Endurance

Shackleton had a genius – it was neither more nor less than that – for keeping those about him in high spirits. We loved him. To me, he was as a brother. The men had felt the cold it is true; but he had inspired the kind of loyalty which prevented them from allowing themselves to get depressed over anything, and they had stood up to the hardships inseparable from Antarctic exploration without a murmur. (Location 126)

We did not worry. What was the good? We were destined to go through unexpected ordeals before we were finished, and it was as well for our peace of mind that we did not have much time to speculate upon the future. (Location 223)

And we had to sleep on the ice, on a covering that was not water-proof, so that such warmth as there was in our bodies would melt the ice and cause us to lie in pools of water. We knew that we had to face all this. But there was no point in admitting it even to our-selves, let alone to one another. And therefore we bucked up. (Location 294)

But he did not permit himself to display the regret that he felt nor to admit defeat, and talked continually of making another attempt during the following year, if the War were over. Indeed, he laughed and joked as though he had not a care in the world, and only those who understood him well could gauge the depth of his real feelings. (Location 551)

Little cliques and factions grew up, but Shackleton’s tact and diplomacy soon destroyed that spirit. He would redistribute the occupants of the tents on some pretext far removed from the real one, and would remind each man that strength lay in unity. Of loyalty towards his leadership there was never any question. Shackleton had a wonderful and rare understanding of the men’s attitude towards one another and towards the expedition as a whole. He appreciated how deeply one man, or small group of men, could affect the psychology of the others. Therefore he almost insisted upon cheeriness and optimism; in fact his attitude was, ‘You’ve damn well got to be optimistic.’ It was his knowledge of men, quite as much as his executive ability, that made him such a wonderful leader. (Location 637)

But our danger was too imminent to allow us to be frightened: it is curious, but in an emergency one is rarely scared; it is afterwards that one feels the reaction. At the time one’s every nerve is responding to the need for quick action. (Location 761)

Shackleton had always insisted that the ultimate responsibility for anything that befell us was his and his only. But until then I had not understood the painful seriousness with which he viewed his relation to us. My view was that we were all grown men, going of our own free wills on this expedition, and that it was up to us to bear whatever was coming to us. Not so Shackleton. His idea was that we had trusted him, that we had placed ourselves in his hands, and that should anything happen to any one of us, he was morally responsible. His attitude was almost patriarchal. (Location 1017)

Whenever he noticed that a man seemed extra cold and shivered, he would immediately order another hot drink of milk to be prepared and served to all. He never let the man know that it was on his account, lest he became nervous about himself, and while we all participated, it was the coldest, naturally, who got the greatest advantage. (Location 1304)

Shackleton’s popularity among those he led was due to the fact that he was not the sort of man who could do only big and spectacular things. When occasion demanded he would attend personally to the smallest details, and he had unending patience and persistence which he would apply to all matters concerning the well-being of his men. (Location 1306)

Shackleton described the numbness of our legs and feet as ‘superficial frostbite,’ and assured us that soon after landing they would get better; actually I have reason to believe that our condition was something similar to ‘trench feet.’ He was very wise, in my opinion, to reassure the men against the ever-present fear that they might lose the use of their limbs, or even the limbs themselves, through frostbite. (Location 1399)

The reason why Shackleton was wearing the colder leather boot was that there had been a shortage of footgear, and it was his rule that any deprivation should be felt by himself before anybody else. (Location 1871)

When men are as tired as we were – beset and harrassed by difficulties – their nerves are on edge, and it is necessary for each man to take pains not to irritate the others. On this march we treated each other with a good deal more consideration than we should have done in normal circumstances. Never is etiquette and ‘good form’ observed more carefully than by experienced travellers when they find themselves in a tight place. (Location 1955)

not got through all right.    ‘All told, there were ten stranded ashore, including Captain Mackintosh. On the Aurora there were eighteen of us. As we found ourselves (Location 2554)

think that somewhere else in this book I have said that he did the most dangerous things but did them in the safest way, and I repeat it because I think that it describes Shackleton more accurately than a volume of words. (Location 2661)

We resumed our voyage for South Georgia on December 18th, and for the first few days we had fine weather. Nevertheless Shackleton seemed tired and done up, and spent much of his spare time in his cabin, where he liked me to join him for a smoke and a yarn. It struck me that he was thinking a good deal about the past, which was unusual for him, since he was a man who liked to leap forward mentally and who would generally dismiss memories in favour of speculations as to the future. I was vaguely worried by this strange and new attitude, which seemed to me to have a significance that I could not define. (Location 3364)