Go With Your Decision

We make many decisions throughout our lives, but very few have life or death consequences.  Ernest Shackleton, the famed explorer who led the Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914-1916, was faced with several critical decisions that did impact the survival of his entire crew.

Shackleton’s ship, The Endurance with 27 men on board, couldn’t endure the extreme conditions navigating through ice in the South Atlantic Sea.  After getting trapped in an ice floe, it sank.  With little hope of rescue, Shackleton and five crew members spent 16 days in a small lifeboat crossing 800 miles of ocean to reach South Georgia Island.  At that point several of them had to trek across the island and over a mountain pass to reach a whaling station for help.

Their only supplies were rope, wood planks, and a small amount of food.  As they began their descent from the mountain top Shackleton suggested that they tie the planks together to make an improvised sled to carry them down the mountain.

One member of his crew objected, fearing they would fall off a cliff.

Shackleton explained that they would all freeze to death before making it to the whaling station. If they wanted to survive, their only hope was to take their chances on the sled.

The sled ride was a success.  They did not fall off a cliff, and a few hours later they arrived at the whaling station. They were greeted by a man Shackleton knew, although he and his men were so emaciated he wasn’t recognizable.

Despite the odds, Shackleton’s entire crew was rescued and survived. That is one of the more memorable successes of world exploration and it is a tribute to his decisive leadership (although I don’t know how he explained his loss of the ship to his financial backers).

I’m not an explorer, and I’ve lived my entire life in a city.  Thank goodness my decisions do not usually have life or death implications.  Years ago, I did fly on a chartered plane that landed nine-tenths of a mile from the actual North Pole.  After we enjoyed a leisurely walk on the ice, the pilot noticed a crack that was expanding in the direction of the airplane.  My decision was to sprint back onto the plane — faster than I have ever moved before or since.

We then had an adventure of our own on the flight back to the weather station in Northern Canada, but that story will have to wait for my next blog.

Happy travels!

Alan