Endurance Part III Chapters 4-6

Hurley and Shackleton at Patience Camp

Tensions around Patience Camp are at an all time high. The lack of uncertainty about the safety of the floe led to bickering and petty squabbles amoung the crew. Some men, looking for a scapegoat, blame Shackleton.

"Inevitably the old resentments aganist Shackleton's refusal to get in all possible game when it was available cropped up."The hardships of leading that Shackleton faces are very apparent. The circumstances tempt many of the men to question Shackleton's decsions. He is often forced to make life or death choices. For example, many of the men pressured Shackleton to send a team back to Ocean Camp due to low food supply. However, the dangerous journey was thought by Shackleton to be too big of a risk. I disagree to an extent with the decision. Although it worked out in Shackleton's favor, as sea lepords were soon spotted and provided much meat, I think that Shackleton's gamble was far too great. It is true that sending men to Ocean Camp would be dangerous. However, at this point, starvation is a very realistic problem. Shackleton merely got lucky that they managed to acqire more meat.

The other important decision Shackleton made was to launch the boats off the floe. This was controversial, as they had no idea of how long the pack would remain open. However, the floe they were currently staying on had become steadily smaller and could soon break. Shackleton decided it was more dangerous to stay and ordered them to sail out into the open water.