Shackleton Music: Part 9: Patience Camp – Out Now!

Shackleton Music: Part 9: Patience Camp – Out Now!

Hi everyone,

The latest track in the Shackleton series is here!

Patience Camp – The Forgotten Struggle

I almost didn’t cover this part of the journey. People tend to remember the big moments—the Endurance sinking, the boat trip to South Georgia, and the dramatic crossing of the island. But before all that, the crew spent months stranded on the ice, waiting.

Patience Camp was exactly what the name suggests—a long, grueling wait on a drifting ice floe. The men were cold, wet, bored, and constantly worried about food. Every day felt the same, with chores to pass the time and little to break the monotony.

Patience Camp

Creating Patience Camp

When I revisited this part of Shackleton’s book, it reminded me of a cloud—just drifting, no control over where it was going. I wanted that feeling in the music, something atmospheric and slow-moving. Just drifting along.

A song that reminds me just of that kind of feeling is the intro to Shine On You Crazy Diamond, so I looked up the opening chord—B minor. That became my starting point, and the song flowed from there. No chorus, no big hooks—just a piece that floats, like a cloud and the ice they were camped on.

Shackleton: Patience Camp

Next Up: Elephant Island

The next track will cover the moment they finally got off the ice—a critical turning point. Some of the crew almost didn’t make it. They spent the night on iceberg in the middle of the ocean and iceberg split beneath them in the middle of the night, and they nearly died of thirst on the journey. Again it seems to be another forgotten part of the journey.

For this one, I’ll be relying on Frank Worsley’s voice to tell the story.

Can’t wait to share it.

Thanks for listening!

Tony