Endurance: transition ship to ice

• Literary Term: simile- a comparison of two things using "like," "as," or other specifically comparative words.
• example: "Then the Endurance began to creak and groan like a haunted house."
• Quote: "They had been on the ice exactly one week.  In seven short days they had gone from the well-ordered, even pleasant existence on board the Endurance to one of primitive discomfort, of unending wet and inescapable cold."
• This set of chapters from the novel is best summed up in this quote.  Shackleton and his crew were forced to make the transition from ship to ice after the ship was no longer secure enough to live in.  The flimsy tents offered little protection from the raging winds of the Antarctic.  There was no stronghold or insulated shelter to ward off the freezing temperatures.  I don't think any of us can accurately come close to imagining what these living conditions were like.  Melted snow and ice soaked into every cloth, coat, and sleeping bag.  Luckily, the men were able to adjust and adapt to the new environment rather smoothly.  The crew adapted so well, in fact, that often times they had to mentally remind themselves how dangerous a situation they were in.