Endurance Part Two (ch. 1-3)

After abandoning ship, Shackleton only knows of one option for his crew. His plan is to march to Paulet Island which is 346 miles to the northwest of their position. The main motivation for making this decision is there is a store of food left on Paulet Island from a failed expedition in 1902. Lansing states: "The distance was farther than from New York City to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,  and they would be dragging two of their three boats with them, since it was assumed that they would eventually run into open water." This ambitious and improbable plan did not demoralize the men in any sense. They saw this as a new adventure; in fact, the crew only became more excited.

This long adventure that Shackleton has set out to accomplish reminds me of a movie called Hidalgo. In the film, an American horse rider enters a race across the Najd Desert. The race is called a survival race because it is 3,000 miles across a desert during the summer which is also favorable conditions for sandstorms. This survival race in Hidalgo reminds me of Shackleton's race for survival although one occurs in a desert while the other occurs in the frozen antarctic.

The crew found a large, sturdy floe to make camp. The floe was about three-quarters of a mile away from the wrecked Endurance. Over the next few weeks, the crew traveled back and forth between the camp and the ship; the crew quickly tried to salvage what they could from the sinking ship. The crew obtained valuables such as food stores, three boats to be used later, and personal belongings.

The reader begins to see evidence of Shackleton's leadership qualities. Shackleton is a brilliant leader who always plans several steps ahead because he has "an almost pathological fear of losing control of the situation." This quality is made evident through his decision to invite Frank Hurley to a high-level meeting. Frank Hurley is a headstrong crew member who may create discontent or even begin a mutiny if he is not pleased. Shackleton carefully assigned each man to each tent in order to keep the morale up. However, this only seemed to be a glimpse of Shackleton's genius.