Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World

Armstrong, Jennifer. 1998. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-517-80013-6.

In February I was fortunate enough to take the online class “Bringing History to Life at Your Library,” taught by Jennifer Armstrong. Although most of her examples came from Photo By Brady, a book about the Civil War, she did spend a little time discussing Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World. Just hearing her mention the amazing true story made me want to read the book, and I’m glad I did.

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World tells the story of explorer Ernest Shackleton’s failed attempt to lead the first expedition to cross the continent of Antarctica. Before the explorers could even reach land, their ship was trapped in ice and crushed. Shackleton and his men survived the shipwreck and five months of living on the antarctic ice, and then, even more incredibly, Shackleton and a small crew sailed one of the ship’s boats through the Atlantic Ocean to an island with a whaling station so that the rest of the men could be rescued.

In her class, Armstrong explained the process by which she uses photos and other period information to gain a picture of a historical event. She examines details in pictures for clues about the weather, the time of year, whether the photo is candid or posed, and what each person might have been doing immediately before or after the photo was taken. She examines period texts for more concrete details: sights, sounds, smells, and even tastes. All of this helps Armstrong find a connection with the people who were there, so that she can imagine feeling what the people who were present must have felt.

I think that this process must have been easier for Armstrong in Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World because of the amount of documentation of the trip. Each man on the expediton kept a diary (Shackleton had sold the rights to their accounts prior to the trip to raise collateral), and the expedition photographer, Frank Hurley, documented the voyage with photos, many of which are included in the book. Armstrong often quotes from the diaries. She doesn’t give a source for all her quotes, especially when she is quoting conversations between two or more men – one example is Shackleton’s nightmare, when the boat’s crew has finally reached land and he shouts in his sleep that a wave is going to crush them - but with everyone in the crew keeping diaries, it’s easy to imagine that these conversations might have been reported in one diary or another.

The book is largely organized as a chronological account of the expedition, although Armstrong also includes facts about Antarctica and explanations of things that might otherwise be puzzling, like why exactly the weather is so bad and the sea is so dangerous. She makes the science interesting with comparisons and a lively writing style – the largest iceberg on record was as big as Belgium – and, in contrast, she reports the experience of the men with an understated dignity that perfectly matches the tone of their own diaries.

Additional material in the book includes detailed plans of Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, a map of Antarctica with the track of the expedition superimposed, and a bibliography.

This is a brilliant book that I think many people, both kids and adults, can appreciate. I would use it in a display on explorers and adventurers, along with books like Team Moon by Catherine Thimmish and Russell Freedman’s The Adventures of Marco Polo. The stunning photos would also make good subjects for a drawing class for older kids.

Kirkus Reviews says, “This unbelievable story is enhanced by the vigorous prose; from the captivating introduction through the epilogue, it is the writing as much as the story that will rivet readers. The black-and-white photos, taken mostly on glass plates by the expedition's photographer, Frank Hurley, survived along with the men and are of exceptional quality.”

Kirkus Reviews. Qtd in Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0375810498/ref=dp_proddesc_0/103-0423122-5982232?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books .