Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: List 2

by Jennifer Armstrong
This nonfiction work tells the amazing survival story of Ernest Shackleton and his crew after their ship Endurance sank in Antarctica in 1914.

This list covers "The Fist of the Antarctic"–"Winter on the Pack."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. teem
    be full of or abuzz with
    Outside, the ocean teemed with life.
  2. floe
    a flat mass of ice drifting at sea
    Humpbacks and killer whales spouted in the distance, and the water was dotted with ice floes on which fat, blinking seals basked in the sun.
  3. albatross
    a large web-footed bird noted for powerful gliding flight
    While white albatrosses escorted Endurance through the ice on their magnificent, motionless wings, Leonard Hussey, the meteorologist, serenaded the passing wildlife with his banjo.
  4. amble
    walk leisurely
    The half-wolf sled dogs became frantic with bloodlust whenever the cat ambled by over head.
  5. galley
    the area for food preparation on a ship
    Mrs. Chippy was too well fed to bother hunting, preferring to torment the dogs and dine on scraps from the galley.
  6. impenetrable
    not admitting of passage into or through
    Other times, Worsley, the skipper, had to sail the ship west along the edge of the pack searching for open water to enter, even sailing north from time to time when the pack was impenetrable, or standing still, waiting for a lead.
  7. glare
    a light that is brighter than what the eyes are adapted to
    Iceblink, a white glare on the underside of the clouds, indicated pack ice ahead.
  8. semaphore
    an apparatus for visual signaling
    The carpenter had rigged a six-foot wooden semaphore on the bridge to enable the navigating officer to give the seamen or scientists at the wheel the direction and the exact amount of helm required. This device saved time as well as the effort of shouting.
  9. wisp
    a thin tuft, piece, or amount of something
    Sometimes open leads of water in all directions were wreathed with wisps of frost smoke as the water began to freeze, and Shackleton commented that the effect resembled the smoke from a prairie fire.
  10. mirage
    optical illusion in which hot air distorts distant objects
    Often the crystalline air formed mirages, and the sailors saw icebergs suspended upside down on the horizon. These mirages made navigation around the bergs very dangerous, because it was often hard to tell what was a real iceberg and what was a phantom.
  11. obstinate
    refusing to change one's mind or ways; difficult to convince
    Shackleton wrote in his diary: “I had been prepared for evil conditions in the Weddell Sea, but had hoped that in December and January the pack would be loose, even if no open water was to be found. What we were encountering was fairly dense pack of a very obstinate nature.”
  12. stoke
    (of a fire) stir up or tend
    The men heard it grinding while they slept, while they ate or played cards, while they stoked the engines or read the charts.
  13. distinguish
    mark as different
    “These beasts have a habit of locating a resting seal by looking over the edge of a floe, and then striking through the ice from below in search of a meal; they would not distinguish between a seal and a man,” Shackleton noted.
  14. incessant
    uninterrupted in time and indefinitely long continuing
    Two and a half weeks into the new year, Hurley wrote in his diary, “It is now seven weeks since we first entered the pack ice, and since then it has been almost an incessant battle.”
  15. fathom
    a linear unit of measurement for water depth
    Frank Hurley, taking photos from high in the rigging, “stands bare and hair waving in the wind, where we are gloved and helmeted; he snaps his snap or winds his handle, turning out curses of delight and pictures of Life by the fathom,” reported Worsley.
  16. predicament
    an unpleasant or difficult situation
    It was only a receiver, so they could not send news of their predicament, and even under the best conditions the radio was barely capable of picking up the monthly signal from the Falkland Islands.
  17. inevitable
    incapable of being avoided or prevented
    But by March 16, winter on the ice seemed inevitable.
  18. supplement
    add to what seems insufficient
    Now that the trip was delayed by a minimum of several months, the ship’s stores had to be supplemented with fresh meat.
  19. succulent
    tasty and full of juice
    There was some grumbling about seal being fit only for dogs, but the men soon got used to it, especially when it was served as a succulent roast with onions and potatoes.
  20. dour
    showing a brooding ill humor
