The Files Below were generated during my Endurance expedition studies between the late 1970’s and early 2000’s when, involved with several publishers and manuscripts, I put “the pile” of what I’d gathered into distinct folders for easier reference. My Endurance work entered quasi-retirement in 2008 when I began lecturing history and driving Zodiacs on polar expedition ships. My research, although it sat dormant for a decade, has recently been reorganized for use by a broader audience. Wishing to ‘open source’ significant aspects of my investigations, I’m pleased to make these PDFs available for reference and research without cost. Please write and request what you’d like.

ShaneMurphy@icloud.com

Check out Frank Hurley’s daily Endurance diary on Twitter @shanemurphy4320.

Diagram. The Sphere, 1 August, 1914, and Buenos Ayres Herald, 17 October, 1914. Monochrome drawing; cutaway of Endurance from starboard stern looking forward; some labeling of features.

Endurance diary. Frank Hurley. Frank Hurley, ed. 268 pages.

Endurance diary. Frank Hurley. South American tour. 21 pages.

Endurance diary. Frank Worsley: 1914, 15 pages; 1915, 86 pages; 1916 through the James Caird voyage, 9 pages.

Endurance diary. Harry McNish. 53 pages.

Endurance diary. Reginald James. From the rescue to across the Andes by train to Buenos Aires. 16 pages.

Endurance diary. Thomas Orde-Lees. Transcribed by Margot Morrell. 418 pages.

Film. BFI. South! Brenda Hudson’s production notes, 2001. 8 pages.

Film. BFI. South! 106 Sequentially numbered thumbnails from BFI’s 2001 exhaustive resurrection of Hurley’s expedition footage. 1 expandable page.

Film. BFI. South & The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration on Film, 2022. Endurance scenes previously unknown. Available through shop.bfi.org.uk/.webloc. Some examples:

Notes. Correspondence to Mawson regarding Hurley’s health, 1911. 3 pages.

Notes. Notes. David Miller. Timeline of Hurley’s life. 5 pages.

Notes. Hurley Buenos Ayres Herald interview, 1916.

Notes. Hurley’s “List of supplies for a sledging journey.” Eight detailed pages compiled at Patience Camp while he lived in Shackleton’s tent. Possibly a close approximation of Shackleton’s original cross continental design; numerous details . . . including a thorough treatment of dog teams, workloads, weights, distances, etc.

Notes. Mitchell Image Library jottings on Hurley’s lantern slides (“Slides 22”) by call number. 3 pages.

Notes. National Library of Australia, TRC 2143. Interviews with people who worked with Frank Hurley. 3 pages.

Notes. Orde-Lees, Buenos Ayres Herald interview, 1914. 2 pages.

Notes. Robert Dixon. “Traveling Mass-Media Circus: Frank Hurley’s Synchronized Lecture Entertainments.” 21 pages.

Notes. Shackleton to Ernest Perris regarding Hurley’s attributes and shortcomings, latter 1916. 1 page.

Notes. Sydney Hurley sites, illustrated in my 2002 visit. 4 landscape pages.

Notes. Text from “Out of the Blizzard” documentary short, 2001. With Tim Bowden, Stephen Martin, David Miller, Hurley’s daughters. 16 pages.

Notes. The Manchester Guardian, June 2, 1916. Shackleton’s first communication since December 5, 1914. 1 expandable page.

Notes. Videotaped interviews with Frank Hurley’s Twin Daughters. 1999, Scottsdale, AZ. Digitized. 153 minutes. (Requires return envelope and postage for the thumb drive you provide).

Photographs. Endurance Magic Lantern show, c1924. 128 thumbnails. 1 expandable page.

Photographs. Hurley pre-Antarctic postal cards. 83 thumbnails. 1 expandable page.

Photographs. List of Images. ISBN 0-9703148-5-X, revised 2022. 540 thumbnails with archival locations and call numbers; image-specific details; supplemental art; how-to-use instructions. 120 pages; remains in progress.

Photographs. London Sphere, December 9 and 16, 1916. With the Shackleton Expedition: How I Took The Shackleton Pictures by Frank Hurley. 5 full newspaper pages.

Photographs. Michael Gray’s examination of Hurley’s monochrome RGS glass plates and “plastic” negatives by box and call number. 9 pages.

