Charlie Green Endurance Sparknotes

Throughout Endurance, Charlie J. Green was comparable to an alarm clock, Charlie created a structure within the day that the crew could depend on. Because the sun was in the sky for irregular lengths of time, Charlie’s call for meals was often the only thing that the crew could rely on to determine the passage of time “One looks forward to meals, not for what one will get, but as definite breaks in the day” (149). In addition to creating order for the crew, Charlie would always be prepared with a warm meal after the crew completed a particularly hard task. One time when the crew camped on a small ice flow, a crack developed in the ice. The crew rushed to jump over the crack in order to save one of the life boats “Throughout the activity, Green had gone methodically about his duties. Now he was ready with some oily seal soup and a serving of hot powdered milk” (173). Eating a hot meal was always extremely comforting to the men especially after a stressful event.

McIlroy and Macklin performed the surgery to amputate Blackboro’s toes after he suffered frostbite “Early in June McIlroy was satisfied that the separation between the dead and the living tissue was complete, and it would be dangerous to postpone the operation any longer” (260). Had Blackboro died of infection, then the overall morale would have gone down because the other crew members would realize that death is a real possibility. The surgeons were essential for treating miscellaneous medical ailments experienced by the crew. Shackleton suffered from sciatica, Rickinson suffered a heart attack, and Hudson developed a pus-filled growth. The surgeons were able to give advice how to best recover, and even perform minor surgeries to relieve the pain. Having members such as McIlroy and Macklin gave the crew a sense of insurance in the event something would affect their