Response to Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World

Admittedly, I didn’t know hardly anything about Shackleton or his trip to Antarctica before reading this book. At first, I thought it was going to be some boring story about a crew who had to be rescued, but as I got into the book I found it enthralling. What a remarkable story of survival, and not just against the elements, but against emotion, despair, and the greatest of odds.
On page one, the author tells the reader about Antarctica and how dangerous it is, but at the end of the page she tells us that all of the men survived. I thought this was strange (why would she give away the ending?), but as I read I realized it was actually quite useful. Almost Shakespearian in a way. For as Shakespeare often tells his audience what will happen at the end of the play because he is not interested in the ending, but the story, so does Armstrong tell us the ending of the story because it is not the simple fact that they survived that is the interesting part of the story, but how it happened. I even doubted as I read that everyone was going to survive, even though I knew it to be true. There would be instances in the story when I would think, “Surely, somebody has to die here” or “I don’t think that guy is going to make it.” But I knew they would, and they did. Also, telling the reader that everyone will survive actually makes the book easier to read in a way. I have had a very hard time reading other stories like this, Into Thin Air for example, because of the maps and stories that say things like “Here is where this person was seen for the last time.” I don’t like thinking about stuff like that. I like when everyone comes out okay. So this book allows for the readers who want to see everyone succeed, and they know the whole time that they will.
Shackleton is a fascinating person. The leadership qualities he possessed are hard to find in many people. As I was reading about him, I couldn’t help but draw a comparison between him and Herb Brooks, coach of the 1980 Olympic hockey team. Both of them knew exactly how to get the best out of the men they commanded, and both possessed a fervent desire to do something that had been deemed nearly impossible. Granted, the two goals were very different, but they both prepared extremely well, a key component to their success. One of the keys to why Shackleton was such a great leader is summed up by Cheetham when he told a group women, “He don’t run you into any danger if he can help it; but, by gum! if there’s danger, he goes first” (9). It’s much easier to follow someone if they are brave and trustworthy, and the trust that the men had in Shackleton is evidenced by the fact that so many returned with him to Antarctica for another try. I’m not sure you could have paid me enough to go back there after that.
Finally, I thought one of the most underrated parts of the story was what happened to the Aurora, the boat supposed to pick up Shackleton and the team trekking across the continent. I figured they would have just sat there for a while and finally left, assuming everyone was dead. Not until the end of the book does the author tell us that the Aurora also got caught in ice, sunk, and everyone died. Had Shackleton and his men made the trek, they would have arrived to no ship, and probably would have died. The fact that they got caught in the ice and had to turn back saved everyone’s life. I can’t imagine what the crew was thinking when they found out, but I’m sure they felt very lucky.