Ice blocks shoot up beneath the Endurance and she heels over. His ship listing 30° to port, Shackleton says, “She’s going, boys. I think it’s time to get off.” Crewmen salvage supplies for an ice camp. That night the temperature drops to 16°C below zero.
 


urley’s diary, October 26, 1915: “At 6 p.m., the pressure develops an irresistible energy. The ship groans and quivers, windows splinter, whilst the deck timbers gape and twist. Amid these profound and overwhelming forces, we are the absolute embodiment of helpless futility. This frightful strain is observed to bend the entire hull some 10 inches along its length. ”

Hurley sets up his movie camera on the ice and records the Endurance in her death throes. The masts snap and the crow’s nest falls to within ten feet of where he is turning the handle of the camera. He keeps turning.

c o n t i n u e . . .

Picture Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.