Endurance

Many, many years ago, Cory, my old Aussie mate at Chiat/Day recommended a book to me. He said it was the greatest adventure story never told. Of course, it was told, in a book, and not in the American default method of storytelling, a movie or a limited TV series on Hulu or a carousel ad on Instagram.

It's the tale of Ernest Shackleton and his crew of steel-hearted explorers who set to cross Antarctica. His tale even includes what I would consider the greatest recruitment ad ever written:

Mind you I read this book close to twenty years ago and I'm a little hazy on the details. 

Truth is, I didn't "read" it, at least not in the literal sense. I secured the book on cassette and listened to it while I was commuting 106 miles each day to my job in Irvine. You tend to miss a few of the finer points of the story when you're busy dodging lane-splitting motorcycles. Or yelling out the window for clueless commuters to "Get off your damn phone."

But what I do remember was terrifying. 

Caught by a not so unusual blast of Southern Hemisphere winter, the 115 foot master-crafted boat got stuck in a small crevice of bitter cold water, which would soon expand and turn into rock hard ice, which would soon crack the thick lumber of the boat's hull.

The sound was the stuff of nightmares to the men who had made camp 100 feet from the boat. And made going back inside the boat to retrieve food, clothing and supplies a test of will and frost-bitten nerves. 

Even the pack dogs that were brought along for the journey howled at the sound of the boat's slow disintegration. Perhaps knowing that with slow sunset the fattest Husky inched closer and closer to being on the menu board.

With each passing day, the despair grew thicker than the ice below them. But the story does not end with with the men going down under, down under.

In fact, what would make an excellent midpoint in a screenplay, Shackleton and four of his officers decide to engineer a daring rescue. One that had its own pitfalls and near death moments. 

I will not divulge the details of Part II of the Shackleton tale, suffice to say, that it was an unlikely and stunning success and merits your own reading.

It is timely reminder that sturdy, imaginative, tenacious men (and women) can defy all odds and bounce back from soul-crushing trauma.

Whether it's in Ukraine.

Or even here in Culver City.