Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance

In Preface, Armstrong explains that Antarctica, which is located at the South Pole, is “the most hostile environment this side of the moon” (1). She contrasts the few feet of ice covering the Arctic, or North Pole, to the deep glaciers in the South Pole, which can be two miles thick and help form a floor of ice that covers nearly the whole continent. Antarctica creates the world’s most treacherous weather, especially in the winter, when sub-zero temperatures and strong winds of up to 200 miles per hour rapidly freeze the surrounding ocean water. This ocean of ice can cover a vast area of seven million square miles. In 1915, a British crew traveling to Antarctica becomes trapped there. They ultimately survive.