MIRACLE ON ICE EXHIBIT RETRACES THE AMAZING JOURNEY OF ANTARCTIC EXPLORER ERNEST SHACKLETON.

Byline: Jennifer Errico Staff Writer

Notice:

Men wanted for hazardous journey.

Small wages.

Bitter cold.

Long months of complete darkness.

Constant danger.

Safe return doubtful.

Honor and recognition in case of success.

- Ernest Shackleton 

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More than 5,000 men did in 1913, and 27 were chosen to go with Sir Ernest Shackleton on a journey to Antarctica that would become one of the greatest adventures of the 20th century.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is exploring the expedition in ``The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition,'' an exhibition of 150 photographs shot during the nearly two-year journey.

``I think the story captivates people's imaginations because it is almost unbelievable,'' said Ann Muscat, executive vice president of strategic initiative at the museum and the in-house curator for the exhibition.

The Shackleton saga began in England when the captain and his crew, which included photographer James Francis ``Frank'' Hurley, along with 69 sled dogs and a cat named Mrs. Chippy, set out toward the South Pole on a ship, the Endurance.

Shackleton had failed twice before to reach the pole, losing the prize in 1911 to Norwegian Roald Amundsen (who, by a month, beat another British party, the ill-fated crew of Robert F. Scott). At age 40, Shackleton figured he had one last chance to make the record books. He decided he would lead the first team to cross Antarctica.

Stopped cold

But Shackleton and his crew never made it to the continent. About 100 miles from landfall, the 300-ton wooden ship was trapped and eventually crushed by ice, stranding the men for almost a year on a constantly moving floe.

The ice disintegrating around them and food in short supply, the men decided to take to the water in the Endurance's three surviving life boats. They set out for the nearest land, Elephant Island, seven days away.

Amazingly, all the men made it to Elephant Island, but life was not much better. The uninhabited island had little shelter from the wind and cold. The island was also far from shipping lanes, so Shackleton knew there was little chance they'd be rescued. A few weeks after landing on Elephant Island, Shackleton announced that he and five others would take a 22 1/2-foot boat, the James Caird, across 800 miles of treacherous open ocean to South Georgia Island, site of a small village.

After 17 days on the sea, in what many say is the most miraculous feat of navigating in naval history, the boat made it to South Georgia. But the adventure was not over. The six men had arrived on the wrong side of South Georgia and had to cross the uncharted interior to reach humanity.

Thirty-six hours later, Shackleton staggered into the village. He would later recall knocking on the station manager's door, and when the man looked them over, he asked, ``Who the hell are you?'' The manager did not recognize the men who just two years earlier had sailed from the island.

It took four more months before Shackleton was able to get a vessel and sail back to Elephant Island to rescue the rest of the crew. But, despite terrific odds against them, not a single man was lost.

How did they do it?

At a viewing of the exhibition, George Butler, who directed a documentary about the expedition, said he once sat at a table with a group who had conquered Mount Everest, and they wondered how all of Shackleton's men survived more than 700 days in the worst possible climate, when climbers with state-of-the-art equipment and support teams died on Everest in the disaster recounted in the best-selling book ``Into Thin Air.''

``No one could begin to explain,'' Butler said.

The Natural History Museum's exhibition displays 150 photos taken by Hurley. These photos show not only the sinking ship, but what life was like while the crew waited out the winter with stories, plays, sports and other diversions.

``I like the photos Hurley took of the Endurance in the ice at night,'' said Muscat. ``Not only do you get the ominous essence of how dark it was and how the ice pressed against the ship, but you also understand what it took to take those photos. Hurley had to set up flares and they all had to be lit at once.

``Hurley was as amazing as Shackleton,'' she said. ``What Hurley did to get those photographs and bring them back - I have admiration for him.''

Hurley, an Australian, was 26 when the expedition set out. He was a fearless photographer who climbed ice formations, the ship's masts and glaciers to get the right shots. At one point, he jumped into freezing cold water to save some of the glass plates.

As the Endurance sank, Shackleton and Hurley picked the best 100 photos - all they could carry - and destroyed the rest to avoid any temptation to retrieve them.

Hurley's visual record is complemented by film footage and a replica of the James Caird, the lifeboat that carried Shackleton and five of his crew members.

The exhibition also features an interactive computer that allows visitors to experience the challenges of open-boat navigation, and several videos, narrated by actor Liam Neeson, that examine the historic, geographic and scientific context of the voyage.

THE ENDURANCE: SHACKLETON'S LEGENDARY ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION

Where: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles.

When: 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; through Sept. 2.

Tickets: $5 to $8. Call [phone] or go to www.nhm.org.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2) Sir Ernest Shackleton, left, manageged to save all 27 of his men. Above, a lone figure walks amid the vastness of an Antarctic ice floe.

(3) The Endurance, Shackleton's vessel, juts from the spot where the ice captured it.

(4) Shackleton's men waited out the months with storytelling and other diversions.

(5) Shackleton's crew pulls the James Caird, the lifeboat that would eventually bring salvation.

Photographs by Frank Hurley courtesy of Scott Polar Research Institute (Ernest Shackleton portrait) and Royal Geographical Society.