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SAILOR ON ICE: TOM CREAN WITH SCOTT IN THE ANTARCTIC 1910-13

DAVID HIRZEL'S NEW BOOK ABOUT ONE OF THE BRAVEST AND TOUGHEST OF ANTARCTIC EXPLORERS

David Hirzel's appealing new book about Tom Crean

A valuable new book about Tom Crean has now been published by Terra Nova Press. Sailor on Ice: Tom Crean with Scott in the Antarctic 1910-13 explores the part played by the great Irish legend and polar pioneer Tom Crean on Scott's last Terra Nova expedition, during the crucial period between his Discovery and Shackleton's Nimrod expeditions and Crean's later role on the Shackleton Endurance expedition.

Sailor on Ice is part of an emerging Tom Crean Trilogy: David Hirzel will go on to investigate Crean's role, triumphing against the odds, in the Imperial Transantarctic Expedition (1914-16) led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, and his contribution to Scott's first expedition of 1901-4.

Buy 'Sailor on Ice from Amazon UK at an excellent price (currently £11.24; this may change)
Buy 'Sailor on Ice' from Amazon US at an excellent price (currently $18.50; this may change)

David Hirzel chats with Tom Crean in Annascaul, County Kerry

David Hirzel is a widely acclaimed author whose interest in Scott, Shackleton and Tom Crean dates back several decades. He has been involved in filmmaking and also in live reenaction of the life of Tom Crean and others, notably the Arctic explorer Francis Crozier. More details can be found on David's own personal website.

Visit David Hirzel's website to explore his writing and achievements
His other website, 'Antarctic Discovery', offers a wonderful day-by-day evocation of life in the Antarctic as it was a century ago. He achieves this by allowing the Golden Age explorers - not just the leaders but the crew members - to describe day to day living in their own words, by means of evolving everyday diary entries, each dating from exactly a century ago.

Visit the Antarctic Discovery website and view the many diary entries

The Antarctic Discovery website, where you can find extracts from many key diaries, and much else

Also celebrated as a performer, devoted to preserving the feel of how life was in those pioneering early days, David Hirzel received the NPS Pacific West Region Individual Volunteer Award for 2007. As a long-time volunteer he also spends the second Saturday of most months on Hyde Street Pier taking part as a lead member of the Living History group - dedicated volunteers who bring the past to life wearing period costumes from the early 1900s.

On the main deck of the Balclutha, David Hirzel ('Chips') is thanked for his volunteer work with the Living History group by Terry Dorman, the park's volunteer coordinator

On Tom Crean, David writes, 'Some men are born for the sea. They run away to it early in life, and it shapes their adolescence and young manhood, their view of themselves and the world, and everything that follows. Tom Crean was one such a man.'

As Amazon reports, 'There are more famous names than Tom Crean’s from the "heroic age" of Antarctic exploration, but there are few stories as compelling as his. The Antarctic is a harsh place of bitter cold and darkness, where only the strong and resourceful can hope to survive. Crean was such a man. Time and again he was one of three--at times the only one--whose courage in the face of insurmountable odds saved the lives of his companions. Had he weakened and failed, the lives of all might well have been lost, and their stories remained untold. He left no diary or book; his few letters speak modestly of his exploits, if at all.

Tom Crean: Sailor on Ice tells the story of a common man in uncommon circumstances, who met every challenge as it came with steadfast purpose. If he knew fear, he never showed it. Sailor on Ice goes with him from England to the Antarctic plateau, and back. We share his trials as they happen—the thrill of discovery, the danger of the sea-ice, the terror of extreme isolation, the tragedy of the deaths of his closest friends. Tom Crean was not most renowned of the explorers during those early years of Antarctic discovery. For that, the palms go to Shackleton, Amundsen, and Scott, with the names of other remarkable leaders - Nordenskjöld, Larsen, Filchner, Mawson, Shirase, de Gerlache, Charcot - not far behind. Other men, better educated and connected, would publish the stories of hardship and adventure that astonished the world. Crean’s name is occasionally mentioned in these works, as it should be; his was a distinguished career of service, not as a leader, but as a seaman.