Photographs. Mitchell Image Library. Paget Colour plate titles; thumbnails; orientation diagrams. 3 expandable pages.

Photographs. National Library of Australia. Thumbnails of Hurley’s composite work; Endurance scenes. 1 expandable page.

Photographs. Orde-Lees collection, Alexander Turnbull Library, PA COLL 2094. Thumbnails, call numbers. 3 pages.

Photographs. Royal Archives Trust Blue Album, list of 79 image titles. 2 pages.

Photographs. Royal Geographical Society Library. 254 thumbnails by call number. 1 expandable page.

Photographs. References To Photographic Activity (previously All Photo Ref[erence]), ©2001. Hurley’s specific diary entries; notes from significant others. Details Hurley’s camera activity aboard Endurance and beyond; extensive pre-expedition information. 47 pages.

Photographs. Reginald James’s Red Album. 163 images on 115 expandable (but not adequate) page thumbnails; captions by James.

Photographs. Scott Polar Research Institute, P66-19, Hurley’s personal photo album built aboard ship. Thumbnails, by page, with Hurley’s file designations; no captions. 1 expandable page. (Note: In 2001, P2001/86 was added to the SPRI collection. It included the following images not previously known: P2001/86/152; 165; 166; 174; 176; 178; 193; 195; 199; 205; 206; 207; 209; 210; 214; 215; 221 (full frame); 228. Go to: https://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/picturelibrary/catalogue/itae1914-16/browse/page1.html.)

Presentation. Frank Hurley’s Endurance Expedition Photos, October 1914 – April 1917. ©2023. Over 500 images laced together in a start-to-finish timeline. Every known Endurance photo is shown once, accompanied by other subject-related images on 65 screens. Sources include postal cards, hand-tinted lantern slides, formal presentation and personal albums, newspaper articles, archives, and, private collections. This talk is archived at GrandCanyonHistory.Org under the “Past GCHS Virtual Outings Presentations” link at https://vimeo.com/808311670. It’s also available as a wide screen pdf (without script).

Script. Cine-lantern show with Hurley notations. 20 pages.

Script. Endurance lantern show for 118 images, c1924. 10 pages.

Script. Talk by Frank Worsley. “Endurance — The Story of a Glorious Failure,” c1933. 8 pages.

Song. Topical Songs and a story told on Midwinter’s Day, 1916, Elephant Island. 8 pages.

Supplemental. Shackleton’s Photographer: Photographs of Scenes and Diary of Incidents in Connection with Happenings to the Weddell Sea Party 12th October, 1914 — 16th October, 1917. ISBN 0-9703148-2-5. A book in PDF, 2001. Foreword; Afterword; 8 appendices; exhaustive endnotes; extensive bibliography; heavily illustrated. Fully Printable. 343 landscape pages. 110 MB in 14 chapters. 

Shackleton’s “glorious failure” told primarily through the diaries of expedition photographer Frank Hurley. Every day of the expedition is here, from 1914 Buenos Ayres onward to sheer disaster in 1915  and unbelievable salvation in 1916. Hurley’s taking, developing, and preserving his photographic plates, cinematographic films, and hard copies, is legendary. Of course, that’s only part of the story. But his images left a visual record authenticating one of the most fabled survival stories of all time.

To allow a thorough expedition portrayal, the observations of significant others are incorporated into Hurley’s account. They lend pertinent background information on Hurley, tell a broader expedition story, and detail the days when he wrote nothing. This seamless “all-in-one” treatment informs a thoroughgoing report of daily affairs from start to finish. Shackleton’s Photographer is a concise biography of the life, times, and personality of Frank Hurley and the Endurance expedition.  

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Most of Hurley’s Paget Colour Process images taken aboard Endurance, some of the only survivors of the medium.

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An example of Hurley’s wonderful skill with glass negatives and a paintbrush: “The Rampart Berg.” The original on left shows Wordie and Worsley. They made the all-day trip with Hurley and his dog team but were cut out of the more frequently printed composite image.

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50th Anniversary meeting of the surviving expedition members taken on a boat outside Parliament, June, 1964. Cropped image.

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Two sided postal cards to print and send.

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