Ice Captain: The Life of J. R. Stenhouse

The first full biography of Commander Joseph Russell Stenhouse, commander of the ‘Aurora’ on Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-17) and the ‘Discovery’ on the National Oceanographic Expedition (1925-27). While Shackleton was beginning his epic with the ‘Endurance’, the ‘Aurora’ was on the other side of the Antarctic continent, intending to support Shackleton’s crossing. Shortly after arriving at Cape Evans on Ross Island, the ‘Aurora’ was blown out to sea from its moorings, leaving 10 men stranded ashore, and drifted in ice for nearly a year before it could be freed. Based on diaries and letters this is a nice biography by the author of ‘Born Adventurer: The Life of Frank Bickerton, Antarctic Pioneer’.