Shackleton's Argonauts facts for kids
First edition
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Author | Frank Hurley |
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Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Genre | Children's non-fiction |
Publisher | Angus and Robertson |
Publication date
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1948 |
Media type | |
Pages | 140pp |
Preceded by | Pearls and Savages : Adventures in the Air, on Land and Sea - in New Guinea |
Followed by | The Diaries of Frank Hurley 1912-1941 |
Shackleton's Argonauts : A Saga of the Antarctic Ice-Pack (1948) is a children's information book by Australian photographer and explorer Frank Hurley. The book was also illustrated by Hurley, and won the Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers in 1948.
Book summary
Frank Hurley was the official photographer attached to Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition to the Antarctic. Known as the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, Shackleton's aim was to ship his party to the head of the Weddell Sea and then cross the continent to the Ross Sea with a small party by dog sledge. But things went wrong from the start when their ship, the Endurance, was caught and crushed in ice-packs. After months surviving on the ice, the expedition finally made it to Elephant Island. From there Shackleton undertook an open-boat journey to South Georgia to organise a rescue, which, after some months and several attempts, was finally successful.
Hurley was able to save some negatives from the expedition and used a number to illustrate the book.