Endurance: The Discovery of Shackleton's Legendary Ship

by John Shears, Nico Vincent

This is the amazing story in words and images of the historic discovery of the wreck of Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance, deep beneath the ice of Antarctica.

In March 2022, an international polar expedition team made an astonishing find: the wreck of Ernest Shackleton’s legendary Endurance, lost in 1915 after being crushed by ice and then swallowed by the Weddell Sea. The harrowing story of Shackleton’s survival and rescue of all 27 men aboard is well known, but the ship has lain unseen for a century, 10,000 feet underwater—until now. The vessel remains incredibly intact, as crystal-clear photography and digital scans from the expedition reveal. A thrilling firsthand account of the expedition coauthored by its leader and deputy leader, this is the first and only book to fully document the discovery, produced in full cooperation with the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Travel, Adventure

256 pages, Hardcover

Published November 5, 2024

Reviews

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible coffee table style book from National Geographic. I'm obsessed with Shackleton's expedition and survival story. And they found the wreck! Finding the ship 10k feet down is just miraculous. I was hoping for great pics of the sunken ship broken apart by the ice, and certainly those images are spectacular, but also, there are a ton of other stunning images, including a lot of pictures from the original expedition. I was surprised and thrilled to see the breadth of visuals.

Not only does the book tell one of the most jaw-dropping stories of against-all-odds Antarctica shipwreck survival, but also includes maps, charts, and scientific information.

I highly recommend this book. Who knows how many copies they printed, but I doubt they do more than one print run, so now is the time.

[MKF · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me and my daughter read this while we watched the documentary together which I highly recommend. There are many wonderful photos throughout the book that aren't shown in the documentary. When the documentary mentions a cat it didn't show it but luckily we looked through the book and found a picture of this feline explorer. The documentary gave this book a voice because you were able to hear the voices of Shackleton and some other crew members. It was a good way to get my daughter interested in both the film and the book as well.

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book that chronicles the quest to find Ernest Shackleton’s ship, Endurance. The ship sunk in 1915 in the ice off of Antarctica and remained lost there until a 2022 International expedition to locate the wreckage. This book tells the story of the original doomed voyage as well as the subsequent attempts to find it again. The photos in this book are remarkable. They vary from plates that survived the original Endurance journey to 3D images created using thousands of still photos taken in 2022.

[Steve Willey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Fantastic photos from the Shackleton expedition. A concise explination of the expeditions to find the Endurance. The planning and logistics of the expeditions along with the selection of the team is good. If you really the details of the story you may want to read "The Ship Beneath the Ice" by Mensun Bound, the ENDURANCE22 expedition leader. I would recommend this book.

[Ralph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly remarkable accounting of the search for and ultimate discovery of Ernest Shackleton’s ship “Endurance”. There is enough detail describing the technical and logistical efforts needed to undertake the expedition to satisfy readers without going into an overwhelming amount of information. The photographs of the Endurance are as detailed as could be hoped for, providing vivid views of wreck on the sea floor. The authors, John Shears and Nico Vincent, leader of the expedition and deputy leader and subsea manager respectively, give sufficient detail about team members, day to day tasks, as well as obstacles encountered and overcome to make the story of the effort real with, again, not going into overwhelming detail.

Importantly, there was a concise description too of the effort lead by Shackleton to set the stage for the reader who my not be familiar with the original expedition. That expedition had hoped to result in the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. However, the weather conditions trapped the Endurance in ice before land could reached. The hardships encountered by the crew before their rescue without any loss of life or even catastrophic injury is regarded as one of the most outstanding feats in maritime history.

Highly recommended!

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was well done. I especially liked that it often included pictures and information of the original Endurance trip alongside pictures of the discovery voyage. There were plenty of pictures of both expeditions. I liked that they gave an opportunity to the leaders of each aspect of the discovery voyage to talk about their part in the voyage. To me it meant that they were a team and everyone was important. I don't want to give any spoilers so will just jump to the discovery. There were amazing pictures of the Endurance on the ocean floor that were incredibly clear considering how deep it was when they found it. I really liked that they had a visual aid as to how deep it was when they found it. I liked that at the end of the discovery voyage they stopped at South Georgia Island and visited Shackleton's grave. It was the perfect ending for their voyage.

The only flaw was the weight of the book...yikes it was heavy!

[E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would be a great book for anyone who is interested in shipwrecks in general and is looking to read something that is easy to read and not overly technical but still a thorough account (I mean, it’s National Geographic, so that’s to be expected, but still). As someone who was only passingly familiar with Shackleton and the Endurance going into this, I really appreciated the brief account of the voyage at the beginning of this book, as well as the accompanying maps and graphs that helped me visualize the area that it took place in. If nothing else though, this book is worth flipping through for the pictures alone, as there are some really beautiful ones throughout the book (again, National Geographic-level) and I loved how they juxtaposed photographs from the Endurance voyage with ones from the recovery expeditions.

[SQ4792 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great overview and introduction to Shackleton's expedition and the Endurance 22 expedition in finding it. It is a great coffee table type book, with a lot of full page or two page spread pictures of both the original journey and the modern one. The book in general goes back and forth between the two eras. Describing the originals ships journey and how they used that information to find the ship. As well as covering some areas of life on the both ships.

I would say this book is a great starting point to learn about the expeditions, giving you a lot of information to expand on and go learn more about if it interest you.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the goals of the Endurance22 mission was to share Ernest Shackleton's story with a new generation, and they certainly succeeded with me. I knew the bare bones of the story before the discovery in 2022, but since then I'm completely obsessed with it. Shackleton was an amazing leader, but his story would also not be possible without God's providential care and guidance on his quest to save the lives of his crew. I loved seeing Frank Hurley's photographs enlarged in this book and seeing how people from all types of fields came together to make the discovery of the ship possible.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable book and story of the discovery of Ernest Shackleton's ship sunk in the Weddell Sea. The Endurance22 expedition discovered the ship on March 5 2022 exactly 100 years to the day after Shackleton was buried on the island of South Georgia. It is surreal to ponder the 2022 photos of a ship which dropped to almost 10,000 feet in 1915.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading Alfred Lansing's book about Shackleton's crew and then dove right into this book. It was perfect timing!
This was a quick, interesting, and visually stunning book. It was so interesting to read how they found the wreck perfectly preserved. The gravesite tributes to Shackleton (from one explorer to another) were touching and inspiring.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of Ernest Shackleton is one of an inspiring leader and explorer. An amazing survival story, where he brings back the entire crew of the Endurance. To read this book and see the photographs of her discovery in 2022, one hundred years after she sank, is truly amazing. Thank you!

[Keith Mokry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the written accounts of the sunken ship search expedition were bland or trite. I also wish they had given more detail to Shackleton’s harrowing journey. The pictures were by far the best part.

[Saturn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful photographs!

[Ben Savage · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5.

A great example of teamwork, togetherness and science. Fantastic companion to the documentary which I need to find.
Further review shortly

[Mitra Sadeghpour]

Fantastic photographs.

[Cara Von Tress · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating description of the recent expedition to locate & photograph Shackleton’s doomed ship at the bottom of the sea off Antarctica.

[Renee Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super interesting, really nerded out on this one

[Patrice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!! I am a huge fan of Ernest Shackleton—what an amazing leader, visionary and Captain! This book gives a great close to a powerful voyage and its leader. Bravo for this one!!