Intrigued by the mysterious, vast continent at the bottom of the world, Sir Ernest Shackleton fearlessly led 27 men to explore Antarctica -- but on their way to its shore, their ship Endurance was crushed by the relentless ice! The shipwrecked team braved many months stranded on an ice floe (through an Antarctic winter), facing extreme hunger, frostbite, illness, and exhaustion. But through Shackleton's heroic effort to sail in an open wooden lifeboat to the nearest inhabited land -- hundreds of miles away through the treacherous ocean -- everyone was eventually rescued and this amazing true story began to be told again and again. Accompanying this tale for young readers are lovely watercolor paintings that capture the beauty of the Antarctic landscape and the team's heroic determination to survive. Young readers and adults alike will also be fascinated by the maps, chronology, and further background this book provides on one of history's most extraordinary expeditions.