The story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's daring expedition to cross the Antarctic is captured in the film Endurance.

In December of 1914, Shackleton and his 27-member crew aboard the ship Endurance entered the ice fields of Weddell Sea, navigating through dangerous pack ice. With only 100 miles left in the journey, Shackleton made the fateful decision to stop and wait for a break in the heavy ice. The temperature dropped and the ice closed in around the ship making it impossible to proceed. The crew would live aboard the ship for the next ten months.

Gradually the ship succumbed to the crushing grip of the ice. Shackleton gave the order to abandon ship. The crew began a march in search of safety, carrying minimal supplies and dragging three lifeboats. Eventually reaching open water, they boarded the lifeboats and sailed off in an attempt to find land. Surviving perilous conditions, they finally landed on the deserted Elephant Island.

Stranded on the island, with no hope of rescue, Shackleton and four other crew members set sail in a lifeboat in an effort to reach the island of South Georgia. Traveling 800 miles through the world's worst seas, they arrived only to discover the whaling station was on the other side of the island. In order to rescue the remaining crew in time, Shackleton and two of his men must cross on foot the treacherous cliffs of the island, which were icy and forbidding, vulnerable to sudden blizzards and hurricane winds. The island's inhabitants considered the journey impossible. Nevertheless, Shackleton and his two partners crossed in 36 hours.

Shackleton's diary provides an interesting perspective on the South Georgia Island crossing:

I know that during that long and racking march of 36 hours over the unnamed mountains of South Georgia, it seemed to me often that there were four, not three. I said nothing to my companions, but afterwards Worsley said to me, "Boss, I had a curious feeling that there was another person with us."

Content: Endurance is rated G. Elapsed time: From the White Mountain Films logo, this scene begins at 01:22:30, and ends at 01:23:02 (DVD chapter 24).