Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition | American Museum of Natural History

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The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition

The Exhibition

The Shackleton exhibition features more than 150 compelling photographs by expedition photographer Frank Hurley in the most extensive presentation ever mounted on this dramatic journey. Many of the images are on view for the first time, displayed alongside diary excerpts and expedition artifacts, including the actual lifeboat used in the epic boat journey, as well as rare color images and film footage by Hurley. The exhibition also includes sections on the journey's historic and geographic context, and an immersive computer simulation on navigation.

Although this is primarily an exhibition of photos and film footage, the centerpiece is the James Caird. As visitors reach this point in the story, they come upon the boat itself, surrounded by a high-resolution projected simulation of the ocean. Dead ahead, low on the horizon, a faint sun peeks through the clouds. To the stern of the Caird, in a glass case, is the sextant used by Frank Worsley in his incredible navigational feat. On either side, mounted on pedestals, are two sextants that visitors can use.

The sextants are real, World War II-era relics, and the fact that they still work after all these years testifies to their sturdiness for use in the exhibition. Mounted beneath each sextant, an LCD monitor gives step-by-step instructions. When the visitor takes a sighting, sensors embedded in the sextant send information to a computer, which calculates the visitor's sighting. The resulting position is displayed on the screen, compared with the actual path of the Caird. The calculation is accurate, the same one Worsley used, except that his was done with a broken pencil and a wet notebook.

Technically, this interactive simulation is a new direction for the Museum. This is anything but a traditional computer kiosk; the only means of interaction is with the sextant itself, and the overall feeling is that of being far out at sea. The projected ocean surrounding the Caird has fooled many visitors, who ask where and how it was filmed. In fact, it is completely computer-generated and is a seamless ten-second loop. The motion had to be calibrated carefully; early tests could easily make someone seasick. The final version gives a strong sense of rocking motion, although it is nowhere near the 60-foot seas encountered by Shackleton and his men.

Software design: Joseph Stein, Kevin Walker

Computer and microcontroller programming: Joseph Stein, Dierdre Dixon

3D modeling and animation: James Stoop

Exhibition Design: Paul de Pass

Navigation Consultant: Capt. Cynthia Smith, USMMA

Photo by Denis Finnin/AMNH

Traveling Exhibition Schedule

For traveling information visit the Traveling Programs Website.

Exhibition Catalogue

The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, by Caroline Alexander, published by Alfred A. Knopf in association with the American Museum of Natural History, available in the Museum Shop. Call 212-769-5150 for more information.