In Extremis - Stories from the Edge of History

Tom Trumble
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A narrative history podcast about people pushed to the absolute edge. Hosted by Australian author Tom Trumble (Penguin Random House), In Extremis tells longform stories from WWII, the Cold War, and beyond — survival, mutiny, betrayal, leadership under pressure. Military history told as gripping human narrative. Coming soon: Shackleton and Mawson in Antarctica. Nancy Wake — the White Mouse. The assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. The Cuban Missile Crisis. Chernobyl. The Mutiny on the Batavia. Also coming: Amelia Earhart. Vivian Bullwinkel. Captain Richard de Crespigny. The Thai cave rescue.

  1. Oct 3

    Tom Crean - Irish Legend, Antarctic Hero - Part 2: The Long Trek

    February 1912. Lieutenant Teddy Evans is dying of scurvy in a tent on the Ross Ice Shelf. Hut Point is 56 km away. There is food for two days at most. Tom Crean pockets a few biscuits and a little chocolate, and starts walking. Part 2 picks up where we left off, with three men on a runaway sledge on the Shackleton Icefalls. Crean, Evans and William Lashly then pick their way down the Beardmore Glacier through a maze of crevasses, crossing one chasm on a knife-edged snow bridge with the sledge balanced on its peak. Far to the south, Scott reaches the Pole and finds Amundsen's tent waiting for him. Then scurvy takes hold of Evans. Crean and Lashly haul him on the sledge for around 100 km. Evans orders them to leave him and save themselves. They refuse. With the rations almost gone, one man has to go for help alone. Crean had done it before. A year earlier, adrift on breaking sea ice with Henry Bowers and Apsley Cherry-Garrard and killer whales circling, he leapt from floe to floe and climbed the face of the Barrier to raise the alarm. This time he sets out exhausted, half-starved and without water. He walks for around 18 hours with a single five-minute rest, and reaches Discovery Hut half an hour ahead of a blizzard. Sources The Worst Journey in the World, Apsley Cherry-GarrardSouth with Scott, Edward EvansUnder Scott's Command: Lashly's Antarctic Diaries, William LashlyScott's Last Expedition, the journals of Robert Falcon ScottAn Unsung Hero: Tom Crean, Antarctic Survivor, Michael Smith

    Tom Crean - Irish Legend, Antarctic Hero - Part 2: The Long Trek

  2. Sep 25

    Tom Crean - Irish Legend, Antarctic Hero - Part 1: The Last Support Party

    Tom Crean's Long Walk, Part 1: The Last Supporting Party January 1912. Tom Crean stands 268 km from the South Pole, the dream of a decade within a fortnight's march. Then Captain Robert Falcon Scott sends him home. Tom Crean was the raw-boned Kerryman who served on Discovery, Terra Nova and Endurance, and was there for the defining moments of all three. In Part 1 we follow him up the Beardmore Glacier as Scott's party closes in on the Pole, unaware that Roald Amundsen has already beaten them to it. We look at Scott's controversial choice to keep his men guessing about who would make the final push, and his last-minute decision to take five men instead of four. That call upended a plan built around fours and left Crean, William Lashly and Lieutenant Edward Evans facing a 1,200 km journey home with a single navigator, thin air, failing bodies and a closing season. Along the way: a Christmas Day crevasse fall, Crean's wit at the lip of the abyss, the moment Crean wept, snow blindness on the plateau, and a desperate gamble at the Shackleton Ice Falls that sends three men hurtling towards a black void. In this episode The South Pole Inn at Anascaul, Crean's pub and shrine to the Heroic AgeThe race between Scott and Amundsen, and what the Pole meantScott's selection of the polar party, and why it still divides historiansThe Last Supporting Party turns northSliding blind down the Shackleton Ice FallsSources The Worst Journey in the World, Apsley Cherry-GarrardSouth with Scott, Edward EvansUnder Scott's Command: Lashly's Antarctic Diaries, William LashlyAn Unsung Hero: Tom Crean, Antarctic Survivor, Michael SmithIf you're enjoying In Extremis, please follow, rate and share it with one person who'd love this story.

    Tom Crean - Irish Legend, Antarctic Hero - Part 1: The Last Support Party

  3. Sep 18

    Survival in Singapore - Live from Reflections at Bukit Chandu

    Tom Trumble speaks at Reflections at Bukit Chandu, a WW2 and social history museum in Singapore, on the subject of his fourth book, Survival in Singapore: Elizabeth Choiy, Operation Jaywick, and the Battle for Truth in Changi (Penguin Random House, 2025). The presentation occurred on 12 September, marking the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Singapore and the end of the Japanese Occupation. Bukit Chandu—Malay for Opium Hill—overlooks the harbour where Operation Jaywick, a devastating commando mission, mined and destroyed Japanese ships. The museum sits at the edge of the Battle of Pasir Panjang, where the First Malay Regiment made their last stand under Second Lieutenant Adnan bin Saidi before the British surrender. Bin Saidi was captured and executed by the Japanese, and is regarded as a national hero. This presentation examines the unforeseen consequences of Operation Jaywick and the stories of survival and resistance during the Japanese occupation of Singapore. Speaking Inquiries: podcast.inextremis@gmail.com

