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Unclaimed Coast: Sea Kayaking Ernest Shackleton's South Georgia Island
128 pages, Paperback
First published February 13, 2008
15 people want to read
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Mark Jones
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 11, 2010
Having read Shackleton's personal account of his near-death adventure in the Antarctic I found this story very interesting. These 3 New Zealanders set a first in the annals of ocean voyaging history as they circumnavigated South Georgia Island in sea kayaks.
Avoiding dangerous fur seals and other territorial wildlife that tend to defend the beach to the death left the crew with few places with which to beach their kayaks each night to set up camp. Then, once in their tents for the night, they had to avoid getting squashed by 4 ton seals as they'd fight and lumber across the beach. And I haven't even begun to mention the threats at sea with icebergs, swells, ice-cold waters, storms, and threat of capsizing at every turn!
If you like adventure stories, this book will keep you engaged. And the coolest part of all is that 1 of the 3 adventurers also happens to also be an amazing nature photographer which lent to the book's beautiful shots of nature and scenery on nearly every page!
Finally, toward the end of the book, the crew visited the grave site of Earnest Shackleton who made this island famous with his crew after getting stuck in the ice and having to live on the ice sheet for 18 months after watching their ship crushed and sunk by the shifting ice. Amazingly, all of Shackleton's crew survived this ordeal after an arduous mountaineering quest across South Georgia island to a Norwegian whaling camp many, many miles away. The 3 New Zealanders give a nice tribute to Shackleton at the end of the book to sum up their own amazing voyage.
Avoiding dangerous fur seals and other territorial wildlife that tend to defend the beach to the death left the crew with few places with which to beach their kayaks each night to set up camp. Then, once in their tents for the night, they had to avoid getting squashed by 4 ton seals as they'd fight and lumber across the beach. And I haven't even begun to mention the threats at sea with icebergs, swells, ice-cold waters, storms, and threat of capsizing at every turn!
If you like adventure stories, this book will keep you engaged. And the coolest part of all is that 1 of the 3 adventurers also happens to also be an amazing nature photographer which lent to the book's beautiful shots of nature and scenery on nearly every page!
Finally, toward the end of the book, the crew visited the grave site of Earnest Shackleton who made this island famous with his crew after getting stuck in the ice and having to live on the ice sheet for 18 months after watching their ship crushed and sunk by the shifting ice. Amazingly, all of Shackleton's crew survived this ordeal after an arduous mountaineering quest across South Georgia island to a Norwegian whaling camp many, many miles away. The 3 New Zealanders give a nice tribute to Shackleton at the end of the book to sum up their own amazing voyage.
April 7, 2020
After Sir Edmund Hillary’s death earlier this year, a lot of people have asked the question, who is New Zealand’s next great adventurer? While there’s no one person to replace him, I reckon there might be three.
Graham Charles, Marcus Waters and Mark Jones make up Adventure Philosophy, a team of intrepid Kiwis who have several impressive sea kayaking firsts under their belts: the Antarctic peninsular in 2001; the Beagle Channel and at attempted traverse of the Cordillera Darwin in 2003; and a 2005 circumnavigation of South Georgia. In 2007 Waters and Charles also crossed the Greenland icecap, unsupported and without a dog team.
If one place combines burgeoning wildlife, high mountains, numerous glaciers, severe coastlines, foul weather and stunning scenery converge, it is South Georgia. The sub-Antarctic island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, is the resting place of explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.
Shackleton famously undertook an epic small boat journey to South Georgia from Antarctica, where he’d left his remaining shipmates marooned on Elephant Island after their ship was crushed by sea ice. After making the first crossing of the island, he and two crewmembers – including New Zealander Frank Worsley – reached help at a Norwegian whaling base. Later he rescued all his crew.
Shackleton and Worsley clearly inspired the Adventure Philosophy trio, and successfully completing a South Georgia ‘first’ realised a long-held dream for the team. Previous attempts to kayak around the island had failed on the notoriously exposed south-western length of the island, and this was the crux for the New Zealanders too. In addition to the challenges of cold, inaccurate maps, unknown landing spots, and famously furious weather, the kayakers also had to contend with the wildlife. South Georgia teams with fur seals, elephant seals and penguins to such a degree that finding a landing spot and place to camp would be all but impossible during the peak summer breeding season. So instead, Jones, Waters and Charles chose to paddle in the colder, more weather-uncertain month of October.
It proved a sound choice, and the trio made their journey in fine style, helped by relatively benign weather conditions along the south-west coastline. Unclaimed Coast is the fully-illustrated account of their journey, and far from a blow-by-blow account, it is a fully rounded narrative with natural history, philosophy and humour thrown in for good measure. These guys not only adventure well, but also record their journeys well, using words, still photography and video.
All three take turns describing different sections of the trip; Charles mixes humour with philosophy, Waters gives a very personal reflection, and Jones is clearly captivated by the island’s wildlife. I enjoyed Waters’ section most, in contrast to their 2004 Antarctic book The Frozen Coast where the writing of Jones and Charles proved stronger. Waters: ‘The narrow neck that separated Elephant Cove from the coast was like a door to another world. What a relief to burst through that door, wind and snow gushing in with us, then be able to slam it shut on the tempest. At last wind gusts were behind me and I could lean back without being blown backwards. We had entered a frozen atmosphere, like a sunken cwm filled with sea water, we floated into the Alps. High above us steep bluffs and cliffs dripped with ice and snow, small glaciers flowed from their neves and basins.’
