I get what you say about Scott. I was born in the 60s and when I was growing up I’d only heard of Scott too. I remember watching a movie about him when I was a kid and crying my eyes out when he says the famous line about “just going out for a walk.” It is interesting how each of them has risen and fallen in public opinion. Mmm … I’m not sure what I think about the question of whether the man makes the context, or the context makes the man. Sounds like you think the latter. I want to ponder that …

When I grew up in the 1950s, it was not the name of Shackleton, but of his rival, Captain Robert Scott, which was most synonymous with Antarctic exploration. It was therefore Scott, not Shackleton, who I read about when a boy.

So I was interested to learn, after perusing Wikipedia, that, beginning in the 1960s, Scott’s reputation began to go down, and Shackleton’s to come up. Thus now, it is Shackleton’s name which is on the lips of all, and not Scott’s.

However, Scott’s reputation would appear once again to be on the rise. Is it destined again to eclipse Shackleton’s?

This makes us realise that fame is a product of public relations, and of historical circumstances. The person who does the things which makes him a hero, was in the right place at the right time, or otherwise lived at a particular historical period when his qualities were called for.

Had Shackleton lived today, he might – given his predilection to drink, fecklessness with money, and that there are no more places on earth to explore – have become an anonymous skid-row bum.

As for the other two: Yes, Endurance is by Lansing. It was recommended to me and was my entry point into the story. “Shackleton” is a biography which I bought because at that point I was looking for particular information that you may not be interested in, as part of research for my book.

Lansing’s book is a quick and gripping read. But you now already know the story so there’s probably no need to read another, different, version.

Of the Shackleton books you read, which would you recommend (for after I’ve had a wee break from ice and frostbite)? Is “Endurance” the one by Lansing? Any views on a book by Stephanie Barczewski that features both Shackleton and Scott?

Oh yeh, I dream about the story too. The sleeping on the ice floes, and the physics of getting the lifeboats up onto the floe and off again, haunt me. “South” doesn’t talk much about “the strategies to keep from going insane” except to mention, very fleetingly, the various celebratory dinners (ie, extra portion of fried blubber) and the dog races and the laughs they sometimes had at each other, and of course, Wild’s brilliant command to the men on Elephant Island to pack their bags every day in case the “Boss” came to rescue them that day. Do the other books go into more detail about these strategies?

I will always treasure this story, and revere the memory of Shackleton and his men. It’s been great to be able to discuss it with you.

I still dream about sleeping on an ice floe as it cracks underneath me.

Some of the details that colonise my mind:

Sleeping and being wet for the summer months as the floe turns into a shallow lake.

Permanent darkness for the winter months, and the strategies to keep from going insane.

near-complete constipation from eating only blubber, and chafing from using ice as “toilet paper”.

Tears freezing on the cheeks, then breaking off and ripping skin off.

Shooting the dogs.

so much more. As you said. Great, timeless story.

Thanks for the plug at the end.