Lucille Recht Penner - Ice Wreck

To Jonathan
L.R.P.

To David and Ruth, for your unwavering love and support
D.L.

1
Trapped!

It was August 1914. Sir Ernest Shackleton stood in the bow of his sturdy wooden ship, the Endurance. Twenty-seven men and sixty-nine sled dogs were on board. The ship was headed for Antarctica.

Antarctica is a continent at the bottom of the world. It is the coldest place on Earth. No plants grow there. Few animals live there. In 1914, the only people who had ever been there were explorers.

So why did Shackleton want to go to Antarctica?

Shackleton was an explorer, too. He wanted to set a recordhe wanted to be the first person to cross Antarctica from one side to the other. But that plan was in trouble.

Big chunks of ice filled the sea. Each day the ice grew thicker. The Endurance picked its way carefully. Ice is dangerous. It can tear a hole in a ship.

Then the temperature dropped. Ice froze around the ship. The Endurance couldnt go forward. It couldnt turn and go back. The men tried to break a path in the ice. And Shackleton did not give up. He gave new orders.

Raise the sails! Fire up the engines! The Endurance charged at full speed into the ice.

The ship couldnt break free. Soon it couldnt move at all. Shackleton and his men were trapped.

2
Abandon Ship!

The men looked out at the sea of ice. They couldnt cross Antarctica. They couldnt even get there. What would happen to them now?

Shackleton told them he had a new plan. They would live on the Endurance until the ice broke up. The ship was stocked with food. If they wanted fresh meat, they could hunt for seals and penguins. Then, when the ship was free, they would sail home.

But Shackleton knew the months ahead would not be easy. He ordered the ships carpenter to build rooms in the warmest part of the ship.

Even the dogs got new homes, built out of ice blocks. The crew called the little houses dogloos.

The dogs were fun. The men played with them and treated them like pets. When a dog named Sally had puppies, Tom Crean, the second officer, built a tiny sled for the puppies to pull.

Some of the men went hunting for seals. The ships captain, Frank Worsley, scrambled up the sails ropes. Worsley had great eyesight. If he saw a seal, he signaled to the men below and they hurried after it.

But often there was nothing to do. The men were bored. Shackleton tried to cheer them up. He taught them card games. He recited poetry. He was kind to everyone.

The men came to love him. They called him Boss. The Boss started singing contests, debates, slide shows, and guessing games. One night, the crew dressed up in fancy costumes and put on a skit.

Outside they played wild games of ice soccer and hockey. They held a race with their dog teams and called it the Great Antarctic Dog Derby. The men yelled and cheered as the dogs thundered over the ice.

But soon they began to worry again. They had been trapped by the ice for seven months and the ship was still stuck. Now the weather was getting worse.

A fierce storm blew up. The men heard the ice grinding and groaning nearby. Sheets of ice pressed together so hard that they pushed each other up in the air.

The ship cant live in this, Skipper, Shackleton told Frank Worsley. It is only a matter of time. What the ice gets, the ice keeps.

He was right. Ice squeezed the Endurance tighter and tighter. One terrifying day, the ship rolled onto its side. A few hours later, it rolled back. The men didnt feel safe anymore.

All around them, the ice rocked and trembled. The Endurance sprang leaks. Everyone worked to pump out the water. Some of the men jumped over the side and hacked at the ice with shovels and axes. But it was no use. The ice was too thick to scrape away.

Then a huge piece of ice ripped a hole in the side of the ship. Water poured in. The Endurance was breaking up. Soon it was going to sink.

Sadly, Shackleton gave the order.

Abandon ship.