The first time I read Jack London’s “Call of the Wild,” I was transfixed by the world he portrayed. A person survived in this world of snow and frigid temperatures only by a stoic self-determination. This is the milieu we enter at “Shackleton’s Antartic Adventure,” at the Omnimax Theatre at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.
After the South Pole was reached by Admundsen and Scott, Schackleton (1874-1922) was keen on achieving the last great accomplishment left: a transcontinental crossing via the pole.
To that end, Shackleton obtained funding from private sources and Sir James Caird provided the lion’s share. (One of the lifeboats was named after the benefactor). He then had a 350-ton ship, The Endurance, built in Norway at a cost of 14,000. The ship could be powered by sail or by coal.
The plan was to sail through the Weddel Sea and to land at Vahsel Bay, and then six men were to traverse the continent. The Endurance never made it. After setting sail in 1914, it got held up in pack ice, and the floes eventually submerged the ship.
First Shackleton’s crew used the three lifeboats from The Endurance and sailed to Elephants’ Island. Some of the men were left there, and Shackleton hand-picked several of the group to cross the tempestuous seas in a sixteen day journey to South Georgia Island.
Next, Shackleton and two others did what seemed the impossible: crossing South Georgia Island, a task which had never been accomplished before, because of the formidable terrain. The interior of the island consists of glaciers and steep cliffs.
This is one of the most interesting parts of the film, because the contemporary crew commissioned for the film-which consisted of accomplished mountain climbers-found the task daunting. These modern explorers had a difficult time of it, and they were at the top of their form with lots of rest and food. Shackleton and his two men crossed the island with little sleep and meager provisions of food.
After a twenty-two month struggle in the Antartic, Shackleton returned to South Georgia Island with a new ship that brought all 28 crewmen home safely.
An accompanying exhibition at the Cincinnati Historical Museam (also located at Union Terminal), also includes a replica of one of the lifeboats, the James Caird, as well as photographs by Frank Hurley, one of the original crewmen of The Endurance.
The History Museam’s exhibition of memorabilia from Shackleton’s Antartic Journey runs through May 12, and the OmniMax film runs through May 24.