Book 21: South The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition 1914-1917 by Sir Ernest Shackleton Edited by Peter King

This was a book sale purchase from last year. I had shelved the book, instead of keeping it with my unread pile and almost forgot about it. 

South is the story of Ernest Shackleton's disastrous attempt to cross Antarctica. His ship Endurance was trapped in ice and crushed. The crew was forced to camp on an ice floe. Later they launched boats for a five-day, 346 mile trip to Elephant Island. Elephant Island was far from any shipping lanes, and it was unlikely the crew would be rescued. So Shackleton and five others embarked on a 800 mile, seventeen-day journey to South Georgia. Many experts consider this to be the greatest small boat journey ever undertaken.

But Shackleton and his companions had landed on an uninhabited part of the island. Shackleton led two others and crossed the island to the whaling station of Stromrness. Eventually the men on the other side of South Georgia and Elephant Island were rescued. 

South was originally published in 1919. The 1999 edition contains additional research by Peter King that details inadequate funding, lack of training of the crew and dogs, and failure to provide adequate food.