Book Review
The Lost Men By KELLY TYLER-LEWIS
Reviewed by PEGGY BARNETT
Adventurers go out into the wild spaces for various reasons -- some for science, some for glory, some for the fun of it.

The Polar explorers tended not to have much fun, but they gained glory. Sir Ernest Shackleton was already a hero to the British public when he announced his second expedition, this time to cross the continent of Antarctica. Winston Churchill, then first lord of the Admiralty, would have nothing to do with it, so no government money was forthcoming. Shackleton turned to private sources, but never was adequately funded. The year was 1913.

Previously, the Norwegians, under the leadership of Ronald Amundsen, had beaten the British explorer Robert Scott to the South Pole. Now Shackleton wanted to redeem the reputation of his country's adventurers and win more adulation for himself. He was persuasive and brave, though he did not achieve his goal.

His plan was to sail to the Weddell Sea and sledge across the continent. Since he could not carry enough supplies, he sent another ship to the Ross Sea on the opposite side. The Ross Sea party was to lay a long chain of depots containing food and equipment that Shackleton and his men would findand use to complete their journey.

Things went wrong almost right away when Shackleton's ship was crushed by sea ice, and the group never made land. However, the men of the Ross Sea party were out of communication with Shackleton and everyone else. They went ahead with their assignment, not knowing till two years later that the depots they sacrificed to supply would not be needed.

Theirs was an amazing story, much of which came to light only recently through Tyler-Lewis' research. Many of the men kept diaries and journals, and she has used them to make the story vivid and enthralling. Ten men were left abandoned on the ice when the ship Aurora was blown away in a blizzard. They had to survive on their own with no extra clothing or food. (The ship had been their supply base.) And they still had to fulfilltheir mission.

Tyler-Lewis conveys the personalities, virtues, and faults of these intrepid characters. Only two had any experience in the ice and snow, and they disagreed on how to survive and proceed. Some did survive, and they are pictured in the book as they appeared when rescued, having suffered from scurvy and nearstarvation, snow blindness, frostbite, and no baths for two years.

Several wrote accounts of the ordeal. Some were bitter, blaming lack of organization and poor leadership. At least one, however, said that he "had no regrets. It was something that the human spirit accomplished."

Read about them in The Lost Men, available at the Mary Willis Library.

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