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I am so excited! The Endurance has been found!


Night Elf
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This is Sir Earnest Shackleton's ship that went down in the Weddell Sea in 1915. Sir Shackleton was attempting to reach a spot where he and others with dog teams could cross the Antartic. Instead, they were trapped in pack ice and forced to get off the ship when the ice started piercing its sides. They had 28 men altogether and Sir Shackleton led them all home. Every one of them safe. It's my most favorite adventure story because it was an amazing feat. The pictures of the ship under the sea are amazing! This is the link DH sent to me but I had to create a free account to be able to see the article. 

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26 minutes ago, MercyA said:

Did the dogs make it too? Enquiring minds want to know. 🙂 

Sadly no. Some died of disease or parasites and most of the others were shot due to a shortage of food. They had 69 dogs to begin with, plus some puppies were born during the trip, but I think only 5 or 6 dogs came back with him (and they ended up in a zoo). 😢

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16 minutes ago, Hilltopmom said:

Which one? Thanks 

I have one by Alfred Lansing, and one written by Shackleton himself. The interesting thing was this story is only half of the story. He was to land on Vahsel Bay to start his expedition and he had a second ship on the other side of the Antarctic to pick him up. They also laid down provisions for him along his route since by the time he reached, midway maybe, or maybe farther, he was going to run out of the supplies he had and would need new provisions. But The Endurance never reached Vahsel Bay. Shackleton's book has two parts, one for each of the ship's stories. Apparently the second ship encountered some problems but I didn't keep reading so I don't know what they were. 

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What he accomplished was a much greater achievement than if he'd "merely" crossed Antarctica.

 

There's a stanza in T. S. Eliot's The Wasteland that is about the crossing of South Georgia Island's Glacier.

I recall an IMAX movie about the crossing - teams with modern equipment and resources.  They couldn't do it.  Similar to an expedition that did the crossing from Elephant Island to South Georgia in a similarly equipped boat.  (they had a support boat following them to make sure they stayed out of potentially mortal trouble.)

Other records from Shackelton have reported it.  None of them would mention it to the others because they thought they were imagining things.

Lines 359-365:

Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I do not know whether a man or a woman
—But who is that on the other side of you?

Eliot's Note:

360. The following lines were stimulated by the account of one of the Antarctic expeditions (I forget which, but I think one of Shackleton's): it was related that the party of explorers, at the extremity of their strength, had the constant delusion that there was one more member than could actually be counted.
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3 hours ago, Night Elf said:

I'm not familiar with that. Who were they?

Most of what they made were trinkets - since they didn't have the budget for high quality gems.  The workmanship was exquisite.

But - they made the Easter Eggs for the Romanov's every year.  

Oligarchs have been picking them up, and bringing them back to Russia.

One gold salvager picked up a little gold trinket from an antique store for $13K thinking he could sell it for the gold for a profit. He did NOT know what it was.  He couldn't sell it.  He eventually started doing research.   long story short - it was a lost Faberge Easter Egg. 

Fabergé egg - Wikipedia

This is one of our favorites.

Anyway - the workmen were all drafted to fight in WWI and that was the end of Faberge.  They were artists - not soldiers and many were killed.

Edited by gardenmom5
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33 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Such a good book!

Yes! Before I read it, I had never heard of him. After I read it, I thought how in the world could this have actually happened, and I wondered why isn’t this story more mainstream,  like  the Titanic? 

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46 minutes ago, Indigo Blue said:

Yes! Before I read it, I had never heard of him. After I read it, I thought how in the world could this have actually happened, and I wondered why isn’t this story more mainstream,  like  the Titanic? 

It’s an intense story. DH was reading it when we were expecting DS (17), and he knew that the moment he finished it we’d be headed to the hospital. And it was true! Within hours of closing the book, DS was on the way. So it’s one of my all time favorites for that reason, too. 😊

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25 minutes ago, Spryte said:

It’s an intense story. DH was reading it when we were expecting DS (17), and he knew that the moment he finished it we’d be headed to the hospital. And it was true! Within hours of closing the book, DS was on the way. So it’s one of my all time favorites for that reason, too. 😊

Neat story!! 😊

 

Neither of my grown sons seem interested in reading the book. I’ve told them how good it is, though. 

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