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In Shackleton's WakeBy Arved FuchsFrom Sailing, April 2002: “Few people can claim to have spent as much time in the polar ice as the legendary Sir Ernest Shackleton, but Arved Fuchs, who recently published the book In Shackleton's Wake, might run a close second. Fuchs is an adventurer by trade with some very impressive accomplishments to his credit. He has crossed Greenland by dog sled and rounded Cape Horn in a small inflatable. In 1989 he became the first man to reach both the north and south poles on foot within the same year. His most recent adventure was a re-creation of possibly one of the greatest adventures of all time – the 1917 open boat voyage that Shackleton and five others took from Elephant Island off the Antarctic coast, to South Georgia Island, a remote speck in the Southern Ocean, in order to get help for the rest of their expedition, which had been marooned after being trapped in the ice some months earlier. “Fuchs's story starts out in his native Germany when he sees a replica of the JAMES CAIRD, the boat Shackleton used for his voyage. At 22 feet and nothing more than a lifeboat, the JAMES CAIRD was hardly suitable for such a crossing, but in order to re-enact the trip Fuchs has an exact replica built. His own boat, a 50-foot North Sea cutter named DAGMAR AAENI, is dispatched to Antarctica to serve as the mothership, while Fuchs sails to the Antarctic with the brand new JAMES CAIRD II aboard an expedition ship, the HANSEATIC. Almost 86 years after Shackleton set sail, Fuchs and a crew of three push away from Elephant Island bound for South Georgia over 700 miles away. “The description of life on board the diminutive JAMES CAIRD II will leave even the most hardened adventurer grateful for his warm bed. Fuchs is quick to point out that they were doing the trip during the summer months while Shackleton and company did it in the dead of winter with less than perfect gear. Fuchs's trip, however, is no less harrowing with icebergs threatening to sink the boat and unpredictable weather conspiring to scuttle their plans. “When they land on South Georgia the relief is palpable, even though they must still make a strenuous and dangerous land crossing in order to reach the whaling station at Stromness that had welcomed Shackleton and crew so many years earlier. “It's a mighty undertaking to re-enact such a notable trip, and perhaps just as difficult to write a book about it that would be as compelling as the original, but Fuchs has done just that. To make it more interesting he boldly challenges some of the decisions that Shackleton made, questioning his reasoning and suggesting that perhaps Sir Ernest was not as great an explorer as he has been portrayed. In Shackleton's Wake is a terrific adventure story and a great read, especially when the wind is howling outside and you are warmly ensconced in your favorite chair with a fire blazing.” Excerpted from Good Old Boat, January/February 2002: “Along with three fellow adventurers, the author sets out to recreate Shackleton's 1916 journey for survival in an open lifeboat, a journey of 700 miles at 60 degrees south latitude. This is followed by a 30-miles crossing of South Georgia over mountains and glaciers never before crossed by man. “The book that results, In Shackleton's Wake, has much to recommend it. I learned more about Shackleton than I had ever known, and I went to school in Australia, a country where Shackleton was one of the heroes… “…Fuchs creates a very readable tale. He goes so far as to question a number of the decisions made by Shackleton, and he backs those challenges with the authority of experience in the Antarctic. “This book's a keeper. It is full of interesting facts and information, told in a very readable style.” From Booklist, October 2001: “Fuchs, one of the first two men to cross the Antarctic on foot, decided to reenact the boat journey of Shackleton's 1915-16 Antarctic expedition, after its ship ENDURANCE sank, to refuge on Elephant Island and later South Georgia , the subject of many books, including Shackleton's own South (1919) and Melinda Mueller's riveting poem, 'What the Ice Gets’ (2000). His replica of Shackleton's lifeboat JAMES CAIRD rode south aboard a containership and, on the final leg, a cruise liner. Fuch is conscious of the irony in that and in being in satellite communication at all times as well as an escort vessel bearing a film crew documenting the voyage. But he is also conscious of Shackleton's leadership qualities and the serious technical errors he made, which required, along with courage and (another irony) endurance, almost miraculous good luck for the expedition members' survival. A worthwhile addition to any collection of true sea adventures.”
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