His story is not one of trial and privation leading to a tragic end, because without one man’s endurance and unflinching resolve in the face of hopeless adversity, there would be no survivors. The familiar names belong to those who claimed to lead, but those who lead are nothing without those who come a few steps behind, hauling the gear, pitching the camp, walking the long walk, steadfast, enduring. Without them, there would be no leaders. There would be no survivors, and no story to be told.'

'A sailor’s world is defined by the boundaries set by the rail of his ship. The call of the ice is not so different from the call of the sea. The horizon is much the same, the sky above as blue. The ice below has taken the place of water as far as the eye can see. The ice can assume many colors: azure, lemon, topaz, aquamarine. Its undulations and sudden motions are as treacherous as a rogue wave to the unwary traveller. Some men are born with a love of this.

'The sound of brash ice scraping along the side of the ship with a sound like broken glass shaken in a box is a lullaby to their ears, a familiar song they know long before the first time the hear it. The ever present knowledge that their ship might be gored by a floe and sink without a trace only serves to heighten their desire.

'"What the ice gets, the ice keeps": Sir Ernest Shackleton was referring to more than the doomed Endurance splintering under the irresistible pressure of sea-ice in motion. Shackleton had known the siren call of the unbroken plain of the Barrier ice, the slow-motion rapids of the glacier, the bleak white desert of the plateau, the coldest place on earth. A host of other explorers had followed the call of the ice and come home with tales of wonder and suffering, as though the two experiences were somehow unalterably linked. Tom Crean heard it too.'

Sailor on Ice, about Tom Crean, is available as a book or an audiodrama

Furthermore, 'A sailor must be competent to handle the wheel of a huge ship, to know how read the tell-tale signs of changing wind guide the vessel through the caprice of unseen current. He must be skilled in many trades—rigging and lashing, cobbling, carpentery—and adaptable enough to learn on the spot any others that might be required of him. None of this is new to modern-day sailors, but it might be to landsmen or officers who had come into their rank through education or family connection.

'Naval and merchant sailors have always had a professional disdain, each for the others’ service. The Navy seemed always to have on hand far more seamen for the job than were actually required, while the merchant service had far too few. "What is drill for the Navy is a job of work for a merchant sailor", goes the saying; and there is some truth to it. But the Navy offers more consistent training and advancement, and by 1900 far better treatment to its sailors, and better protection of their rights at sea and ashore.

'When Scott was assembling the crew for his 1901-1904 Discovery expedition, he was most interested in recruiting 'bluejackets': men with Royal Navy experience, devoted to duty and amenable to the demands of naval discipline that would be needed in the close quarters of the ship during the long dark polar winters of the far South. The career seamen of the Royal Navy would be well adapted to the novel routines that must be imposed in this strange and dangerous new land.'

NEW POLAR BOOK 'COLD PLACES' FROM PHOTOGRAPHER SUE FLOOD

FOREWORD BY THE HON. ALEXANDRA SHACKLETON, PLUS A SPECIAL OFFER TO MEMBERS

The award-winning and best-selling photographer Sue Flood has a new book of photos out called Cold Places published in March 2011 by Tangent Books. The foreword is by the Hon. Alexandra Shackleton, President of the James Caird Society.

The cost of the book in the UK is £25.00 (plus £4.90 postage/p&p). However members of the James Caird Society can purchase the book from Sue at the special Society discount of £5.

Contact Sue Flood for a copy at the discounted rate for members of the James Caird Society
The book was picked as Lonely Planet magazine's 'Book of the Month' for June 2011.

Photographer Sue Flood's striking new book 'Cold Places', which includes both Antarctic and Arctic views; published by Tangent Books. It was chosen as Lonely Planet's book of the month in June 2011

'Cold Places, Sue Flood writes, 'is both a book of some of my favourite images and a record of some of the most spectacular places and memorable animals of the polar regions.

'I fell in love with the Canadian Arctic on my first BBC filming trip there in 1998 and have since enjoyed more than 30 trips to the polar regions – working on documentaries and feature films, guiding private individuals and on expedition ships voyaging to the North Pole and south to the Antarctic Peninsula, the Ross and Weddell Seas and the sub-Antarctic islands. I’ve had some great adventures in the polar regions, including camping on the floe edge with Inuit hunters in the Canadian high-Arctic, watching polar bears hunting, diving with leopard seals in the Antarctic, working on Russian icebreakers and sailing across the Drake Passage on a very small yacht.

