On the day WWI broke out, New Zealander Captain Frank Worsley set off on an adventure of a lifetime. He was part of an important historical expedition to Antarctica, and little did he know just how dangerous it would be.

Sailing from England on 8 August 1914, with expedition leader Sir Ernest Shackleton and an excited crew of the ship Endurance, they sailed towards South America. This part of the journey was easy sailing and short stops in ports along the voyage. But when sailing into the Weddell Sea around Antarctica, Frank embraced a new challenge. The ice prevented them going any further. At first Frank had a solution, but soon Mother Nature won the battle and the Endurance was trapped in the ice.

The promise of an exciting adventure soon turned into a journey of survival. A crushed ship, circling killer whales, and fracturing ice below as they slept were just the tip of the iceberg in problems they had to face. They had to get to Elephant Island and help, and Frank was looked to by the entire crew to navigate them there in small lifeboats saved from the Endurance. This was only one step in the grueling journey to safety.

Giant waves, terrible cold, frostbitten fingers, snow covered mountains slashed with deep ice crevices later, they found their way to a whaling station. But there were men left behind and a return journey was needed to rescue them.

This sophisticated picture book captures a snippet in the life of NZ’s Frank Worsley, Captain of the Endurance that sailed from Plymouth in England to Antarctica in 1914. His job was to deliver adventurer Ernest Shackleton and his expedition team to Antarctica.

A year and a half later, as thin as scarecrows, bedraggled but not beaten by the vicious elements, the expedition’s adventure turned into a battle for survival, finally ended.

A beautifully illustrated portrayal of one of NZ’s famous figures of our past, this story reads like the adventure is really was. Filled with action, courage, loyalty and self belief, it would make a fantastic Read Aloud at home at bedtime or in the classroom.

More about the heroes of this story – Frank Worsley and Ernest Shackleton – is included in the back of the book along with photos of the Endurance’s crew and the Endurance itself as it dies in the ice. A must for every classroom!

Author – Maria Gill

Illustrator – Alistair Hughes

Age – 5+

Find your copy here

(Action, Adventure, Voyage, Antarctica, Historical, 1914, Ice, Courage, Survival, Read aloud, New Zealand, NZ)