Customer Reviews

The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party

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In 1998, Caroline Alexander published "The Endurance", her classic re-telling of Ernest Shackleton's expedition to the Antarctic. Stranded for two years on the south side of the Antarctic, Shackleton led his entire crew back to Argentina. And here, Ms. Alexander story comes to the end with a brief epilogue. The tale of his re-supply expedition concurrently stranded on the northern side of the Antarctic was mentioned in passing. The Ross Sea Party has been ignored historically, possibly because Shackleton was a larger-than-life figure, or because there was a visual record of his expedition (the photographs accompanied Ms. Alexander's text) or because Shackleton reached civilization first with his adventures before going back to rescue the second expedition.

Ms. Tyler-Lewis redresses this neglect in "The Lost Men." The mission of the Ross Sea expedition was to lay supply depots on the northern half above the South Pole. Shackleton meant to transverse the entire continent from the south to the South Pole to the Ross Sea -- he needed those depots to survive the journey home. Ironically, neither expedition was aware that the other was stranded. With no radio communication, the Ross Sea Party went ahead and walked 1,300 miles to established supply depots that were no longer needed. Ms. Tyler-Lewis superbly utilized the diaries of the survivors to describe their emotional and physical suffering for two years. "The Lost Men" is a well-told tale of the will of these men to accomplish their mission and to survive against the elements.

Kelly Tyler-Lewis' The Lost Men is the first full account of the Ross Sea Party side of Ernest Shackleton's attempt to cross Antarctica during World War I. The book simultaneously tells a harrowing tale of adventure as well as exemplifying outstanding historical research. Until this book, the men of the Ross Sea Party were truly lost and voiceless. Tyler-Lewis located diaries, photographs, and even film that no other historian could find. The result of her research is an outstanding, clear, and concise work of nonfiction.

The book also has the feel of a good novel. Tyler-Lewis skillfully blends research with a great adventure story. She sculpts the narrative to keep a heightened sense of suspense and wonder. She develops the complicated characters of the men in dramatic fashion, often using their own words (from their diaries and other sources) to great effect. The reader truly gets a sense of what was going through their minds and what motivated their actions.

I suggest not viewing the photograph section of the book until you have finished, because it gives away events that occur later in the book. This is a difficult thing to do, indeed, because you grow attached to these men and want to see what they looked like.

The only complaint I have is that the chapters detailing the crew of the ship Aurora are not nearly as interesting as the chapters about the men who are actually on Antarctica. But this is a small complaint. Overall, I was interested from beginning to end. I highly recommend this book and look forward to other works by Kelly Tyler-Lewis.

I have read nearly every book in print dealing with the exploration and saga of Shackleton and his men. Kelly Tyler-Lewis' book The Lost Men rates as one of the best. The "harrowing story" of these hearty men stranded in the desolate Ross Sea is incredible, for lack of words.

Duty-bound, these men laid the stores for a transantarctic voyage that would never materialize. These were men who risked their own lives to ensure the safety of others whose whereabouts were unknown.

The Lost Men is an epic struggle of man versus the ravages of nature and reveals the triumphs and the tragedies involved. It is a book of determination, leadership and accountability.

Of special interest are the generous notes included dealing with such issues as diet (e.g., Their diet lacked nearly all essential vitamins necessary for such a feat), body temperature (e.g., One man recorded a body temperature of 94.2), and navigation of pack ice (e.g. in 2002 it took two Coast Guard ships over two weeks to break through ice roughly thirty miles to Hut point.)

The Lost Men is an exciting and riveting book. As a two-time traveler to McMurdo Sound, I highly recommend this work.

The vast majority of attention, regarding the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, focuses on the entrapment & sinking of the Endurance and the subsequent retreat from danger by Shackleton and crew. An amazing escape across 800+ miles of some of the worlds most dangerous seas in 25ft long rowing boats.
The other half of the expedition, which is the focus of this book, receives scant coverage but in many ways it was just as much a nightmare for those involved. The Ross Sea supply party, aboard the Aurora, were to build supply dumps along the route to be used by Shackleton on the 2nd half of his transcontinental expedition. Alas, what on paper seemed to be a relatively straightforward idea, became anything but. From the start they ran in to problems - after financing the fitting out of the Endurance there were scant funds available for getting the Aurora seaworthy...as well as problems finding crew. From there on things go from bad to worse. After dropping off the supply team the Aurora is unable to find a suitable location for overwintering in the ice - eventually they anchor in what they perceive to be a safe haven but are carried away trapped in ice...the supply party along with a scientific party are left trapped on the ice. However the building of the supply depots must continue - the supply team fears that Shackleton will die if they don't build the necessary depots for his outward journey. There is much one-upmanship between the members of the supply team leading to fracture and inefficiency - the last thing one needs in those conditions. From their diaries Lewis recreates the psychological battles between the team members - but no matter how they feel about each other the depots must be built. And if the humans have a rough time of it the sled dogs have it even worse. The book details the effects of ravaging scurvey, freezing temperatures, mental debilitation, malnutrition and hopes of survival while awaiting rescue. I won't go in to details - read it for yourself :-)
This book is an excellent companion to both South (Shackleton) and Endurance (Worsley) providing a level of detail finely crafted from the diaries of the crew and explorers.
I'm currently reading up on as much Polar Expd material as I can find in readiness for my own expedition to the South Pole in Dec 06/Jan 07. If you would like to find out more about that please have a look at wwwdotbritishbriandotcom.
Overall a book worthy of addition to any polar exploration collection.

