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June 14, 2001Dec. 31, 2001 at the Burke Museum
Seattle, 3/15/01The
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture is proud
to welcome an exhibition of striking emotional power;
one that serves to illustrate a most miraculous
story of heroism and survival, and that speaks to
the humanity in us all. The
Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
sails into Seattle on June 14 and will remain at
the Burke Museum until December 31, 2001.
The Endurance: Shackleton's
Legendary Antarctic Expedition is a landmark
exhibition devoted to one of the greatest tales
of survival in expedition history. The exhibit brings
to life the epic story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's
1914 Endurance expeditionits
astonishing panoramas, doomed ship, extreme hardships,
and miraculous climax. Haunting expedition photographs,
diary entries, and vintage film footage resurrect
one of the most awesome man-against-nature sagas
to emerge this century.
The exhibition presents more than 150 compelling
photographs of the expedition's ordeal taken by
ship photographer Frank Hurley, who dove into frigid
waters to retrieve his glass-plate negatives from
the sinking Endurance.
The photographs, printed from the original negatives
and Hurley's album of prints, are displayed chronologically
and accompanied by gripping memoirs from the voyage.
The exhibition also features several videos, narrated
by actor Liam Neeson, that examine the historic,
geographic, and scientific context of the voyage.
The Endurance: Shackleton's
Legendary Antarctic Expedition is the
most comprehensive presentation of the journey ever
mounted. It is also the most extensive showing of
Hurley's work; limited numbers of his photographs
have been on view twice in London since the 1920s,
and once in Australia in 1963. The exhibit is organized
by the American Museum of Natural History in New
York, and curated by author Caroline Alexander.
As Dr. Alexander noted, "Shackleton's saga
is more than a great adventure story; it has many
lessons to teach us about character and human potential."
The Heroic Age of Antarctic
Exploration
Ernest Henry Shackleton was 27 years old and an
officer in the British Merchant Navy when he volunteered
for Captain Robert Falcon Scott's 1901 Discovery
expedition to the South Pole, which launched the
Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Though unsuccessful,
the journey gave Shackleton a taste for adventure
and strengthened his own ideas on how to lead an
Antarctic expedition.
By 1907, Shackleton had raised enough money to lead
his own expedition to the South Pole. But only 100
miles from his goal, Shackleton noted his crew's
terrible conditionsnow-blindness, hunger,
frostbite, and wavering suppliesand he made
the heartbreaking decision to turn back. A courageous
leader who always put his men first, Shackleton
returned to England a national hero and was knighted.
His third foray south came in 1914, in the wake
of the tragic death of Scott, who had failed in
his attempt to beat Norwegian Roald Amundsen to
the South Pole and died on his return trip. Because
England had lost the discovery of both poles to
the Norwegians, Shackleton was determined to claim
the last prize in polar exploration and be the first
to cross the Antarctic continent on foot.
He purchased a 144-foot-long wooden barquentine
named Polaris, which
he renamed Endurance
for his family motto: Fortitudine
Vincimus (by endurance we conquer).
The Endurance Expedition
On August 8, 1914, four days after the First World
War began, Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven
seamen and scientists set sail on the Endurance
from Plymouth, England. They would not be heard
from again for nearly two years.
It was a particularly cold winter and the pack ice
of the Weddell Sea extended further north than anyone
could remember. The Endurance
began following leads to navigate through the ice
en route to its intended landfall. Just one day's
sail from the Antarctic continent, temperatures
plummeted and the ship became trapped in ice. Frozen
fast for ten months, the Endurance
was slowly crushed by the pressure of the ice. The
crew was forced to finally abandon ship on October
27, 1915.
After five months of camping on drifting ice floes,
open water appeared and the men sailed their three
lifeboats for six days through miles of stormy seas,
to a rocky, uninhabited outcrop called Elephant
Island. Knowing that his men would never survive
on such a desolate spot, Shackleton decided to attempt
an incredible 800-mile open water journey in freezing
hurricane conditions to the nearest human outpostSouth
Georgia Island.
On April 24, 1916, Shackleton and five crewmen set
out for the whaling stations on South Georgia Island
in the lifeboat James Caird.
