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33 pages

English

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Description

Adventurous true stories of leadership take readers on a high adrenaline ride and pose provocative questions that move men forward in their lives and faith.

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

Informations

Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 septembre 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441240798
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0086€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

© 2010 by James L. Lund
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com
Originally published in 2010 under the title Danger Calling
Abridged ebook edition created 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-4079-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked Message is taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked NASB is taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided only as a resource; Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.
Published in association with William K. Jensen Literary Agency, 119 Bampton Court, Eugene, Oregon 97404.
To my longtime friend Tim Hansel and the gang at Summit Expedition, who fired me up in countless ways, especially in reference to mountains and great effort.
Peb
To Betty Jean (Leonard) Lund, who encouraged me to pursue my calling wherever it led. Thanks, Mom, for everything.
Jim
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
1. The Expedition The Story of Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance
2. Nightmare in Mogadishu The Story of Jeff Struecker
3. Death Trap The Story of Wag Dodge and His Crew
4. Love and Death in the Andes The Story of Nando Parrado
5. Last Voyage of the La Conte The Story of Mark Morley and His Crew
6. Boy Wonder The Story of Norman Ollestad
Resources
Acknowledgments
Back Ads
Back Cover
1 The Expedition
He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.
Isaiah 49:10
S tanding on an Antarctic ice floe, his breath appearing in small clouds of white, Ernest Shackleton watches his men feed their sled dogs. A movement in the distance catches his eye.
It is the Endurance and she is sinking. The stout Norwegian schooner has carried Shackleton and his twenty-seven crew members thirteen thousand miles to this forlorn spot in the Weddell Sea. They are only one day’s sail from their intended destination, Antarctica’s Vashel Bay, from which Shackleton had hoped to launch the first overland expedition across the continent.
But five months after departing England in the summer of 1914, the Endurance was thwarted by an unusually severe winter and trapped in the polar ice. No amount of effort could free her. For the past ten months, Shackleton and his mates have endured in the subzero conditions as they waited for their frozen prison to release them.
The wait was in vain. A few weeks earlier, the vise grip around the Endurance tightened; she was being crushed by ice. The men were forced to abandon ship. Now their lone symbol of civilization is disappearing and with it the faint hope of restoring their former home.
“She’s going, boys!” Shackleton shouts. He dashes up a lookout tower. The crew scrambles out of tents pitched on the frozen wasteland and watches silently. Across the ice pack, the stern of Endurance rises twenty feet into the air, her propeller and rudder clearly visible. Then, slowly, she is devoured by the sea. Less than ten minutes after Shackleton’s shout, there is no trace of the schooner. Ice closes up the black hole of open water that marked her grave.
The sight is heartbreaking for all. Shackleton is so devastated that later, in his journal, he notes that “I cannot write about it.” In front of his charges, however, Shackleton shows no sign of disappointment or loss. “Ship and stores have gone,” he tells them, “so now we’ll go home.”
It is a typical Shackleton moment. The expedition leader is adapting to the circumstances, giving his men what they need most confident direction delivered in a calm voice. It is not the first such moment on this journey, nor will it be the last.
From the beginning of the expedition, Shackleton has worked to mold his men into a cohesive unit. He broke down typical divisions between officers and crew, sailors and scientists, by requiring everyone to pitch in on ship’s work. Seamen would take hydrographic readings. Doctors and scientists would do their share of chores, night watches, and turns at the helm. Shackleton also rotated work assignments to encourage multiple friendships and prevent cliques. The trust and camaraderie they built up soon served them well.
When the Endurance became trapped, Shackleton fought against anxiety, boredom, and dissension by promoting games on the ice floes: soccer, hockey, and dog races. He also continued to celebrate birthdays, holidays, and other special events. Meteorologist Leonard Hussey entertained with his banjo. Despite adversity, the men were content, even happy. They were living proof of one of Shackleton’s core beliefs: “Adventure is the soul of existence because it [brings] out true harmony among men.”
Then came the day the ice wrapped itself tighter around the Endurance , warping her sides and wringing animal-like screams from her beams. A band of emperor penguins watched the tortured ship and uttered a series of mournful cries unknown to all on board. “Do you hear that?” one crew member said. “We’ll none of us get back to our homes again.”
The men lowered their three lifeboats, gathered what supplies they could, and congregated on the sturdiest-looking ice floe. Shackleton could see the discouragement in their faces. He addressed the group, calmly explaining his plans and what they were up against. He rallied them with what one expedition member described as a “simple, moving, optimistic, and highly effective” speech.
After the sinking of the Endurance , the men at least know what they are up against. It falls to them to pull themselves out of their predicament.
The next five-and-a-half months are a sentence of useless attempts to cross the dangerous, uneven ice floes on foot, followed by endless waiting. As they wait, the ice pack gradually drifts northwest.
Finally, as the Antarctic summer moves into fall, the warmed-up ice begins to break apart. The expedition’s ice floe, once a mile in diameter, is now less than two hundred yards across. The men ready the three lifeboats and hope for a channel of open water. There is no time to lose; the current is taking them away from the series of small islands along Antarctica’s northwest tip and toward the open sea.
On the evening of April 8, 1916, the ice floe splits. Two boats are hurried across the crack so the group can stay together. The next morning, the floe splits again as other floes grind against it. The men watch as ice and water jockey for position. At 12:40 in the afternoon, Shackleton quietly gives the order: “Launch the boats.” There is no turning back. If the ice closes again, the lifeboats will be crushed, along with any hope of survival.
In the first thirty minutes, the rowers in the three small boats make gradual progress; the ice seems to loosen further. Many are admiring a flat-top iceberg close by when a low roar attracts all eyes to starboard. Bearing down on them is a lavalike flow of tumbling ice, at least two feet high and wide as a river. It’s a riptide, and it can easily sink them all.
Shackleton swings his boat around and shouts for the others to do the same. It’s a race for survival. The oarsmen dig in, four in each boat, pulling with all their strength. They are facing astern, staring straight at their enemy. Twice the Dudley Docker , the most cumbersome boat to row, is nearly overtaken. After fifteen minutes, when the oarsmen have nearly nothing left, the riptide loses some of its fury. Five minutes later, it flattens out. Fresh rowers take over, and the boats resume their original course.
It is the beginning of seven days of misery. On the first night, the men are able to pitch tents on a floe. Shackleton takes the first watch, sleeps for an hour, then gets up again to survey the floe. He seems inexhaustible, forever watching and planning on behalf of his party.
His vigilance saves the life of crewman Ernie Holness. In the darkness, a large swell strikes the floe. “Crack!” someone yells. The split widens underneath a tent. Holness, in his sleeping bag, falls into icy water. Shackleton rushes forward, throws himself onto the edge of the ice, grabs the bag, and heaves Holness out of the water. A moment later, another swell cements the crack in the floe back together.
Later, in the boats, Captain Frank Worsley uses a sextant to determine the expedition’s position. On the third day, despite rowing west, they are twenty-two miles east of their former camp on the ice they’re being swept toward open ocean. That night, when the moon peeks through the clouds, Shackleton takes stock of his men. They are wet, cold, hungry, thirsty, and exhausted from rowing and lack of sleep. Lips are cracked, eyes red, faces crusted with salt. Some are suffering the first signs of frostbite.
“In the momentary light, I could see their ghostly faces,” Shackleton later wrote in his journal. “I doubted if all the men would survive the night