The Loss of the “Endurance.”

Then came the long months in the ice, and the tragic end in July, 1915, when the poor little Endurance was literally squeezed to death in the Antarctic floes. Shackleton described that crushing calamity in his book “South.” Worsley, in his story, tells how poignantly the going of the ship affected himself and his chief. It was so terribly human, the quivering and groaning of the vessel when two massive floes jamed her in a death-grip, ever increasing the pressure. The sides of the vessel buckled in and out like a concertina. “It gave me the horrible impression that the ship was gasping for breath.”

“It was a heartbreaking sight to see the brave little ship, that had been our home for so long, broken up by the remorseless onward sweep of a thousand miles of pack-ice. To see her crushed, and know that we could do nothing whatever to help her, was as bad as watching a chum go out.”