Posted on 02/10/2019 7:03:49 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT
This might interest you.
the type of man a disposable shaver company warns us about...
We don’t need fewer of them..
we need more of them.
I remember channel flipping some time ago and running across the pbs show on endurance. Suddenly, I was transfixed, until it was over. Amazing feats of courage, seamanship, all that
Made me never want to leave Texas again. :p
30.0” South and 30.0” West.
To the nearest 30 seconds N and W with a sextant? That’s incredibly precise — a second of arc on the earth’s surface is about 100 feet.
Was he really precise to a tenth of a second? Why are both measurements to 30.0 seconds on the dot?
I’ve read the Alfred Lansing book, “Endurance”, and until its publication in 1959 Shackleton was largely forgotten. That book led to his deserved revival. I regard it as one of the two best books ever published on antarctic exploration, the other being “The Last Place on Earth” by Roland Huntford. It was PBS series of the same name that got me hooked on antarctic polar exploration 35 years ago.
I cannot agree more that this should be taught in schools.
I saw a documentary about it a decade or two ago.
They used glass plate negatives shot on location from the shipwreck.
My recollection is they didn’t lose a single man. That is mind boggling.
I believe they had one man who went insane...but nobody died.
Truly remarkable. If they ever make a movie about that, and don’t Hollywoodize it, that would be worth watching.
Of course, they won’t. No women, minorities, LGBQTZ, you name it. I guess that’s a no-go.
This is the good documentary I saw (and learned about the story)
The Endurance (2000)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264578/
A retelling of Sir Ernest Shackleton ‘s ill-fated expedition to Antarctica in 1914-1916, featuring new footage of the actual locations and interviews with surviving relatives of key expedition members, plus archived audio interviews with expedition members, and a generous helping of the footage and still photos shot on the expedition.
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apparently there was an A&E mini-series in 2002 (2 episodes)
Shackleton
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272839/
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I am going to check it out! Thank you...
I once actually knew how to do celestial navigation, but have no recollection of how precise the sextants were.
According to the Wikipedia writeup on sextants, a skilled navigator can determine position to within about a quarter mile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sextant
For later viewing
I read “Endurance” to my kids. I made it required “listening” exactly for their education. Parents can still retain control of their kids’ education & not punt to strangers who may—or may not—have your kids’ best interest at heart.
The trip across South Georgia Island!!!
The decision to ‘slide’ down the mountain, sitting on the gear!!!
Do they have bergschrunds on South Georgia Island?
My father always said, the harder you work, the more luck you will find. That and the Grace of God.
I did own a sextant and played with is for some time.
My interest was Lewis and Clark’s use of a sextant and artificial horizon. Close at best.
Note that Worsely successfully took them to Elephant Island (not all that big, 20 mi long and mostly in sight), then 800 miles to South Georgia Island.
Working from a small open boat on rough seas.
Amazing.
“My father always said, the harder you work, the more luck you will find. That and the Grace of God.”
Interesting on the Grace of God. In Frank Worsley’s book also titled “Endurance” he said he/they sensed another presence accompanying them when they were crossing South Georgia island.
That reminded me of an anecdote related by the famous mountain climber of the 1930s, Frank Smythe, when he was traversing the north ridge of Mt Everest following in the footsteps of Mallory and Irvine from the 1924 expedition. He also wrote that he sensed a presence that was with him. When resting her turned to offer the ‘presence’ some water he thought was sitting next to him. He also reported seeing balloon-like objects floating in the air and was convinced it was not a hallucination.
Perhaps these are artifacts from highly fatigued minds or perhaps it’s something else.
Was he climbing with oxygen?
“Was he climbing with oxygen?”
To the best of my recollection he was. All climbers since the early 1920’s used oxygen. Mallory and Irvine used oxygen on the 1924 expedition.
It was in the summer!
When you consider the intense cold, snow and ice these men had to deal with for months on end, it puts into perspective how inconvenienced we think we are when we have to warm up our cars on a cold morning.
“No women, minorities, LGBQTZ, you name it. I guess that’s a no-go.”
Since when has that stopped Hollywood from rewriting history? Just imagine the frolicking with a homo captain, a lesbian first mate, a tranny cook and a glee chorus of sailors.
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