Eight Hundred miles in a small boat through the Drake Passage?

[Shawn Morrow]

You bet!! ...and more!!!   

In a small open boat, about the size of CP-19 or 23.  Earnest Shackleton sailed the James Caird from Elephant Island to S. Georgia Island in 1916 through unimaginable seas.  This voyage is just a chapter in a rather incredible story of Shackleton's unsuccessful attempt to cross the south pole. 

"ENDURANCE Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" by Alfred Lansing recounts from diaries and interviews of how Shackleton's ship the Endurance was entrapped and crushed in the ice of the Weddell sea, their survival on the ice flows, taking to the salvaged life boats as the flows broke up, the incredible sailing adventure to S. Georgia, and then a rather remarkalbe trek accross the island to reach a whaling outpost.  This story of survival unfolds over about 18 months, and not a man was lost!

Personally, I couldn't put this book down once I started.  While not very technical or in depth regarding either the boats, seamanship, or the sailing, the story was riveting non-the-less. 

Happy reading.

Shawn Morrow

[bro t]

Hi Shawn, I've not read the particular author you mention, but after reding a couple of biographies, I got two books authored by Shackleton himself, which I found to be riveting reading despite his matter-of -fact way of writing.  It's by far better than the other accounts I read, one called "SOUTH: The ENDURANCE Expedition", and the other a fascinating prequel called "The Heaart of the Antarctic: The Farthest South Expedition, 1907-1909".  The latter is not so much about sailing, other than lengthy descriptions of trying to get through ice floes to establish their base camp.  Another book you may wamt to check out is Joshua Slocum's "Sailing Alone Around the World", his own account of the first known solo circumnavigation, over 5? years +-, aboard the Spray.  Thanks for the tip on this author, I'll check it out!
bro t from Upwest Maine (happy skiing until iceout)