Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Cutting toward a lead, February 14, 1915 Men spread across the floe with picks, saws and poles, hacking a channel from the bow of Endurance toward open water ahead, photographed looking down from the ship. She had been beset since January 18, a day's sail from where the shore party meant to land. This is the moment the expedition stopped being a crossing of Antarctica and became a wait. The ship never broke free: the ice held her until it crushed her that October.