Ernest Shackleton: His Ship Was Crushed by Ice… Then He Brought Every Man Home

In 1915, the Antarctic ice crushed his ship.

Twenty-eight men were trapped at the end of the world.

Could he bring every man home?

This is the story of Ernest Shackleton.

Welcome to brightlivesenglish.com, where we teach real English using real-life stories.

Crew. A crew is all the people who work together on a ship.

He sailed south with a crew of twenty-seven men.

Trapped. If you are trapped, you are in a place and you cannot get out.

The ship was trapped in the ice.

Crush. To crush something means to press it so hard that it breaks.

The past is crushed.

Slowly, the ice crushed the ship.

Lifeboat. A lifeboat is a small boat that people use when their ship is in danger.

Six men sailed one small lifeboat across the ocean.

Storm. A storm is very bad weather with strong winds and high waves.

Day after day, the storm threw huge waves at the boat.

Now, one pattern: had and a past participle.

We use it for the earlier of two past actions.

They waited for months.

Then help came.

By the time help came, they had waited for months.

Ready? Let's begin.

Ernest Shackleton was born in Ireland in 1874.

At sixteen, he left school and went to sea on a big sailing ship.

He dreamed of adventure.

He became a polar explorer.

In 1909, he came closer to the South Pole than anyone before him.

But food was running out, so he turned back to save his men.

In 1914, he sailed south with a crew of twenty-seven men, to walk across Antarctica.

But in January 1915, the sea froze around their ship, Endurance.

The ship was trapped in the ice.

For ten months, the ice carried the ship slowly across the sea.

It had been their home for more than a year.

Then the ice began to push, and the wood cracked.

Slowly, the ice crushed the ship.

In November 1915, she sank.

For five months, the men lived on the ice in thin tents.

They ate seals and penguins.

When the ice broke up, they sailed three small lifeboats to Elephant Island.

They had not stood on land for 497 days!

But nobody ever came to that island.

So Shackleton made a plan.

Six men sailed one small lifeboat across the ocean, about 1,300 kilometres.

Day after day, the storm threw huge waves at the boat.

Would they make it?

After two weeks, they reached South Georgia.

But the whaling station was behind high, icy mountains.

Nobody had ever crossed them.

Shackleton and two men walked for thirty-six hours.

Then they heard a whistle from the station.

They had made it!

Twenty-two men were still waiting on Elephant Island.

In August 1916, after three failed tries, his ship reached them.

Are you all well? he shouted.

All safe, all well!

By the time help came, they had waited for more than four months.

Every man came home.

Shackleton died in 1922, on another trip south.

And in 2022, scientists found his ship, three kilometres under the sea.

It had stayed there for more than one hundred years.

Let's review. He sailed south with a crew of twenty-seven men.

The ship was trapped in the ice.

Slowly, the ice crushed the ship.

Six men sailed one small lifeboat across the ocean.

Day after day, the storm threw huge waves at the boat.

And remember: by the time help came, they had waited for months.

Ernest Shackleton's story teaches us: a true leader never leaves anyone behind.

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