Endurance

In August 1918, Sir Ernest Shackleton and a crew of 27 embarked on an expedition of Antarctic. Their goal was to be the first to cross the Antarctic continent. Before they even reached the continent, their ship, Endurance, was trapped in the Weddell Sea. The ship eventually crushed under the ice. The crew had to make two near-fatal attempts, rowing their small boats across 800 miles of chopping water, before they could get rescued. Their twenty-two month ordeal became one of the greatest survival stories of 20th century.

Thanks to their on-ship photographer Frank Hurley, the Endurance story was vividly captured through Hurley's Kodak camera. (In Hurley's time, photos were captured on glass plates so they survived the harsh weather pretty well. You can see more about the story here.) We can now witness their amazing survival story first hand. (Hurley, like Dorothea Lange, is one of my photography heroes.)

Looking at those photos, I can't but think about the similarity between now and then. (Not so long ago in the dot-com bust, the Endurance story was "rediscovered" by the media, but it was narrowly focused on the leadership of Sir Ernest Shackleton.) Maybe it's time to read the story and get inspired by it again. After all, the lesson may come in handy this time.

P.S. if you are interested in the Endurance story, I highly recommend Caroline Alexander's book and the HBO mini-series "Shackleton" (played by Kenneth Branagh).