Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, now forty years old, took up Filchner's idea. His polar expedition was to put all previous ones in the shade. He planned the adventure of his life. In a propaganda campaign without equal, he raised so much money inside two years that he was able to outfit two ships. Five thousand adventurers applied to take part in his new Antarctic expedition. 'Shack' selected. In the spring of 1914 preparations were complete. The Endurance, under the command of Shackleton, was to run into the Weddell Sea and overwinter there on the edge of the Filchner Shelf Ice. At the start of the Antarctic summer, Shackleton would then cross the continent, accompanied by six men and dog sledges. A novel snow vehicle, a forerunner of the modern Ski-doo, was to support them. The planned route led over the Filchner Shelf Ice, to the South Pole, the Beardmore Glacier and across the Ross Shelf Ice to McMurdo Sound.

A second expedition was come to meet him. Its task was to set up a station at McMurdo Sound, using a second ship, the Aurora, and from there to construct provisions depots on the Ross Shelf Ice. The Beardmore Glacier was assigned as the meeting point for both parties. Such a bold traverse was only to be contemplated after Scott had reached the South Pole and Filchner had established the starting point. Did 'Shack' want to prove that he was better than Scott? Did he want to restore British honour after the disaster of 1912, or did he want to experience an adventure - 'the last trip on earth'? Everything was ready. What he certainly had not taken into account was the outbreak of the First World War. Patriot that he was, Shackleton placed ships and crews at the disposal of the Admiralty. This body, however, decided on the continuation of the bold scheme. The war would soon be over, thought 'Shack'. He was to be deceived. On 8 August 1914 the Endurance left Plymouth Harbour. Without any intermediate port of call the ship reached South Georgia on 26 October. 'Shack' at once set course for the Weddell Sea.

Hemmed in by pack ice and icebergs, the Endurance was maneuvered south with bravura for three long months, but they were unable to penetrate as far as the coast. On 19 January 1915 they were conclusively frozen in. Although the mood of the 28-man company remained excellent - with dog training, organized pony races, football on the ice, and reading the purposely taken Encyclopedia Britannica-the elements played havoc with the Endurance and drove the ship and the ice masses 2,410 kilometres off course. On 24 October 1915 they found themselves 917 kilometres north of where they had got trapped.

Things got worse. The ship was no longer able to free herself. Not at the beginning of the Antarctic summer, not in the autumm. She had got amongst the ice compressions which slowly crushed her. As if made of pasteboard, she splintered into a thousand pieces. Luckily, this unfortunate process lasted a month. The equipment, lifeboats, all provisions could be safely taken out of the ship. Shackleton's expedition had foundered, delivered up to the ice, perhaps condemned to death. The entire crew had at its disposal now only three ship's boats, five tents and a little food. By way of comfort, 'Shack' handed out an extra half sausage per man. On 21 November 1915 the Endurance sank.

Was it the irony of fate that exactly at this time - with the advancing summer - the ice became soft and brittle?

'Shack' ordered a match across the drift ice. Despite great dangers the men dragged the ship's boats across the ice. Further and further northwards. The greatest care determined the choice of camp sites and the route. Once more Shackleton's deputy, Frank Wild (1874-1930), proved himself He was at this time by far one of the most experienced Antarctic explorers. He had taken part in Scott's first expedition during 1901-04. In 1907-09 he had been with Shackleton and from 1911 to 1914 he had participated in a further Antarctic expedition. Wild had spent almost a decade on the ice continent. 'Shack' and his people knew the value of that. Shackleton attempted to reach Paulet Island, where Nordenskjold had built a small hut in 1903 and had laid in a food depot. On New Year's Day 1916 the party crossed the polar circle. The wrecked expedition pressed on further but just 100 kilometres from safety they had to alter direction afresh. The ice had become completely incalculable in its brittleness. Again and again it became more difficult to find old, firm pack ice for a camp site. Ever more frequently it happened that cracks suddenly gaped in the immediate vicinity of the tents.