Sue Flood in action in one of the places she loves best - Antarctica. The locals seem interested.

I’m passionate about what I do - and I hope that comes across in my images so that people will be inspired to want to protect the wildlife and ecosystems I’ve been fortunate enough to photograph.'

Cold Places has 160 pages, and is available directly from the author (payments are via Paypal) or from the publisher, Tangent Books.

Contact the author to obtain her latest book 'Cold Places' at the JCS members' discounted rate

The Ross Sea Ice Barrier - an awe-inspiring photo from Sue Flood's various polar visits

Sue Flood's camera captures dramatic and threatening weather gathering over the Ross Sea

Sue Flood is a photographer and wildlife filmmaker, whose speciality is polar and marine environments, as well as other documentary subjects. After studying Zoology at Durham University she joined the wildlife production company 'Survival Anglia', before moving to the BBC where she spent 11 years working for its renowned Natural History Unit in Bristol.

Visit Sue Flood's website to see this and other books
She was an Associate Producer on the award-winning BBC series The Blue Planet', and more recently worked on Planet Earth. This took her to the Arctic, the Antarctic and the South Pacific, where she obtained unique images of hitherto unfilmed animal behaviour. Her four films for the BBC were Polar Bears on Thin Ice, A Boy Among Polar Bears (looking at the relationship between the Inuit and wildlife in the Canadian Arctic around Baffin Island), Killer Whale Special and Life of Mammals. Her photographic highlights include diving with humpback whales in the South Pacific, face-to-face encounters with leopard seals in the Antarctic, filming polar bears in the Arctic, and photographing the wildlife of Namibia and Botswana.

The Lemaire Channel, the famously picturesque (if dangerous) strait off Graham's Land behind the Antarctic Peninsula, captured in Sue Flood''s superb and unique shot, with the land mirrored in the pure blue waters of the strait

one of Sue's many superb views of the Antarctic ice formations

In 2005 she left the BBC to pursue her wildlife photography career. She is now a professional photographer whose clients include the BBC, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and private corporate organisations.

Sue often works with prizewinning documentary and wildlife cameraman Doug Allan, who was one of the key cameramen on The Blue Planet and Planet Earth. Together they set up Tartan Dragon Ltd in 2003, the company through which they now make their own films.

Sue's photographer colleague Doug Allan's website.
See Doug Allen's biography (with pictures)
View details of their available stock photo libraries

Doug Allan filming on the ice floes at Svalbard, the Arctic archipelago at the far north of Norway

Sue's images have been published in books and magazines worldwide including BBC Wildlife, several BBC books, Geo, National Geographic books, National Wildlife in the US, and the national press in the UK, USA and worldwide.

'Cold Places' is also available from Amazon
Tangent Books, publishers of Cold Places
She is represented by Getty Images, Nature Picture Library and OSF, and hopes to use her photography to further conservation efforts and awareness.

See a range of Sue Flood's striking Polar and other images on her website
Some of Sue's wonderful early photos of astonishing wildilfe from the Antarctic are shown below. More can be found on her website.

NEW BOOK: THE QUEST FOR FRANK WILD

BOOK LAUNCH 1ST AUGUST 2011

Angie Butler's new book exploring aspects of Frank Wild's that had not yet been unearthed. The picture on the cover is by Frank Hurley

Angie Butler's new book The Quest for Frank Wild tells the gripping story of her determination to unravel the truth of the final years of Frank Wild, Shackleton's trusted deputy and widely recognised as one of not just the greatest Edwardian explorers but one of the greatest Polar explorers of all time.

