The eponymous ship survived a number of attacks by heavy pack ice in the Weddell Sea prior to succumbing to the pressure. Shackleton had purchased the ship from a Norwegian whaling magnate who had commissioned it for polar bear hunting expeditions to the Arctic. While it was well built, the Endurance was not designed to withstand the almost supernatural power of the ice, which crushed it slowly over a number of weeks. Nevertheless, the fact that it survived so long makes it a symbol of The Will to Survive. Its name contributes substantially to the effect, as the word “endurance” describes the determination that Shackleton and the men exhibited when faced with the prospect of evacuating the sinking ship and surviving under some of the most arduous circumstances imaginable. 

The Endurance is also notable for the crew’s reactions to its loss. The crewmembers almost anthropomorphized the ship in their diary entries, describing “animal-like screams” emerging from the ship as it fought back against the crushing ice. Their sense of the ship as a living entity underscores the symbolic connection between the ship and the men, but it also highlights its practical centrality to their lives: It was their only home for months and provided some shelter from the elements, making its loss all the more devastating.