Shackleton and Wild decided to get to the open sea as quickly as possible. They wanted to set course for Elephant Island. Their crew was never to be found wanting. The monotonous victuals, seal meat stew and roasted whale meat bacon they enlivened with readings from a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica which they continued to lug with them. On 14 April 1916, after sixteen months' odyssey on the ice sea, the men stepped for the first time on firm land again.

Elephant Island was no paradise. Luckily, however, there were seals and penguins. The food problem was thereby solved for the time being. Nevertheless there was little sense in hoping that a ship would pass by. They would have to organize their own rescue. The next inhabited spot was South Georgia. On 24 April 1916 Shackleton set out for it in a ship's boat and five men. He handed over command of the remaining shore party on Elephant Island to Frank Wild.

Wild, a survival specialist, knew that a happy outcome to the expedition depended on the unbroken will of all members to hold out. Accordingly, he organized everyday camp life. The two boats were turned upside down and converted into quarters. With much toil they were made winter proof. The biggest problem was condensation. In a single day 728 litres of water had to be scooped outside. Each Saturday and birthday was celebrated. For the feast a cocktail was brewed up, consisting of hot water, ginger, sugar and a teaspoonful of methylated spirits. They practised choral singing. A banjo had been preserved throughout all the dangers. It was a speciality of the crew of the Endurance to sing satirical verses, musically accompanied, with which the little weaknesses of individual expedition members were mercilessly laid bare. The victim then had a week to think up a suitable reply, in order to return the compliment on the following Saturday. The 'Boss', Shackleton, was expected back at any time. No one allowed himself to get careless. Discipline did not break down as food became scarcer. It was the beginning of August. The men, inventive and easily satisfied, boiled old seal bones. They discovered the use of seaweed as a vegetable and found it 'very tasty'. On 12 August 1916 Wild shared out the last of the meths. Henceforth they toasted each other with hot water flavoured with ginger. Slowly the winter came to an end. On 30 August at last they saw a sail come up over the horizon. 'Shack' was back. After 105 days of 'ice captivity' on Elephant Island the 'Boss' had come to fetch his lads.

Shackleton had not exactly had a pleasure trip. Just the opposite. But he had mastered all the difficulties. South Georgia lies 1,300 kilometres away from Elephant Island! In an open small boat 'Shack' sailed for weeks through a region that is notorious for its storms. The eternally cloud-shrouded sky rendered navigation more difficult. Certainly, there had been no alternative. 'Shack' took with him rations for only one month. Had he not reached his goal or a rescue ship in this time, all would have been up with him and with the crew waiting with Wild.

The first stage, right through the icebergs, 'Shack' and his Argonauts accomplished with dexterity. On the open sea their daily performance was about 100 kilometres per day. They had already done almost two-thirds of the journey when a storm overtook them which coated the whole boat in a layer of ice. The waves to which they were exposed exceeded everything that Shackleton had seen in his twenty-six years' seafaring. When one of their tanks sprang a leak, they were soon suffering from water shortage. They survived, just.

Nonetheless, on 8 May 1916 they sighted the coast of South Georgia, which in this area is to such a degree interspersed with cliffs, that at first they did not fancy landing. Faced with the onset of a hurricane, no other option remained to them, however. Again they found a channel through to the beach. Lucky. They landed. The saving whaling station lay 27 kilometres away. To reach it a 3,000 metre mountain ridge had to be crossed. Two of the men were so ill that they were not capable of it. Shackleton left a third man behind to care for them and marched with the other pair across the mountains. When Shackleton stepped into the station and introduced himself, there was an astonished silence. His first question was whether the war was over. No, it was not. Now, he had still to organize the rescue of his men. The terrible ice conditions in the Weddell Sea caused his first three attempts to fail. Only with the fourth ship, a Chilean government sailing vessel, which he had got hold of in Punta Arenas, did 'Shack' get through to Elephant Island. From the ship he counted the men who ran together to the shore. Only when he had reached the total of twenty-two did the worry fall from him. He was hugely relieved. In all the dangerous passages, over three years, he had not lost a single man.