On Friday the cruise ship M/S Explorer hit an ice berg while in the Antarctic and is sinking. All passengers were safely evacuated. The cruise was billed "The "Spirit of Shackleton". This reminded me of the famous Shackleton expedition to the Antarctic in his ship the Endurance. Upon approaching ice pack of the Antarctic the Endurance become stuck in the ice. Shackleton and his men spent time in his ship until it was crushed and sank. They then spent months on the ice in tents. Then when the ice broke up they took to open boats and sailed to Elephant Island. Then Shackleton and a few men sailed another 700 miles to South Georgia and then returned to rescue his men stranded on Elephant Island. Despite failing in his effort to transit the Antartic via the South Pole, Shackleton is now viewed as one of the greatest explorers of the modern age. There are several good resources about him. A DVD series "Shackleton - The Greatest Survival Story of All Time" with Kenneth Branagh was made that has consistently good reviews. Leem Neesom, one of my favorite actors, stars in a great documentary "The Endurance - Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition" There are also several books on the subject. There is no evidence that Shackleton was a Christian. His story however lends itself to a discussion of several Christian principles including; perseverance in the face of great adversity, selflessness in the face of possible death, and judging people by character rather than results. I think this would make a great youth group study or the DVDs would be great companion Christmas present along with "The Dangerous Book for Boys". Here is a trailer for a documentory on Shackleton.
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