This book is quite a gripping story both in based in tragedy and triumph.
I saw the PBS special on the Shackleton Journey, but many times, like this, the book is much better.
The book was highly researched and vividly written describing the many astonishing moments of the expedition.
It was a ten-man journey the relies heavily on personal journals about some happy moments and some very terrible times. It goes into detail about the decreasing health of the journeymen and stuggles with scurvey, frostbite, snow blindness and the horrible mental and emotional anguish that many sucumb to on this dangerous 1330-mile mission to Antarctica.

Both sucessful and failed feats of courage are lauded by literature. Many have heard (and read) of the failed expedition of Ernest Shackleton to cross Antarctica. Shackletom failed to even reach the continent, as his ship, the Endurance failed to reach land.

Less well known is the story of the Ross Sea Party -- the group charged with laying in supplies that Shackleton would need as he crossed the pole and returned northward. This book tells the saga of the poorly funded "other half" of the planned expedition.

Focusing more on the shore party, rather than on the shipboard party on the Aurora, the book details the mistakes that were made in the first summer attempt to stock the depots, where Macintosh drove the sled dogs to death and made very little progress, to the stranding of the shore party at the end of the first summer when they were not picked up by the ship.

Presuming the ship lost, and wondering if a rescue would even be attempted during WWI, the 10 men were determined to do the job they were sent to do and proceeded through all odds to strive to lay the depots that Shackleton would never need.

Kelly Tyler-Lewis examines the physical and mental struggles of the shore party including their deep divisions over leadership styles. Culled from the diaries of the expedition, she has weaved a gripping tale of man's struggle against incredible odds.

Just finished the book and am a bit disappointed. I had hoped to get insight into the lives of the people involved in this amazing tale. What the author gives us is a detailed account of the events built from the diaries of the men. Overall the book reads like a newspaper article - the stories are sometimes intriguing but often tedious. If you are looking for a thorough account of the events that occurred around the Ross Sea Party, this is the book for you.

The attractive front-cover design is the first indication of the quality of this work, which is well researched and written and a thoroughly engrossing read. Highly recommended.

At the start, I found this book very slow and I couldn't get into it. Not sure if it was my mood or the writing. But after about 100 pages, I couldn't put it down. I am not done it yet and looking forward to getting home tonight to read more.

It is an excellent account of an unknown (at least to me) part of Shackleton's adventure. I have read Endurance and seen the Shackleton movie and found both fascinating. But this book, about the other team who were to support Shackleton's journey, recounts the efforts of the Ross Sea Party in laying a series of supply depots across the Great Ice Barrier along the route of earlier Antartic expeditions. These depots would be essential to Shackleton and his party, who were starting their journey on the opposite coast of Antartica. By the time they got to to the first depot, their supplies would be exhausted and thus their survival depended on this party's depots. What these men went through for their leader is amazing and unforgettable.

The book recounts the delays in their start, their inexperience which resulted in disaster the first season, the conflict between members, the extreme weather, and consequences. In the long run, their efforts were for naught since Shackleton did not end up travelling to the South Pole because of the loss of their ship Endurance.

My revised opinion now that I am half way through: excellent, riveting, amazing, gripping, enthralling. And seeing as I am somewhat directionally challenged, I like the maps in the book that make it easy to appreciate the magnitude of what these men did.

For other gripping books, see my other reviews and my listmania list. I am an avid reader of adventure/survival books.

Polar exploration is dear to my historical heart, and this book is written in a very easy readable style, giving a human face to the story of an inhuman environment.From an age when men were strong, determined, focussed and had a great sense of duty, this story is one of triumph over extreme hardship. Shackelton saved everyone from his ship, and never reached the land where this half of the party were laying the depots of food and supplies so that he could complete the crossing. Their story is amazing, and amazingly written. Marion