Twenty-eight men.
One ship.
Six hundred and thirty-five days.

“Notice: Men wanted for harsh journey. Bitter cold. Small wages. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.”

This was the rumored advertisement Sir Ernest Shackleton used to recruit his crew for his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. The goal: to cross, on foot, the unconquered continent of Antarctica, from the Weddell Sea (the roughest seas in the world) to the Ross Sea. The doomed expedition set sail from England in the year 1914, making their way South.

The quarters were close. The men made due as best they could as they approached their destination. Soon they were alone, the last speck of humanity in a vast sea of indifferent floes of ice. For a time these floes provided a false sense of terra firma, and the crew used as playgrounds.
 

But then the floes showed their true nature, pressing in a deathly grip. The ship was trapped and the crew with it. Months of captivity but finally, the brave Endurance sang its last farewell as her sides were pierced by the crushing ice and it sank below. Miles and miles from civilization, they were twenty-eight men separated from icy death by a mere 6 feet of floe ice.

Their ship crushed and useless, the twenty-eight men made their way across the floes, dragging their supplies on sleds (with the aid of dogs). They made their way, inch by inch, to the edge of the floes, finally taking to the three life boats they'd managed to bring with them. With the brilliant talent of their Captain, Frank Worsley, they navigated first to a small desolate island named Elephant Island.
 

Afterwards, a select few -- Shackleton, his captain, and four others -- took to the sturdiest boat, the James Caird, and made a last ditch effort to go for help. They sailed 800 miles from Elephant Island to South Georgia, the last point of civilization. The rest remained behind, hoping beyond hope to see their leader and crew mates again; all hope of rescue lay in their hands. Through the genius of Shackleton's Captain, Frank Worsley, they made it. But it wasn't over yet. Finally landing on South Georgia on the wrong side of the island, Shackleton, Worsley, and Crean crossed through the uncharted frozen tundra of South Georgia to the whaling station of Stromness. And still, it wasn't over. Due to extreme ice conditions surrounding Elephant Island, it took Shackleton four months before he was able to rescue the rest of his crew.  That they survived is a testament to the leadership of Sir Ernest Shackleton. He kept the men motivated in the face of awesome obstacles. Not one man was lost.

Further Reading:

Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance
The Endurance
Shackleton's Captain, Frank Worsley
The James Caird Society
 

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