Wow! I was looking today at a set of newly released digitized images of Frank Hurley’s photographs of the ill-fated Shackleton Trans Antarctic expedition and that is really the word to describe them. It is like seeing old friends again, but in a new light. A century ago the Endurance sank beneath the ice of the Weddell Sea off Antarctica. Sir Ernest Shackleton had been counting on Endurance to make it ashore, ahead of a trek across the continent past the South Pole, and, of course, to take his crew safely back to England. But it sank and there was no way to call for help back home – and back home was embroiled in the First World War. There began the Worst Journey in the World – so much of it documented by Hurley.

For those of you lucky enough to be in the UK, you can see this exhibit the Enduring Eye: The Antarctic Legacy of Sir Ernest Shackleton and Frank Hurley at the Royal Geographical Society in London from 21 November 2015 until 28 February 2016. The RGS is itself a living reminder of centuries of British exploration. Several years ago a friendly guard was kind enough to show me the lecture room where Livingstone and Burton spoke.

As for the digitizations, these relate to what we have so often spoken of – giving the breath of revitalization to people who lived a century ago. I was startled by the crispness of Hurley’s image of Endurance in full sail trying to break free of the pack ice. Then there is the highly human photograph of The crew back in “The Ritz“, celebrating the shortest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere – 22 June 1915. And finally, there is Hurley at his photographic most expressive in an image of part of the crew huddled contemplatively sitting before the ship’s stove during the night watch. You would be happy to achieve this quality of image with a DSLR today, but this was remarkably taken with a plate camera with a very slow emulsion. It highlights not only Hurley’s technical ability but in a single photograph says everything about why the crew survived. It speaks to the enduring camaraderie of the men who sailed and suffered together, the men who placed their confidence in Shackleton. It is the truly stuff that legends are made of.