Shackleton's Captain: A Biography of Frank Worsley [Paperback]

John Thomson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2010

Frank Worsley shared with Sir Ernest Shackleton one of the greatest adventures of the Heroic Age of Antarctic explorartion. After their ship Endurance was crushed in the ice in 1915, they made what is perhaps the most famous small-boat journey in history, across 800 miles of the world's roughest seas to get help. Worsley's diaries and notes still provide the main records of that journey, yet the fame of Shackleton rather overshadowed the modest New Zealander. This first ever biography of Worsley sets out to restore the balance. It tells the full story of his extraordinary life, from childhood as a larrikin in Akaroa, New Zealand, to his apprenticeship at sea, and the devolpment of his remarkable skills as navigator and sailing master. It also backgrounds the particular friendship that fourished betweeen Worsley and Shackleton. In an age of mass communications, Frank Worsley would have been a public figure as famous as Sir Edmund Hillary. This biography gives an unhallowed yet eminent New Zealander his proper place in history.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Mosaic Press; First Edition edition (January 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0889626782
• ISBN-13: 978-0889626782
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #744,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A definite must for polar collections, December 21, 2000

By 

A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shackleton's Captain: A Biography of Frank Worsley (Paperback)

Frank Worsley was Ernest Shackleton's captain, so he is a name that is not commonly known. A common mistake for so many biographers of secondary expeditionary characters is that they get caught up in the relationship to the major character and the biography turns out to be about them. That was my main concern when I first picked up this biograpy of Frank Worsley - that his personality and achievements would be overshadowed by those of Shackleton. Not in this biograpy though - Thomson keeps his story firmly about Worsley, and this story is every bit as interesting as Shackleton's.

Worsley, you see, was Shackleton's captain in the Antarctic expedition that almost ended in disaster in 1914/15. A dreadful summer in the south meant that their boat, the Endurance, was trapped inescapably in pack ice and so began one of the most incredible, courageous and stoic journeys in all polar exploration history. Shackleton's story has been told many times - how the men survived on Elephant Island, and how, with Worsley and some others they sailed across the wildest ocean in the world in a tiny boat to South Georgia to get a rescue craft for the rest of the crew. Even then disaster after disaster struck, they were almost smashed on the rocky coast of South Georgia, once ashore they had to cross the mountainous and glacier ridden interior to reach help on the other coast, and then they had to endure several failed attempts to reach the rest of the survivors back on Elephant Island. This story is told again, but teasing out Worsley's perspective and contributions.

Worsley's story isn't solely about this one incident, dramatic as it is. His life from his childhood to his further expeditions to the Arctic with Shackleton and his first and second world war experiences are all here. I think Thomson really gets inside the man in this book. There are numerous photos and illustrations - most of the Endurance and Quest photos of Shackelton's are widely available in other publications though. There is also a good index and a good appendix if you want to read further information on Worsley or his companions.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A hero with humour, January 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Shackleton's Captain: A Biography of Frank Worsley (Paperback)

This is my favourite book about Antarctic exploration - even surpassing Mawson's 'Home of the Blizzard'. The book captures the humour, insight and stubbornness of Frank Worsley from his upbringing in Akaroa, New Zealand, to his adventures with Shackleton and maritime career.

Worsley's skills as a sailor, navigator and writer made Shackleton's story possible and the book gives a clear insight into the personal qualities of heroic era adventurers 'when ships were made of wood and men were made of steel'.

A facinating and exciting book, well written and researched, with excellent photographs - this is my most frequently loaned book! [Incidentally, Frank Worsley's diaries can be seen at NZ's Canterbury Museum.]

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting biography of an interesting man, September 11, 1999

By 

Susan Paxton - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shackleton's Captain: A Biography of Frank Worsley (Paperback)

Frank Worsley is best known as the captain of the Endurance on Shackleton's ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914, but he led a full and very interesting life that included searching for treasure and sinking a German U-boat during WWI. Anyone who has read "Shackleton's Boat Journey" will want to know more about Worsley, and this book will fill many of the gaps.