad. To me they were victims of poor planning and overconfidence (IMO) of the planners of the expedition.