The Endurance Fleeing an ice floe as it cracks up beneath their feet, the men launch their three lifeboats and head for windswept Elephant Island, reaching solid land after 497 days on sea and ice.
Upturned boats become shelters.
Men lay on the ground, hiding their heads in the stones. Their smiles and laughter caused their cracked lips to bleed, but they laughed on. Yet Hurley, characteristically, exults at the beauty he sees and photographs. Cliffs that throw their serrated scarps a thousand feet into the skies are interspersed with glaciers that tumble in crevassed cascades down to the sea. Picture Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.