Frank Wild in uniform: usually he only wore this in the UK and on formal occasions

John Robert Francis (Frank) Wild, the eldest of 11 children from a Yorkshire family that later moved to Bedfordshire, was a veteran of five Antarctic Expeditions and the only man to achieve four Polar medals.
Wild went to sea at 16, in 1890, with the Merchant Navy, and joined the Royal Navy when he was 26.In 1901 he was serving as an Able Seaman aged 27 on HMS Edinburgh, in Sheerness; that year he joined Scott's Discovery as a sailor, and there he befriended Shackleton. He then served on Shackleton's Nimrod expedition, and was one of the four to achieve Furthest South, within 180 km of the South Pole. He led the Western Party on Mawson's Australian expedition 1911-13, and was Shackleton's no. 2 on the Endurance expedition, taking command of the 22 men marooned on Elephant Island. Lastly he was no. 2 on the Quest expedition and completed it as commander following Shackleton's death in January 1922.

Read Frank Wild and his Polar medals and other awards (pictured)
The end of Wild's life remains a puzzle. He supposedly died in penury, unable to come to terms with Ernest Shackleton’s death and forgotten by his fellow men in the small mining town of Klerksdorp near Johannesburg.

Wild looks clearly older here; but note the photo from Mawson's _Aurora_ below

The little that was known of his later life in South Africa has been distorted by hearsay and sensational journalism. Most tragically of all, no-one knew where he was buried. An outstanding man, lost in life and finally lost in death.

The author’s seven-year journey finally uncovers an extraordinary untold story, and by doing so not only fulfils Wild’s wish to have his Memoirs published, but ultimately makes an astonishing discovery.

read about the new book and how to obtain a copy

These book and Wild's original unfinished Memoirs on which it focuses make up a unique account of a major personality of Edwardian Polar exploration, and one of its outstanding heroic figures.

Read about Wild, including his later life, on Wikipedia

Frank Wild relaxes and keeps warm below deck on Endurance - photo by Frank Hurley

Wild with others (Watson, Dovers) on the Mawson expedition 1911-13

Leif Mills' biography of Wild was the only one published hitherto

READ SHACKLETON'S BOOK 'SOUTH' LIVE ON THE WEB

It is now quite easy to access a copy of Shackleton's own books, covering the story of the Nimrod, the Endurance and the James Caird, freely on the web.

Shackleton's 'South' the story of the 1914-16 'Endurance' expedition

Shackleton's book South, which embraces the ill-fated 1914-16 Imperial Transantarctic Expedition, can be accessed via the 'Cool Antarctica' website, which links to the Project Gutenberg historic texts facility. The chapters are reproduced, so navigation is easy and convenient. South is also reproduced, chapter by chapter, at the University of Adelaide's website, and can be confirmtably downloaded onto your computer direct from (amongst others) project Gutenberg.

Access and download the Project Gutenberg version of 'South' direct
The story of the James Caird's perilous 800-mile trip, taken from Alfred Lansing's landmark biography of the explorer, and packed full of fascinating detail, can also be found at an enjoyably offbeat site entitled 'Cap'n Crusty's Sailing Board'.

Read Alfred Lansing's book on Shackleton

BOOK ON WILLIAM BAKEWELL, THE AMERICAN ABOARD ENDURANCE

ICE, SEAS AND TERRA FIRMA

The book about Shackleton's American crewman William Bakewell

Jim Aanstos writes to say that 'The American on Endurance: Ice, Seas and Terra Firma - Adventures of William L. Bakewell' is now available direct from the new website of the publishers, Dukes Hall.

Alluding to the 1914-16 expedition as 'one of the greatest survival stories of the 20th Century', the book's cover is illustrated with a handsome black and white sketch of Endurance passing through the ice, before she was trapped, by Bakewell's shipmate Walter How.

The book, edited by Bakewell's daughter Elizabeth, and signed by her (if obtained direct from the publishers), is in paperback and has 204 pages, ISBN 0974913405.

Visit the publisher's website for details
Read a Bakewell biography at Cool Antarctica site

NEW BOOK ON IRISH ANTARCTIC PIONEERS BY MICHAEL SMITH

FEATURING IRISH POLAR HEROES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT

the cover of Michael Smith's welcome new book

The life of Timothy McCarthy, the stalwart of the James Caird voyage, is revealed for the first time in Michael Smith's new book about Ireland's great Antarctic explorers - including Sir Ernest Shackleton.

The book is called 'Great Endeavour - Ireland's Antarctic Explorers', and is published by the Collins Press.

