Newly Restored Photos Offer Intimate Look at Doomed Shackleton Expedition to Antarctica
Follow the men of a century ago, stranded in Antarctica and making a bid for salvation in these gripping photos.
Taking place between 1914-17, Ernest Shackleton’s attempted and ill-fated land crossing of the Antarctic goes down in history as one of the most infamous expeditions in that great ice-bound land mass we call Antarctica. Known as the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, Shackleton and his crew of 28 found themselves trapped in pack ice aboard the Endurance, which began to be slowly crushed by the ice, forcing the entire expedition off the ship to embark on a gruelling 17 months on a trek back to civilization.
Expedition photographer Frank Hurley persisted through bone-chilling conditions throughout the entire ordeal, capturing the toil of the men on prohibitively heavy glass plate negatives. Kept in storage for eight decades, 90 negatives were digitized for the public by the Royal Geographic Society (RGS) and the Institute of British Photographers, and are currently being exhibited by “Enduring Eye: The Antarctic Legacy of Sir Ernest Shackleton and Frank Hurley.” Check out some of the historic images above, and catch the exhibition at the London location of the RGS, from December 24 to January 4.