Unclaimed Coast is not as slick a production as The Frozen Coast: unlike the latter it lacks a hardcover, the photo selection and reproduction is not as strong, and the design less subtle. However some pictures are out-standing: the cover shows how the mountains simply dwarf the kayaks, and some fine wildlife portraits complement those depicting gruelling paddling in gloomy conditions.
Overall, Unclaimed Coast is a book of bold adventure and a story to fire the imagination. Charles, Jones and Waters have added a chapter of South Georgian history of which Shackleton would surely have approved.
Graham Charles, Marcus Waters and Mark Jones make up Adventure Philosophy, a team of intrepid Kiwis who have several impressive sea kayaking firsts under their belts: the Antarctic peninsular in 2001; the Beagle Channel and at attempted traverse of the Cordillera Darwin in 2003; and a 2005 circumnavigation of South Georgia. In 2007 Waters and Charles also crossed the Greenland icecap, unsupported and without a dog team.
If one place combines burgeoning wildlife, high mountains, numerous glaciers, severe coastlines, foul weather and stunning scenery converge, it is South Georgia. The sub-Antarctic island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, is the resting place of explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.
Shackleton famously undertook an epic small boat journey to South Georgia from Antarctica, where he’d left his remaining shipmates marooned on Elephant Island after their ship was crushed by sea ice. After making the first crossing of the island, he and two crewmembers – including New Zealander Frank Worsley – reached help at a Norwegian whaling base. Later he rescued all his crew.
Shackleton and Worsley clearly inspired the Adventure Philosophy trio, and successfully completing a South Georgia ‘first’ realised a long-held dream for the team. Previous attempts to kayak around the island had failed on the notoriously exposed south-western length of the island, and this was the crux for the New Zealanders too. In addition to the challenges of cold, inaccurate maps, unknown landing spots, and famously furious weather, the kayakers also had to contend with the wildlife. South Georgia teams with fur seals, elephant seals and penguins to such a degree that finding a landing spot and place to camp would be all but impossible during the peak summer breeding season. So instead, Jones, Waters and Charles chose to paddle in the colder, more weather-uncertain month of October.
It proved a sound choice, and the trio made their journey in fine style, helped by relatively benign weather conditions along the south-west coastline. Unclaimed Coast is the fully-illustrated account of their journey, and far from a blow-by-blow account, it is a fully rounded narrative with natural history, philosophy and humour thrown in for good measure. These guys not only adventure well, but also record their journeys well, using words, still photography and video.
All three take turns describing different sections of the trip; Charles mixes humour with philosophy, Waters gives a very personal reflection, and Jones is clearly captivated by the island’s wildlife. I enjoyed Waters’ section most, in contrast to their 2004 Antarctic book The Frozen Coast where the writing of Jones and Charles proved stronger. Waters: ‘The narrow neck that separated Elephant Cove from the coast was like a door to another world. What a relief to burst through that door, wind and snow gushing in with us, then be able to slam it shut on the tempest. At last wind gusts were behind me and I could lean back without being blown backwards. We had entered a frozen atmosphere, like a sunken cwm filled with sea water, we floated into the Alps. High above us steep bluffs and cliffs dripped with ice and snow, small glaciers flowed from their neves and basins.’
Unclaimed Coast is not as slick a production as The Frozen Coast: unlike the latter it lacks a hardcover, the photo selection and reproduction is not as strong, and the design less subtle. However some pictures are out-standing: the cover shows how the mountains simply dwarf the kayaks, and some fine wildlife portraits complement those depicting gruelling paddling in gloomy conditions.
Overall, Unclaimed Coast is a book of bold adventure and a story to fire the imagination. Charles, Jones and Waters have added a chapter of South Georgian history of which Shackleton would surely have approved.
May 3, 2014
What is the purpose of reviews? In an age when five star reviews sell online for $29.95 per hundred and are worth even less, maybe a few words might help inform if this is of the style or subject of genre of interest.
But then, 'Unclaimed Coast - The first kayak journey around Shackleton's South Georgia' pretty much sums it up. What more do you need to know?
Well, that it is out of print and copies are selling on AbeBooks for as much as US$760. So I think all I need to tell you is that this book is well written and has great pictures, knowing that if you are into adventure, kayaking, polar history or stories from the age of adventurers, you will already have it. You will know about Shackleton and have a long held desire to visit South Georgia Island.
If you are one of those people and don't already have this book you ought to get a copy and leave it sitting on the coffee table to impress your friends. The fact that they went out and spent the $760 on a kayak, and are at this very moment out there training for their own expedition should not deter you. Who needs friends who actually do stuff? All you get is a sore back and extreme cold. You can get that just by reading this book.
But then, 'Unclaimed Coast - The first kayak journey around Shackleton's South Georgia' pretty much sums it up. What more do you need to know?
Well, that it is out of print and copies are selling on AbeBooks for as much as US$760. So I think all I need to tell you is that this book is well written and has great pictures, knowing that if you are into adventure, kayaking, polar history or stories from the age of adventurers, you will already have it. You will know about Shackleton and have a long held desire to visit South Georgia Island.
If you are one of those people and don't already have this book you ought to get a copy and leave it sitting on the coffee table to impress your friends. The fact that they went out and spent the $760 on a kayak, and are at this very moment out there training for their own expedition should not deter you. Who needs friends who actually do stuff? All you get is a sore back and extreme cold. You can get that just by reading this book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews