As an Antarctic expedition reports finding the wreck of Shackleton's lost ship Endurance, complete with remarkable photos, Ronald Turnbull looks back at this almost pathologically understated account of one of the worst journeys in history, a tale of squalor, endurance, and upper lips as stiff as the frozen sea.
"I don't really go for the expedition accounts of today where they wave their emotions overhead like a flag ripped apart by the wind. I like my adventurers to show, but not to tell."
It was, indeed, a remarkable journey by a remarkable group of men. And, for me, one of the saddest aspects is that, on their return to Great Britain many of the survivors joined up to fight in the war and subsequently were injured or killed in action, as if they hadn't endured enough already.
The Irish Government today announced the creation of a new National Park, the country's eighth. Located on the Dingle Peninsula, Páírc Náisiúnta na Mara, Ciarraí includes the rugged Conor Pass, the unique island of Sceilg Mhichíl, and Mount Brandon, one of...