Shackleton's Forgotten Expedition: The Voyage of the Nimrod - Hardcover

Riffenburgh, Beau

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1582344884 ISBN 13: 9781582344881

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2004

Synopsis

On New Year's Day 1908, Ernest Shackleton, a little-known adventurer determined to find fame and fortune by becoming the first man to reach the South Pole, took his tiny ship, Nimrod, south to the mysterious regions of the Antarctic. In the coming year, Shackleton would record the greatest achievements of his career and engage in his most daring adventures, returning home a hero.

Lacking funds and plagued by hunger, cruel weather, and unpredictable terrain, Shackleton and his party accomplished some of the most remarkable feats in the history of exploration. Not only were they the first to climb the active volcano of Mount Erebus, but they trudged hundreds of miles across uncharted wastelands to be the first ever to plant the Union Jack at the South Pole.

Shackleton's Forgotten Expedition is the definitive account of the British Antarctic Expedition. Using extensive research and firsthand accounts-some previously unpublished-Riffenburgh has written a vivid and gripping adventure while providing fascinating insight into the age of British exploration and empire.

About this title

About the Author

Beau Riffenburgh is a historian specializing in exploration, particularly that of the Antarctic, the Arctic, and Africa, and the author of The Myth of the Explorer. A native of California, he earned his doctorate at the University of Cambridge and is currently on staff at the Scott Polar Research Institute, where he is the editor of the Encyclopaedia of the Antarctic and the journal Polar Record.

From Publishers Weekly

Ernest Shackleton's fame has been restored due to renewed interest in the heroic tale of the Endurance expedition, but his original celebrity status stemmed from an earlier voyage to the Antarctic from 1907 to 1909, during which he led a small group of men to within 97 miles of the South Pole. Riffenburgh (The Myth of the Explorer) recounts this journey in riveting detail, describing how Shackleton and his crew survived under harrowing conditions, sometimes brought on by their own tactical misjudgments, like the decision to rely heavily on ponies to carry supplies across the frozen landscape. The story also offers vital clues to Shackleton's personality, revealing how he first went to the Antarctic in order to impress his girlfriend and, more importantly, examining the competitive rivalry between Shackleton and fellow explorer Sir Robert Scott. Scott had sent Shackleton home from an earlier expedition for health reasons, and when Shackleton vowed to return to Antarctica in part to prove he was strong enough to make it, Scott viewed it as a threat to his own plans and unfairly extracted a promise from his former crewman not to use "his" base camps, adding further complications to the journey. For those who thrilled to the Endurance saga, Riffenburgh offers an equally gripping adventure, which laid the foundations of Shackleton's capacity for brilliant leadership under pressure.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1582344884
• ISBN 13: 9781582344881
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352