Genre 4: Nonfiction

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World

Armstrong, Jennifer. 1998. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: the Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance. New York: Crown. ISBN 1413136478.

Plot Summary

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World chronicles the voyage of Sir Ernest Shackleton as he leads his crew of twenty-eight men on an ill-fated Antarctic expedition.

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition set sail from England on August 8, 1914, aboard the Endurance, Shackleton's 4-deck ship. By October, they were at port in Buenos Aires. Here they replaced crew members as needed and added "sixty-nine half-wild sled dogs from Canada". Setting sail on October 26, 1914, Shackleton and his men planned to be the first team to ever cross the Weddell Sea, make landfall, and set out across the continent of Antarctica.

Their dreams of glory, though, began to wither when on January 19, 1915, Endurance became trapped in pack ice. After waiting months for the ice to break apart enough to once again set sail, the unthinkable happened and the Endurance was crushed by the ice. Stranded on the ice, the men had no option but to take only what was necessary for survival and set out on foot across the frozen sea. The men find themselves in a life and death race toward civilization.

After surviving an Antarctic winter and a treacherous 600 mile voyage to the uninhabited Elephant Island, Shackleton was forced to leave his men behind, when he and five others set out in a 20-foot open boat on April 24, 1916. Their destination was a whaling station on the tiny South Georgia Island, an 800 mile trip across the southern Atlantic Ocean. Remarkably, they were successful in their journey over the ocean and the unmapped mountain range they were forced to zigzag across once they reached the island.

In April, 1916, 19 months after the Endurance became trapped in the ice, Shackleton led a rescue party back to Elephant Island to retrieve his men. Defying all odds, every crew member survived.

Critical Analysis

Jennifer Armstrong brings this unbelievable journey to life with amazing attention to detail. Her story unfolds in chronological order and with such dramatic style that it reads more like an adventure story than a typical work of non-fiction. One of the most important criteria for non-fiction is accuracy. Armstrong based her book on the personal accounts of the men who lived the tale. Shackleton, Worsley, McNeish, Hurley, and others kept diaries during the harrowing journey. Armstrong used these diaries as well as newspaper and journal articles to write her story. Also, she included maps of their journey, which I often found myself referring to as I read.

The black-and-white photos found throughout the book help to tell this perilous story. Many were take on glass plates by the expedition's photographer, Frank Hurley. Though he was forced to leave many behind on the ice, most survived are of exceptional quality. It's interesting to note how numerous the photos are at the beginning of the book and how few there are toward the end as the situation becomes increasingly more deadly. In a situation few of us can even imagine, these candid photographs offer realism to the reader. They illustrate the dire circumstances and brutal conditions these men not only faced but survived.

Review Excerpts

School Library Journal: "Filled with intriguing details and written with dramatic style, this riveting account of the ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition reads like an adventure novel."

Kirkus: "This unbelievable story is enhanced by the vigorous prose; from the captivating introduction through the epilogue, it is the writing as much as the story that will rivet readers."

Publishers Weekly - starred review "Armstrong's absorbing storytelling, illustrated with dramatic black-and-white photographs, makes this an enthralling adventure."

Connections

This book could be used in teaching lessons on people who have triumphed insurmountable odds. It could also be taught in connection with other adventure/survival stories as a non-fiction pairing.

Related Books

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

The Shackleton Expedition by Jil Fine

Sir Ernest Shackleton: By Endurance We Conquer by Patricia Calvert

Ice Story: Shackleton's Lost Expedition by Elizabeth Kimmel

Cover art from www.librarything.com