Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

The crew’s reaction to the destruction of the Endurance by ice floes is similar to someone who grieves at the loss of a loved one. They describe the death throes of the ship in anthropomorphic similes, describing it “like a giant beast in its death agonies” (7). Conversely, they are both drawn and repelled by the incomparable power of the ice. Like a gargantuan creature who is so advised of its own physical power that it has no need of haste, the movement of the ice is described as almost leisurely. Like the dying ship, the ice emits sounds that are reminiscent of everyday sounds in a more mundane world. While the men are embroiled in an exchange with the brutality of nature at its harshest, they nonetheless hearken back to comparisons with the sights and sounds of their everyday lives. The ice makes sounds similar to ship’s whistles and crowing roosters. This juxtaposition of humdrum background noises with the incredible drama of towering icebergs that reach 1,000 feet underwater is effective, and serves as a reminder of the human tendency to explain all new phenomena in terms of familiar sights, sounds, and experiences.