Can you imagine traveling to the most desolate place on Earth with the goal of exploration, only to find yourself trapped, completely cut off from any kind of help. Well, now imagine this happens in Antarctica more than one hundred years ago. I'm Patty Steele, the renowned polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, and the stunning story of the endurance that's next on the backstory. The backstory is back. Okay, it's nineteen fifteen. It's toward the end of what they call the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Sir Ernest Shackleton was one of the main figures of the age, leading three British expeditions to the frozen continent, attempting to reach the South Pole and also to cross Antarctica from c to sea and to be the first guy to do it. It was that trip that became a disaster. Shackleton dreamed of being the first man to completelys Antarctica. Can you imagine what that trek would have been like. We're talking sub zero temperatures with summer falling between October and April. The average high tempts are right around zero. And that's despite twenty four hours of sunlight every day, winter averages forty five below with lows as frigid as seventy five below zero, and utter darkness twenty four hours a day all year round. There are wild winds, oceans with massive icy waves and tremendous blizzards. Understand something, Until more recently than you'd actually think, people looked at the ocean pretty much the way we view the stars today. It was a world that seemed to contain an infinite number of possibilities, but we just didn't know that much about it. Just as NASA and SpaceX are advancing our goal of planning a flag in outer space, hundreds of years ago, explorers devoted their lives to mapping out the far corners of the world's oceans, and Antarctica was a magnet for these types. In the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds, Shackleton was determined, and he looked for the perfect crew. Legend has it that he posted an ad in a London newspaper that read men wanted for hazardous journey, low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness, safe return, doubtful honor and recognition in event of success. However, he did search for his crew were not sure that's actually it. We do know. Shackleton got more than five thousand applications, including a letter from some women who called themselves three sporty Girls, who said that if their feminine clothing was inconvenient, they would just love to don masculine attire. He set off on his trip on a ship called the Endurance, with a crew of twenty eight, none of them, by the way, female. It was the fall of nineteen fourteen. Their mission was to reach the Wettle Sea and then begin a perilous trek across the frozen continent. The team was a mix of seasoned sailors, scientists, and adventurers, all handpicked by Shackleton for their skills but also their resilience. Their spirits were high as they left, but after reaching Antarctica, things went very wrong, very fast. The Endurance encountered heavy pack ice much earlier in the season than expected. By January of nineteen fifteen, the ship had become hopelessly trapped in the thick ice of the Wettle Sea. The crew tried everything to free her, but it was impossible, and eventually they had to accept their fate. They were completely trapped Now, as the weather worsened, there didn't seem to be much hope right. The ice wasn't just holding them captive, it was slowly crushing their ship. Shackleton and his crew watched as the Endurance creaked under the immense pressure of the ice. By October of nineteen fifteen, after ten months stuck in the ice, the ship was done for. The Endurance finally sank beneath the frozen surface of the sea, leaving the crew stranded on drifting ice floes with no means of escape and not much shelter. Shackleton had his men set up a more permanent camp on a large stretch of floating ice, and he devised a plan to travel over the ice to reach open water and hopefully be rescued. They had to wait, though, for the ice to break up, for months. They survived on seal and penguin meat and the last of their supplies. Shackleton's leadership kept morale high and everybody focused on survival. Now it's April of nineteen sixteen, almost a year and a half after their initial wreck, and the ice begins to break up. The crew took to the three small lifeboats that they had pulled off the ship before it sank and headed for Elephant Island, a remote speck of land in the southern Ocean. They faced freezing temperatures, huge waves, and storms, but after seven days they finally reached the little island. But now they had to get help, and that meant that Shackleton had to take a small group of men and attempt another journey across the sea eight hundred miles to an island where they could find help. It was epic. For sixteen days, they battled hurricane force winds, freezing temperatures, and monstrous waves. Navigation was only a sextant and the stars. They made it to the island, but they had to cross glaciers in its uncharted, mountainous interior. They finally reached whaling stations two days later on the other side of the island. Finally, on May twentieth, nineteen sixteen, Shackleton and his men arrived, with the explorer simply saying to the whale, my name is Shackleton, Can you save my men. Three months later, on August thirtieth, nineteen sixteen, Shackleton and the rescue team returned to Elephant Island. The remaining crew were finally rescued. Amazingly, every single member of the Endurance Expedition, all twenty eight, had survived. What's fascinating is that even though Shackleton and his crew never accomplished their goal to cross Antarctica from sea to sea, they became iconic for their ability to survive with pure Endurance, ironically the name of their lost ship. It's a story that can inspire many of us dealing with what feels like a hopeless situation to never give up, to endure and get this in twenty twenty two, Though one hundred forty four foot long wooden ship, the Endurance was finally found more than a century later, almost completely intact, close to ten thousand feet down under the ICC, its name Endurance still crystal clear on the stern. Hope you're enjoying The Backstory with Patty Steele. Follow or subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to dm me if you have a story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia Premiere Networks. The Elvis Durand Group and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.

