The Lost Men

In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton set forth to make history with the first-ever crossing of the Antarctic continent. On the eve of the First World War, Shackleton disappeared into the Weddell Sea aboard the Endurance, while a ship called the Aurora sailed into the Ross Sea on the opposite side of the continent under the command of Æneas Mackintosh. The Ross Sea party, twenty-eight strong, was there to create a lifeline of vital food and fuel depots to supply the epic crossing. 'This programme would involve some heavy sledging, but the ground to be covered was familiar and I had not anticipated that the work would present any great difficulties,' Shackleton wrote.

Yet all went tragically wrong when the Aurora broke free of its moorings in an Antarctic gale and stranded ten men ashore, woefully ill-equipped to perform their task. Left with little more than the clothing on their backs and scavenged equipment, the men vowed to carry on in the face of impossible odds. Meanwhile, the rest of the Aurora crew, cast adrift at the mercy of the elements, battled for survival. With little hope of rescue, the lost men struggled to save themselves and carry out their mission.

Kelly Tyler-Lewis brings Antarctic exploration alive in this richly researched chronicle of a previously overshadowed expedition marked by extraordinary bravery and fortitude.