The photographs in this area depict the men's journey on open seas and their first encounter with pack ice, as well as scenes of living on the ice, their sledge dogs, daily life on the Endurance, and their scientific study. A large engraved plexiglass reproduction of the Endurance stands on an inlaid tile floor that represents the ice around the ship. Surrounding the installation are Hurley's images of the Endurance in the ice, views of the landscape of ice, and the men battling the ice. A video explains how Shackleton's ship was engulfed and destroyed by the relentless pack ice. The next section of the exhibition presents Hurley's dramatic images of the break-up of the Endurance, the camps they set up on the ice, and the men's attempted march over snow and ice.
Computer animation enhances the video, illustrating the ice pressure that crushed the ship.
A nearby panel presents some of today's research in the Antarctic and features recent findings on the color of ice. Next, in a section devoted to navigation, the rolling ocean, clouds, and the sun are projected onto three large screens. The sound of wind and waves, digitally mastered and in stereo, envelops the visitor when they enter the room. Here visitors confront the formidable challenge Shackleton and his men faced in sailing a small, open boat 800 miles, in towering sixty-foot waves, through gale force winds, with only a sextant, some charts, an unreliable chronometer, and a few sightings of the sun to guide them. Standing before the James Caird and the sextant used in the crossing, visitors may handle interactive sextants, and with the aid of a computer program, set their own course for South Georgia.