Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World

When I was twelve years old my parents took our family on vacation to Mexico. We stayed in what was then a relatively small and non-touristy fishing town an hour south of Cancun. My father, being a history buff, was determined to bring my family to nearby Mayan ruins. We could not pass up this once in a lifetime opportunity, he said, especially when it was so close at hand.

To save money and give our itinerary the flexibility demanded by a family of five with young children, my parents decided that they would rent a car instead of buying us tickets for a chartered tour bus. My father decided to take his frugality one step farther and secure a free rental car – all he had to do was sit through a time share presentation that would last no more than an hour. No less than three hours later, my family was finally on our way to see the remains of a past civilization. Our chariot was a red compact car (designed to comfortably fit two but advertised to hold five, which is how many we squeezed in) that smelled of stale cigarette and cleaning solution.

Despite our setbacks and less than leisurely travel conditions, our trip to the ruins was uneventful. We toured, we took pictures, we learned, we had a good time. After a long day of trekking through the sun we headed back to our hotel. My brother, sister, and I were dozing in the back seat when an unexpected jolt woke us up. The car that my father had so cleverly gotten for free had a flat tire. We pulled over to the side of the Mexican highway, with cars cruising past at speeds exceeding 80 miles per hour, to change the tire. After much hassle with an old jack and a spare that was definitely not full sized, we finally made it back to our hotel. The rental company tried to charge us extra for getting a flat, after all we did use five tires instead of the normal four, but my father wouldn’t stand for it.

Reading Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World reminded my of my families adventures renting a car in Mexico. We faced troubles and adversity (long presentations, second hand smoke, flat tires) but in the end we all made it home safely.

Jennifer Armstrong does a magnificent job of creating a compelling story out of Shackleton’s adventure. She has written a non-fiction book that reads like a story but is filled with facts and true-life adventures. Armstrong sets up her story by giving the readers hints that trouble lies ahead. The title of the book, Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, is a clear indicator that something is going to go wrong as a shipwreck is not the desired result of a voyage. The suspense continues to build when Armstrong explicitly mentions that the voyage does not go as planned, but that Shackleton, being an extraordinary leader, was able to journey to safety without losing any human lives.

By creating suspense Armstrong compels the reader to keep reading. Besides the overarching theme of survival against the odds, suspense is also created in small subplots throughout the book. When The Endurance was first to set sail there was the uncertainty that the looming war brought. Would the ship be able to continue with its original mission or would it be re-commissioned as part of the British Army? Including small details and facts like this helps to create a story that is not only factual, but also highly readable and accessible.