Shackleton’s stowaway: : The survival story of Perce Blackborow and the Endurance crew
Sarah Bax Horton

This is a non fiction retelling of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-16). It includes the first biography of South Walian stowaway Perce Blackborow and is written with the support of his family.

It comprises previously unpublished material by the expedition’s diarists. They charted their descent from explorers to survivors after the sinking of their ship, crushed by sea ice. The story of the maroons on Elephant Island is handled in greater detail than ever before, analysing the sources of their resilience as they struggled to retain their physical and psychological health.

This is a book about survival and what the human spirit can accomplish, while debating the challenges facing Antarctica today. It discusses the qualities of leadership and followership, hope and resilience. Honouring the most ordinary of heroes, it uncovers how their experiences shaped the men. It ultimately explains the well-known phrase, ‘When all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton’.