It deals with 200 years of Antarctic exploration, starting with Bransfield and Crozier in the early 19th century, moving on to Crean and Shackleton in the 20th, and finally the modern day travellers such as Mike Barry and Pat Falvey.

The book contains the most comprehensive account ever published about the lives of Edward Bransfield, Patrick Keohane, Robert Forde and the McCarthy brothers, Mortimer and Tim, plus many previously unseen photographs.

Details on the publishers website - www.collinspress.ie , or see Michael Smith's own website at www.micksmith.co.uk

Visit the Collins Press website
Visit Michael Smith's website for details of this and other books

DICTIONARY OF FALKLANDS BIOGRAPHY IS NOW READY

PUBLICATION DATE JUNE 2009

The widely-awaited Dictionary of Falklands Biography (encompassing South Georgia), supervised by a distinguished Editorial Board led by JCS member David Tatham CMG, Governor of the Falkland Islands from 1992-1995, has now been completed and is with the printer.

Order a copy

A form for ordering the Dictionary can be printed off by clicking on the picture

It is published in hardback and will be available and on sale from June 2009.

The Dictionary is a handsome and substantial publication - 576 pages long, with 360 illustrations, many of them in full colour. The 400 meticulously researched biographical entries include Captain John Davis, Richard Hawkins, Captain Cook, T.G.T. von Bellingshausen, James Weddell, Sir James Clark Ross, Charles Darwin, Otto Nordenskjöld, Carl Anton Larsen, Søren Berntsen, Bernt Sørensen, F. D. Omanney and Sir Ernest Shackleton.

The list of some 170-plus contributors includes JCS illuminati Harold Briley, Robert Burton, Patrick Fagan, Alan Gurney, Robert Headland, Keith Holmes, Peter Pepper, Ann Savours, Alexandra Shackleton, Nigel Sitwell, Charles Swithinbank, Ronnie Spafford, David Tatham, David Taylor and Peter Wordie.

List of contributors to the Dictionary of the Falkland Islands

Captain Carl Anton Larsen (1860-1924), the Norwegian explorer whose rescue achievement must have retained a strong influence on Ernest Shackleton's imagination during the events surrounding Endurance in 1914-16

Cornelia Lüdecke of Hamburg University supplies scholarly pieces on Wilhelm Filchner, H.W. Klutschak, Ludwig Kohl-Larsen and C.W.O. Schrader; and Carlos Novi several insightful studies of Hispanic and South American connections with the Falklands. Stephen Palmer covers, among others, Governor William Allardyce. Geoffrey Hattersley-Smith offers valuable articles on John Blyth, RS Boumphrey, Duncan Carse and WG Richards and from the pen of the 2nd Earl Jellicoe came a valuable portait of his friend Edward, Lord Shackleton, son of the explorer, whose centenary falls in July 2011. The Editor himself from his wide experience furnishes some 60 enlightening articles and collaborates on five others.

The cost of this very handsome dictionary in hardback is £33 plus £9 p&p = £42 in the UK; 62 Euros, including postage, in Europe; and $100, including surface mail postage, in the United States, Australia and South America.

Hot off the press: order your own copy of the new Falkland Islands Dictionary

Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen (1778-1852), the outstanding Russian polar navigator

The Dictionary is a crucial and outstanding contribution to Falkland Island studies, with which Ernest Shackleton and his son the late Lord Shackleton were closely associated, and can be ordered direct from the Editor using the order form linked to below.

Dictionary of Falkland Islands Port Stanley 1 400 290

Port Stanley: a larger version of this thumbnail is available, and many other pictures can be browsed, at www.allposters.com

David Tatham CMG, former Governor of the Falkland Islands and Editor of the new Dictionary, with Hon. Alexandra Shackleton (photo: Rob Stephenson)

BIRLINN BOOKS REISSUE 'SHACKLETON'S BOAT JOURNEY'

FRANK WORSLEY'S LEGENDARY ACCOUNT IS NOW AGAIN AVAILABLE

'Shackleton's Boat Journey' - the classic book reissued by Birlinn Books

Good news for Shackleton enthusiasts. Edinburgh publishers Birlinn Books have just reprinted their fine paperback edition of 'Shackleton's Boat Journey', by the Endurance's skipper Frank Worsley.

