Tag Archives: Sir Ernest Shackleton
My Favorite Job Posting of All-Time. “Long journey on an old wooden boat to the worst place on Earth.”
Nothing highlights the difference between now and 100 years ago quite like this advertisement from Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton: “Long journey on an old wooden boat to the worst place on Earth. The trip is going to be super dangerous and terrible. In fact, you’ll probably die and if you don’t die you will definitely be miserable the entire time.” Imagine scrolling through craiglist and seeing an ad like this in 2022. I feel like the internet would take it down for safety reasons and then the people would get back to their video games and porn. Back then…that sounded like the opportunity of a lifetime. Fuck safety. Nothing beats a little glory and a call to adventure. The story of “Endurance” and Ernest is one of my absolute favorites. >click to read< 11:22
Why Sir Ernest Shackleton isn’t the role model you thought he was
Sir Ernest Shackleton’s expedition to the Antarctic in 1914 is justifiably a famous adventure story and it made him an iconic figure of the 20th century as well as a role model for leadership in business and society. A century after his death in 1922, he remains a titan. And yet, the Endurance expedition was a disaster. Over the past century, numerous books and articles have been written and business and university courses created which have espoused Shackleton as an exemplar of successful leadership techniques but the mythology belies some less heroic truths. There were two key errors of judgment by Shackleton which have been airbrushed from history. Photos, video, >click to read< 09:45
The Mystery of the Third Man
Allow me to set the scene. Location: The frigid and stormy Wendell Sea, close to the Antarctic continent. The year: 1915 Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew are reaching their 400th day living in a makeshift camp on the ice while their now-abandoned ship Endurance is slowly crushed by sea ice. The crew described the groaning and creaking of the splintering ship as sounding like the death cries of something half-alive. By November of that year, the last of the ship finally sank beneath the waves, and Shackleton and his crew had no choice but attempt the harrowing journey in their recovered life boats to the barren, inhospitable shores of Elephant Island. click here to read the story 18:00
