The ship drifted north in the ice and was eventually crushed beyond repair, forcing the expedition to use lifeboats to reach Elephant Island. But their ship became trapped in ice for nine months before it could make landfall at the starting point, Vahsel Bay. Shackleton’s expedition aimed to cross Antarctica by foot with dog sleds from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. The latest to join these is an Australian production, Shackleton: The Greatest Story of Survival (Kismet), which combines Hurley’s and Burler’s material with a recreation led by environmental scientist author and adventurer Tim Jarvis. It was also based on a book, by John Thomson, and used a combination of dramatised scenes, interviews, and Hurley’s photographic archive.

In 2012, New Zealand documentary maker Leanne Pooley produced Shackleton’s Captain, which focused on Akaroa farmer Frank Worsley, who captained Endurance. An earlier four-part series was made in 1983 covering all four of Shackleton’s expeditions. The former was based on Caroline Alexander’s book, while the latter features interviews with other explorers and mountaineers, including Reinhold Messner.Ī year later, Kenneth Branagh played Shackleton in a two-part British TV series, simply called Shackleton, and filmed in the UK, Iceland, and Greenland. The ill-fated expedition has produced a mini-library of books, which range across the spectrum from those aimed at children to texts on management and leadership.Īmong the movies, George Butler produced two documentaries using Hurley’s footage to replicate parts of the expedition: The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Expedition (2000) and a 40-minute version for IMAX, Shackleton’s Antarctic Adventure (2001). It is considered the world’s first documentary feature. One screening in London featured a live performance by the Covent Garden Sinfonia. South: Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Glorious Epic of the Antarctic, an 88-minute documentary, was first released in 1919, and was remastered by the British Film Institute for cinema release in 2022. This was complemented by his diaries as well as written accounts by Shackleton and others. Thanks to having Australian explorer-photographer Frank Hurley among the 28-strong party, a permanent pictorial record exists.

Few tales from the heroic age of Antarctic exploration have been studied as closely as the Imperial Trans-Atlantic Expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton between 19.

Steven butler author dog diaries