As the navigator aboard the James Caird, responsible for all the key decisions and navigational fixings, Worsley was in many ways the person best placed to recount in detail the story of the six-man crew's 800-mile boat journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia. His command of both style and detail are outstanding, and the full danger, anxiety and terror of the crossing which came so close to ending the lives of all six, and as the cover recalls, the 'feat of courage and fortitude' on which the lives of 22 others depended are all brought out superbly.

See details of the book and how to order it
Worsley's three-part narrative (in an earlier incarnation it was entitled 'The Great Antarctic Rescue') is gripping from start to finish, and tells the story of the arduous escape from the ice to to Elephant Island, the boat journey in a day by day account starting with Easter Monday, 24th April 1916, and the crossing of South Georgia. There are many illustrations, of both Endurance and the James Caird prior to her departure. Birlinn include a perceptive, instructive and concise four-page introduction by Hugh Andrew.

Visit the Expedition's website

The book (143pp, ISBN 9781841580630) is published at £9.99, and Birlinn have also reissued South, Shackleton's own full account of the 1914-16 Endurance expedition (ISBN 9781841581187), also at £9.99. Just to underline Birlinn's Antarctic credentials, 'No More Beyond', their biography of polar explorer and pioneer Hubert Wilkins by Simon Nasht, was published hardback in October 2007, price £25.

View the Birlinn books catalogue

Shackleton's 'South' has also been republished by Birlinn at £9.99. Click here, or details from www.birlinn.co.uk

HUBERT WILKINS: BIRLINN BOOKS' NEW BIOGRAPHY OF AN INTREPID POLAR PIONEER

A new biography of one of the Antarctic's great originals has just been published. No More Beyond: The Life of Hubert Wilkins, by Simon Nasht, celebrates the life and achievements of the Australian explorer Hubert Wilkins.

No More Beyond is published at £25 (Hardback) by Edinburgh publishers Birlinn Books, celebrated as the publisher of Alexander McCall Smith's hugely successful No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books.

Read more about the new Hubert Wilkins book, and buy it at Birlinn Books
A pioneer of photo-journalism during World War I, described by one general as ‘the bravest man I have ever seen’, Wilkins is the only Australian war photographer to be twice decorated in battle. He achieved fame in the 1920s by becoming the first man to fly extensively over the Antarctic wilderness. No one in the great age of Polar exploration discovered and charted more previously unknown areas of sea and landmass.

Simon Nasht's splendid new book on Polar pioneer Hubert Wilkins is available from the Publishers, Birlinn Books (0845 370 0067, www.birlinn.co.uk)

Not content with going over the great white continent, Wilkins then went under it, becoming the first man to navigate a submarine under the Polar ice. In his day he was the darling of pioneering Newsreel, as well as decorated war hero, spy, adventurer, ornithologist and perhaps the last of a generation for whom the Antarctic was a great unknown mystery.
He travelled round the world in the Graf Zeppelin, survived crashes, disasters, firing-squads, sabotage and capture by Arab slavers, and happily lived long enough to be honoured by kings, presidents and dictators.

Buy the Hubert Wilkins book at Birlinn Books
No More Beyond: The Life of Hubert Wilkins can be ordered directly directly from Birlinn Books by clicking on the blue link above. Also by Phone from BookSource on 0845 370 0067 (+ 44 845 370 0067 from outside the UK); and by Post by sending your order and delivery address/details enclosing a Sterling Cheque for £25 (made payable to Booksource) to: Birlinn Mail Order, BookSource, 50 Cambuslang Road, Glasgow G32 8NB. Post and packing is free in the UK (for overseas orders, please add 30%, or £7.50 per book).

SHACKLETON'S BOAT

BY HARDING MCGREGOR DUNNETT

Shackleton's Boat - The Story of the James Caird is the first and only book exclusively about the James Caird, the 23 foot whaler in which Sir Ernest Shackleton made his epic voyage from Antarctica to South Georgia, thus saving the lives of his entire crew. An epic tale of courage and endurance, it was the most famous open boat journey in history.

