In July 1879, 33 men set sail aboard USS Jeannette on a two-year mission to become the first humans to reach the North Pole. Though many other expeditions have failed, Captain George De Long is confident that a warm northbound current will give them enough momentum to escape getting stuck in the treacherous arctic pack ice. But not long after the journey beg ... Show More
Jun 2024
Voyage to the North Pole | Crushed | 3
Trapped in polar pack ice, the crew of USS Jeannette settle in for a long, dark winter. As the temperature drops and the ice floes press against her sides, the ship risks suffering grave damage. Morale drops, as the sailors begin to wonder if they’ll ever return safely from the e ... Show More
44m 29s
Jun 2024
Voyage to the North Pole | The Skeleton Pack | 4
It’s June 1881, and USS Jeannette has been crushed between ice floes and sunk to the bottom of the Arctic Sea. The crew now find themselves stranded on the ice, a thousand miles from Siberia, the nearest inhabited land. If they’re ever going to reach it, they’ll have to endure a ... Show More
46m 56s
Jul 2023
Trapped in the icy waters of the Northwest Passage
For centuries, the Northwest Passage, the long-sought sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through northern Canada, was a holy grail of Arctic exploration. Even now, sailing through it isn’t guaranteed. Mark Synnott, a National Geographic Explorer, writer, and adv ... Show More
34m 16s
Jun 2025
The Mutiny of Henry Hudson
June 22, 1611. It’s been a long, cold winter. Henry Hudson and his crew have been stranded in the Canadian Arctic for months, living on the ice in wooden shacks - starving, sick, and ready to go home. And yet, Hudson wants to carry on and search for the Northwest Passage, a theor ... Show More
31m 1s
Mar 2020
Real Leaders: Ernest Shackleton Leads a Harrowing Expedition
In 1915, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship became trapped in ice, north of Antarctica. For the next two years, he kept his crew of 27 men alive on a drifting ice cap, then led them in their escape. How Shackleton did that has become one of the most famous leadership case st ... Show More
30m 45s
Feb 2023
Leadership Lessons from a Disastrous Arctic Expedition
You've probably heard of Ernest Shackleton, and his ill-fated Antarctic expedition. The Endurance, the ship on which he and his crew sailed, famously became trapped in ice, sunk, and set the men and their indomitable leader off on an arduous journey to safety and rescue.But the S ... Show More
55m 2s