    Without question, the dogs were the most dependable source of entertainment. Many of them lived in kennels built on deck by dour old McNeish, the carpenter.
  21. embellish
    make more attractive, as by adding ornament or color
    The dogloo walls were made from blocks of ice, and the roofs were frozen boards of sealskin with snow piled on top. As the weeks went on, the men began to embellish the dogloos into architectural fantasies, adding church spires, minarets, porches, and domes.
  22. minaret
    a slender tower with balconies, especially on a mosque
    As the weeks went on, the men began to embellish the dogloos into architectural fantasies, adding church spires, minarets, porches, and domes.
  23. accommodation
    living quarters provided for public convenience
    In spite of the grand accommodations, many of the dogs preferred to sleep outside their houses in the snow.
  24. frenzied
    affected with or marked by mania uncontrolled by reason
    The frenzied yelping and barking of the dogs was brassy in the frozen air.
  25. ply
    use diligently
    Rickinson gloatingly seizes the clippers and plies them till not a vestige of hair longer than a bristle is left, and his victim looks like one of the Roman Emperors.
  26. vestige
    an indication that something has been present
    Rickinson gloatingly seizes the clippers and plies them till not a vestige of hair longer than a bristle is left, and his victim looks like one of the Roman Emperors.
  27. brandish
    exhibit aggressively
    He brandishes the clippers aloft, they descend and a yell of protest arises from the unfortunate object of his attentions.
  28. quaint
    very strange or unusual
    All now look so irresistably quaint, comical, or criminal that the camera is called in to perpetuate this evening and to cure us, where necessary, of conceit of our personal appearances.
  29. perpetuate
    cause to continue or prevail
    All now look so irresistably quaint, comical, or criminal that the camera is called in to perpetuate this evening and to cure us, where necessary, of conceit of our personal appearances.
  30. fetid
    offensively malodorous
    Arguments arose between the FAFs, the Fresh Air Friends, who wanted a hatch open, and the FUGs, the Fetid Undergrounds, who argued against letting out the heat.
  31. substantial
    providing abundant nourishment
    Lunch of soup, bread and jam, and cocoa was at 1:00 P.M., tea was at 4:00 P.M., and dinner, the most substantial meal of the day, was at 6:00 P.M.
  32. autopsy
    an examination and dissection of a dead body
    After fourteen dogs had died, Drs. Macklin and McIlroy performed autopsies and discovered that many of the dogs had worms; the ship’s stores did not include the proper medication.
  33. devious
    turning away from a straight course
    “Crean put his 4 pups in harness for the first time...their howls of terror resound for miles around...they pursue a devious and uncertain course...and they flounder and puff and pant along through the snow until to their joy they are headed for the ship and for a few minutes drag the hated sledge as fast as a dog team.”
  34. flounder
    move clumsily or struggle to move, as in mud or water
    “Crean put his 4 pups in harness for the first time...their howls of terror resound for miles around...they pursue a devious and uncertain course...and they flounder and puff and pant along through the snow until to their joy they are headed for the ship and for a few minutes drag the hated sledge as fast as a dog team.”
  35. ransack
    steal goods; take as spoils
    The puppies were kept on board the ship, where they occasionally got loose and ransacked the stores.
  36. raucous
    unpleasantly loud and harsh
    Cabin fever reached its peak on Midwinter’s Day, June 22, when the crew celebrated with a raucous party.
  37. rendition
    a performance of a musical composition or a dramatic role
    There were mock lectures and sermons, and then Kerr, the second engineer, made an entrance dressed as a tramp and began singing a ridiculous rendition of “Spagoni the Toreador.”
  38. bumpkin
    a person who is awkward, uncultured, or unsophisticated
    Next, Marston took the stage dressed as a country bumpkin to sing “Widdecombe Fair.”
  39. discord
    a harsh mixture of sounds
    Some of the men played a “Discord Fantasia” on homemade instruments, setting the dogs outside howling.
  40. solemn
    dignified and somber in manner or character
    The Ritz grew solemn and still as he recited the mournful shipwreck saga and the wind outside shrieked in the frozen rigging.
Created on Wed Jun 15 21:10:06 EDT 2022 (updated Tue Aug 23 09:38:22 EDT 2022)

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