Harding Dunnett's book Shackleton's Boat - the only biography of the small vessel which saved Shackleton's and his men's lives

This beautifully produced, fully illustrated book, written and designed by Harding McGregor Dunnett (1909-2000), founder of the James Caird Society and a leading authority on Shackleton, is the first and only book
devoted exclusively to the the James Caird, the small boat in which Shackleton made his famous rescue journey, now preserved at Dulwich College

Harding Dunnett was closely involved with the restoration of Shackleton's boat theJames Caird to its former glory and its display to this day in the North Cloister at Dulwich College.

Shackleton's Boat traces the entire history of the James Caird from its commissioning in London's Docklands by Frank Worsley through its two perilous journeys and colourful subsequent life to its present resting place at Dulwich.

Shackleton's Boat is published by Neville and Harding Ltd. in hardback, large format (Crown Quarto, 25cm x 19cm), price UK £20 plus £2.50 postage and packing (Overseas: US$50 or E40 Euros, inc. postage/shipment) and includes 160 pages with l80 photographs, drawings, diagrams and maps, many of them unique and not previously published. ISBN : 0 948028 02 5.

SHACKLETON: THE ANTARCTIC AND ENDURANCE

EDITED BY DR.JAN PIGGOTT, F.S.A.

This handsome catalogue to the 2000 Dulwich College Shackleton exhibition, fully illustrated in colour, with a foreword by Shackleton's granddaughter, the Hon. Alexandra Shackleton (President of The James Caird Society), includes half a dozen highly informative and well-researched new essays :

'The Last Hurdle - following Shackleton's footsteps across South Georgia' by mountaineer Stephen Venables; 'Shackleton and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration' and 'Principal Expeditions during the Heroic Age of Antarctica' by Robert Headland, archivist and curator of the Scott Polar Research Institute; 'Shackleton at South Georgia' by Robert Burton, historian of South Georgia; 'Tom Crean: Unsung Hero, by Michael Smith, author of the recent Tom Crean biography; and 'A Man of Action, and yet a Man of Books' by Dr.Jan Piggott, Keeper of Archives at Dulwich College and Curator of the Shackleton exhibition.

There are additional introductory essays by Jan Piggott on 'The James Caird'; 'Early Years and Discovery (1901-03)'; 'Nimrod (1907-09)', 'Sir Philip Brocklehurst and Nimrod'; 'Endurance (1914-16)'; 'George Marston'; 'Frank Hurley'; 'Quest (1921-22)' and 'Death'. 'It's a beautifully done book' (from a review by R. Stephenson on the Antarctic Circle website).

London: Dulwich College, 2000. 158 pp, cased (£25) and paperback (£15). ISBN 0-9539493-1-1 (paperback); [0-9539493-0-3 cased].

THE BOAT JOURNEY FROM "SOUTH"

PUBLISHED BY THE JAMES CAIRD SOCIETY

A limited number of offprints of Shackleton's Boat Journey, a pamphlet reproduced from Shackleton's own account in South, are available to Members of the Society, price £3 including postage, from the Hon. Secretary, Mrs Pippa Hare, Fig Tree Cottage, Cranbrook, Kent TN17 3EN, Tel +44 (0)1580 714944.

ANTARCTIC CHRONOLOGY

Bob Headland is putting the finishing touches to the revision and expansion of his Chronological List of Antarctic Expeditions and Related Historical Events (R.K.Headland, Cambridge University Press, 1989). There will be an improved introduction, over 200 new entries and additional new material.

Bob Headland's South Georgia can be requested (paperback reprint, 1992) from Amazon.

SHACKLETON BOOKS AT BARNES AND NOBLE

PRINCIPAL BOOKS ABOUT SHACKLETON

SHACKLETON : ROLAND HUNTFORD

Roland Huntford's Shackleton (l985), the fullest biography to date (1st Carroll & Graf edition, 1998, 770 pages, $18.95 ISBN 0-7867-0544-2, can be ordered (as can Shackleton's South and Lansing's Endurance) from both Amazon and Carroll and Graf.

LANSING'S CLASSIC BOOK ON SHACKLETON

Alfred Lansing's classic book Endurance : Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, republished in paperback (l986) by Carroll and Graf, is available from Amazon at $10.36 (new) and $5.25-$9.32 (second hand, differing quality).