Miraculously, after 17 days on the sea, they landed
safely, having achieved what is widely considered
one of the greatest boat journeys in maritime history.
Unfortunately, they were forced to land before reaching
Stromness Station150 miles away by sea or
22 miles as the crow flies over rugged, uncharted
mountains. With two of his men, Shackleton chose
the latter route and trekked for 36 hours straight,
in ragged, flimsy clothing and worn boots with only
screws from the James Caird
driven through the soles for traction. When they
finally arrived, they were greeted with disbelief
and awe.
Within hours, a ship was dispatched to collect the
rest of the Caird party.
It would take three failed attempts and more than
three months to finally reach the men Shackleton
had left behind on Elephant Island. Finally, on
August 30, 1916, in Shackleton's fourth attempt
to penetrate the ice, the trawler Yelcho
made it to Elephant Island and retrieved the stranded
men. On September 3, the Yelcho
arrived, with Shackleton and his entire crew, in
Punta Arenas, Chile. Amazingly, all 29 men had survived
the grueling 22-month odyssey.
Shackleton's words, written after the expedition,
eloquently express the enormity and the ferocity
of the adventure: "Not a
life lost, and we have been through Hell."
The Photographic Exhibition
The Burke Museum exhibition begins with an introduction
to the main characters: Sir Ernest Shackleton, James
Francis "Frank" Hurley (expedition photographer),
and Antarctica. A video on the Heroic Age of Antarctic
Exploration sets the stage for the launch of Endurance
in 1914.
The story unfolds through the lens of Frank Hurley,
a photographer who was known to climb masts, ice
formations, and glaciers in pursuit of the best
shot. His extraordinary photographs depict the crew's
journey on open seas and their first encounter with
pack ice. Hurley used experimental techniques, placing
flares around the ship for nighttime photographs,
trying new color processes, and creating panoramic
scenes by taking photos in a series.
"Beyond their severe beauty,
Hurley's images embody the essential balance of
the story: against the melancholy sight of the Endurance
keeling over and dwindling into a tangle of rigging,
we can set his portraits of the men and see in their
expressions the reason they did not go down with
their ship
" (New
Yorker, 4/12/99)
Hurley's photographs and original film footage also
depict daily life aboard Endurance,
including the men tending to the 60 sledge dogs
that accompanied them on the journey, engaging in
their scientific research, the camp on the ice floes
and, finally, the dramatic breakup of the ship.
Computer animation enhances a video that illustrates
how the Endurance was
engulfed and destroyed by the relentless ice.
Hurley's photographs of Elephant Island and of the
launching of the James Caird
to South Georgia Island are dramatically presented
alongside images of the crossing and the incredible
rescue. The concluding area showcases Hurley's moving
portraits of 20 crewmembers, along with descriptions
of what each achieved after the expedition; a video
on Shackleton's life following the Endurance
expedition, and his death in 1922 on South Georgia
Island. Also on view are ten reproductions of rare
color images from the expedition, taken using an
early color process called the Paget method.
Hurley's pictures "capture
the duress and beauty of Ernest Shackleton's miraculous
Antarctic expedition with an immediacy that makes
it seem strangely timeless."
(New York Times Editorial,
4/16/99)
Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by the book, The
Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition,
written by Caroline Alexander. The national best-seller,
with more than 140 photographs, is published by
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, in association
with the American Museum of Natural History. The
book is available at the Burke Museum Store and
in bookstores nationwide.
Special Programming
In conjunction with the exhibition, the Burke Museum
is pleased to offer a variety of Endurance-related
programming, which includes educational activities
for young adventurers, fascinating lectures on Native
Arts and archaeology of Polar peoples, and the premiere
of George Butler's documentary "The Endurance"
at the Seattle International Film Festival. A large-screen
format IMAX® film about the Endurance
expedition will be presented at the Pacific Science
Center in the fall of 2001.
Caroline Alexander will join us in welcoming the
exhibit, with two lectures during the opening week:
Shackleton and the Legend
of the Endurance, Thursday, June 14, at 7
pm in Meany Hall, and The
Cats Behind the Captains: Feline Explorers of the
Heroic Age, Saturday, June 16 at 2:30 pm
in Kane Hall.
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