Part I Chapters 5-8

In the latter half of part I, Lansing gives a more in depth profile of each man on the endurance. The reader begins to know each man personally, from the great captain Shackleton to the cook, Charlie Green. The men seem to adjust to their position relatively easily. None seem distraught that they are stuck in the ice. Then, the so call Antarctic night sets in, bringing the beginning of the winter, and the end of the sunlight. The men, instead of becoming distraught at their predicament, become a close group. They collectively shave their heads, and begin weekly and monthly rituals to bring a sense of normalcy to their lives. Every Saturday they drink, and every Sunday they listen to music. Once a month, the photographer gives lectures on the majestic locations he has traversed to. The men even have dog races, and seem to truly be having a good time while they are cemented in between floes of ice. On midwinter's day, the men put on a comedy show of sorts, and their morale seems to be especially high. On the heels of the show, a great storm comes in, forcing the men to stay below deck, and shifting the ice. Reflecting on this, Worsley says "Many of the tabular bergs appear like huge warehouses and grain elevators, but more look like the creations of some brilliant architect when suffering from delirium, induced by gazing too long on the damned internal stationary pack that seems ...doomed to drift to and fro till the Crack of Doom splits and shivers it N., S., E. & W. into a thousand million fragments-and the smaller the better. No animal life observed-no land-no nothing!!!" This is an elaborate example of figurative language. The floes then begin to close in on the ship. The ship is attacked multiple times, but each time it resists. At one point the ship is lifted by the ice and slanted upward, sliding the equipment on deck. The boat that rights itself. Later, the ice begins to close in around the boat, bending the hull. Then, the boat gets a leak. The men work tirelessly to mend the leak, and get the water out, but it is to no avail. They are forced to abandon ship.