Lansing's book can also be ordered from Carroll and Graf or Barnes and Noble.

Lansing's book is also published as : Endurance: The Greatest Adventure Story Ever Told (Phoenix Press, GBP £12.99)

Lansing's South : A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage (reissued in a new edition in 1998), 380 pages, $13.95, ISBN 0-7867-0597-3 can also be ordered from Carroll and Graf, and is available from them as a Read-Online book.

Published as _Endurance : Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, the book is also available on four cassettes.

A longstanding Shackleton enthusiast, S.Dennis, sent in the following comment on Lansing's book to Amazon.com :

'I read this book when it was first published in 1959; the memory of it has stayed with me since and I was determined that one day I would find another copy of it. Finally through Amazon.com I found it. The second reading 38 years later was no disappointment! The desire of man to survive, coupled with the selfless devotion of Shackelton to his men,is so vividly portrayed by Lansing that you feel Shackleton's burdens and his compassion. Shortly after starting the book you will find your view of your daily trials and tribulations lightening dramatically.'

SOUTH : THE RACE TO THE POLE

By Pieter van der Merwe (general editor) and others (London: National Maritime Museum, 2000). 144 pp, paperback, £12.99. ISBN 0-948065-37-0.

This well-illustrated book was produced to accompany the successful Antarctic Exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Credited authors : Diana Preston, Robert E. Feeney and Luke McKernan. Lots of pictures, some familiar, some not previously published. Index; Bibliography; Recommended Websites; Listing of personnel on Terra Nova, Nimrod, Discovery and Endurance. 43 short biographies are included.

THE ENDURANCE : SHACKLETON'S LEGENDARY ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION

Caroline Alexander's celebrated book about the Endurance expedition, beautifully illustrated, remains a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic. It has been widely translated.

The book at Amazon
A review of Caroline Alexander's The Endurance
Explorer Anne Bancroft and Shackleton's biographer Caroline Alexander talk briefly online
Growing Interest in Shackleton

MRS CHIPPY'S LAST EXPEDITION : THE REMARKABLE JOURNAL OF SHACKLETON'S POLAR-BOUND CAT

The book at Amazon

(Bloomsbury 1998): Caroline Alexander's enjoyable history of the legendary cat who accompanied 'Chips' McNeish on Shackleton's Endurance expedition is available from most booksellers on both sides of the Atlantic. It gives an unforgettable cat's eye- view of the expedition's goings-on, especially during the period when Endurance was trapped for many months in the ice.

SHACKLETON : THE ANTARCTIC CHALLENGE

This well illustrated book by Kim Heacox, published by the National Geographic in Washington, gives a vivid picture of Shackleton and his expeditions.

The book at Amazon

BOOKS BY SHACKLETON : THE TWO GREAT CLASSICS

THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC : THE FARTHEST SOUTH EXPEDITION 1907-1909 (ABRIDGED)

Shackleton's classic account of the Nimrod expedition of l907-9, on which he achieved the furthest south latitude ever achieved by man, almost two years before Amundsen and Scott reached the Pole. Now reissued in a new paperback edition.

Heart of the Antarctic at Amazon

SOUTH

South at Amazon

SHACKLETON : GREATEST OF ALL BRITISH POLAR EXPLORERS (OUT OF PRINT - SECOND HAND OR USED)

Christopher Ralling was responsible for an admirable four-hour British feature film about Shackleton made in the early 1980s. This useful selection of passages from Shackleton's Heart of the Antarctic and South was published to coincide with the film.

The book at Amazon

BOOKS BY SHACKLETON'S MEN

SOUTH WITH ENDURANCE - A FINE BOOK OF HURLEY PHOTOS

South with Endurance : Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition 1914-17 (Bloomsbury, £35) a superb large format book published on 22 October 2001 reproducing on an impressive scale over 200 photographs by James Francis (Frank) Hurley, is featured in an article in the November 2001 Bloomsbury magazine, which includes a number of interesting links. The book is available for online ordering from Bloomsbury at a special reduced price.

ENDURANCE : AN EPIC OF POLAR ADVENTURE

Worsley's Endurance at Amazon

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