18 years before Endurance was trapped in the Antarctic ice, the Belgian ship, Belgica, was in the same predicament. But the contrast - and leadership - couldn't have been more different.
In the dead of winter, on June 19, 1898, surgeon Frederick Cook wrote in his expedition journal, "The darkness grows daily a little deeper and the night soaks hourly a little more color from our blood. Most of us in the cabin have grown decidedly gray within two months, though few are over thirty. Our faces are drawn and there is an absence of jest and cheer and hope."
Meanwhile, aboard Endurance, on June 21, 1915, it's party time! Photographer Frank Hurley wrote in his journal, "The cabin has an atmosphere poetic. Macklin is writing poetical verses and I am doing the same. McIlroy is arranging a décolleté dancing rig, whilst Uncle Hussey [the youngest of the scientific crew] is being beset by applicants to rehearse accompaniments on his banjo."