Can you imagine traveling to the most desolate place on Earth with the goal of exploration, only to find yourself trapped, completely cut off from any kind of help. Well, now imagine this happens in Antarctica more than one hundred years ago. I'm Patty Steele, the renowned polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, and the stunning story of the endurance that's next on the backstory. The backstory is back. Okay, it's nineteen fifteen. It's toward the end of what they call the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Sir Ernest Shackleton was one of the main figures of the age, leading three British expeditions to the frozen continent, attempting to reach the South Pole and also to cross Antarctica from c to sea and to be the first guy to do it. It was that trip that became a disaster. Shackleton dreamed of being the first man to completelys Antarctica. Can you imagine what that trek would have been like. We're talking sub zero temperatures with summer falling between October and April. The average high tempts are right around zero. And that's despite twenty four hours of sunlight every day, winter averages forty five below with lows as frigid as seventy five below zero, and utter darkness twenty four hours a day all year round. There are wild winds, oceans with massive icy waves and tremendous blizzards. Understand something, Until more recently than you'd actually think, people looked at the ocean pretty much the way we view the stars today. It was a world that seemed to contain an infinite number of possibilities, but we just didn't know that much about it. Just as NASA and SpaceX are advancing our goal of planning a flag in outer space, hundreds of years ago, explorers devoted their lives to mapping out the far corners of the world's oceans, and Antarctica was a magnet for these types. In the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds, Shackleton was determined, and he looked for the perfect crew. Legend has it that he posted an ad in a London newspaper that read men wanted for hazardous journey, low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness, safe return, doubtful honor and recognition in event of success. However, he did search for his crew were not sure that's actually it. We do know. Shackleton got more than five thousand applications, including a letter from some women who called themselves three sporty Girls, who said that if their feminine clothing was inconvenient, they would just love to don masculine attire. He set off on his trip on a ship called the Endurance, with a crew of twenty eight, none of them, by the way, female. It was the fall of nineteen fourteen. Their mission was to reach the Wettle Sea and then begin a perilous trek across the frozen continent. The team was a mix of seasoned sailors, scientists, and adventurers, all handpicked by Shackleton for their skills but also their resilience. Their spirits were high as they left, but after reaching Antarctica, things went very wrong, very fast. The Endurance encountered heavy pack ice much earlier in the season than expected. By January of nineteen fifteen, the ship had become hopelessly trapped in the thick ice of the Wettle Sea. The crew tried everything to free her, but it was impossible, and eventually they had to accept their fate. They were completely trapped Now, as the weather worsened, there didn't seem to be much hope right. The ice wasn't just holding them captive, it was slowly crushing their ship. Shackleton and his crew watched as the Endurance creaked under the immense pressure of the ice. By October of nineteen fifteen, after ten months stuck in the ice, the ship was done for. The Endurance finally sank beneath the frozen surface of the sea, leaving the crew stranded on drifting ice floes with no means of escape and not much shelter. Shackleton had his men set up a more permanent camp on a large stretch of floating ice, and he devised a plan to travel over the ice to reach open water and hopefully be rescued. They had to wait, though, for the ice to break up, for months. They survived on seal and penguin meat and the last of their supplies. Shackleton's leadership kept morale high and everybody focused on survival. Now it's April of nineteen sixteen, almost a year and a half after their initial wreck, and the ice begins to break up. The crew took to the three small lifeboats that they had pulled off the ship before it sank and headed for Elephant Island, a remote speck of land in the southern Ocean. They faced freezing temperatures, huge waves, and storms, but after seven days they finally reached the little island. But now they had to get help, and that meant that Shackleton had to take a small group of men and attempt another journey across the sea eight hundred miles to an island where they could find help. It was epic. For sixteen days, they battled hurricane force winds, freezing temperatures, and monstrous waves. Navigation was only a sextant and the stars. They made it to the island, but they had to cross glaciers in its uncharted, mountainous interior. They finally reached whaling stations two days later on the other side of the island. Finally, on May twentieth, nineteen sixteen, Shackleton and his men arrived, with the explorer simply saying to the whale, my name is Shackleton, Can you save my men. Three months later, on August thirtieth, nineteen sixteen, Shackleton and the rescue team returned to Elephant Island. The remaining crew were finally rescued. Amazingly, every single member of the Endurance Expedition, all twenty eight, had survived. What's fascinating is that even though Shackleton and his crew never accomplished their goal to cross Antarctica from sea to sea, they became iconic for their ability to survive with pure Endurance, ironically the name of their lost ship. It's a story that can inspire many of us dealing with what feels like a hopeless situation to never give up, to endure and get this in twenty twenty two, Though one hundred forty four foot long wooden ship, the Endurance was finally found more than a century later, almost completely intact, close to ten thousand feet down under the ICC, its name Endurance still crystal clear on the stern. Hope you're enjoying The Backstory with Patty Steele. Follow or subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to dm me if you have a story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia Premiere Networks. The Elvis Durand Group and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.