    Survival in Singapore - Live from Reflections at Bukit Chandu

  4. Sep 4

    Shackleton - Part 6: South Georgia Island: Shackleton's Last Ordeal

    After 17 days at sea, Shackleton and his five men reach South Georgia Island. But arrival is not salvation. The whaleboat James Caird is battered, and the only settlement lies on the opposite coast, separated by 30 miles of unexplored, unmapped mountainous terrain. With three men too weak to attempt the crossing, Shackleton, Frank Worsley, and Tom Crean set out on foot across peaks reaching 10,000 feet, carrying three days' rations and no sleeping bags. Racing against weather that could trap them on the ice, they navigate false descents, near-fatal crevasses, and make a desperate decision to slide down an icy slope into the unknown. This will be Shackleton's last ordeal. SOURCES Lansing, Alfred. Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. Basic Books, 1959. Alexander, Caroline. The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. Knopf, 1998. Jarvis, Tim. Shackleton's Epic. BBC, 2009. Shackleton, Sir Ernest. South: The Endurance Expedition. Penguin Classics, 1919. Worsley, Frank Shackleton's Boat Journey , 1933

    Shackleton - Part 6: South Georgia Island: Shackleton's Last Ordeal

  5. Aug 28

    Shackleton - Part 5: The Voyage of the James Caird

    Ernest Shackleton and his crew of five men set sail from Elephant Island aboard the James Caird, a 22-foot wooden whaleboat, on a desperate 800-nautical-mile journey to South Georgia Island. IF they succeed, it will go down as one of the greatest small boat sea voyages in recorded history. But their chances of success are minimal... Navigating by sextant through constant cloud cover, Frank Worsley must plot a course with minimal data. The crew battles mountainous seas, freezing spray, and hurricane-force gales. Ice accumulates on deck, threatening to sink the boat. Their only freshwater keg becomes contaminated. As they approach South Georgia, a tempest drives them toward a lee shore and jagged cliffs, threatening to dash the boat and end all hope of rescue. SOURCES Lansing, Alfred. Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. Basic Books, 1959. Alexander, Caroline. The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. Knopf, 1998. Jarvis, Tim. Shackleton's Epic. BBC, 2009. Shackleton, Sir Ernest. South: The Endurance Expedition. Penguin Classics, 1919. Worsley, Frank Shackleton's Boat Journey , 1933

    Shackleton - Part 5: The Voyage of the James Caird

  6. Aug 21

    Shackleton - Part 4: Elephant Island

    Shackleton scours the seas for the missing Dudley Docker. She's still afloat, but out of sight. Skippering the Docker, Frank Worsley hasn't slept in 80 hours. When the crew finally reaches solid ground, relief turns to despondency. There will be no rescue in this frozen wasteland. Shackleton must prepare for another - more dangerous - open boat journey across the Drake Passage. As the 6 men selected prepare to depart immediately, Shackleton writes a letter to Frank Wild, instructing him to abandon the camp if rescue doesn't come. Within days, the James Caird will sail 800 nautical miles across the Drake Passage, attempting one of the greatest small boat journeys in maritime history. SOURCES Lansing, Alfred. Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. Basic Books, 1959. Alexander, Caroline. The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. Knopf, 1998. Jarvis, Tim. Shackleton's Epic. BBC, 2009. Shackleton, Sir Ernest. South: The Endurance Expedition. Penguin Classics, 1919. Worsley, Frank Shackleton's Boat Journey , 1933

    Shackleton - Part 4: Elephant Island

  7. Aug 14

    Shackleton - Part 3: Of Salt, Sacrifice, Leadership and Floebergs

    When the ice beneath them fractures in the dead of night, Shackleton acts without hesitation—pulling Ernie Holness from the freezing water in a moment that sets the tone for everything that follows. But rescue from the ice is only the beginning. As the three small boats—the James Caird, Stancomb Wills, and Dudley Docker—push into open water during a severe gale, the men face conditions that test not just their bodies but their minds. A floeberg that seems solid becomes a death trap. Navigation reveals they've drifted backward 30 miles. The ocean itself conspires against them: unseen currents, waves that freeze mid-air, temperatures dropping to -22°C. Through it all, Shackleton stands visible at the bow without mittens—a symbol of endurance and an inspiration to the men. And as the three boats draw within 10 miles of Elephant Island, Shackleton makes a fateful decision... SOURCES: Lansing, Alfred. Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. Basic Books, 1959. Alexander, Caroline. The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. Knopf, 1998. Jarvis, Tim. Shackleton's Epic. BBC, 2009. Koehn, Nancy. Forged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times. Crown Business, 2017. Shackleton, Sir Ernest. South: The Endurance Expedition. Penguin Classics, 1919.

    Shackleton - Part 3: Of Salt, Sacrifice, Leadership and Floebergs

  8. Aug 7

    Shackleton - Part 2: The Drift of the Ice

    After the Endurance sank, Shackleton faced three possible drift patterns. None guaranteed rescue. What he could control was morale. Life on the floe brought constant suffering: constipation, sodden ice, eyes burned raw by wind and reflection, wind madness. When calculations showed they were drifting away from land, Shackleton ordered a march west dragging two boats. Progress: six miles in five days. Christmas came and went. Carpenter Harry McNish turned on the commander, claiming the ship's sinking had terminated his contract. Shackleton lied, claiming the articles remained binding. McNish backed down. Days later, fearing the boats would be damaged, Shackleton abandoned the march and established Patience Camp. Shackleton's strength lay not just in care for his men, but in understanding each one's psychology. He managed difficult personalities - the egotistical Hurley, the anxious storekeeper Orde-Lees - by isolating them strategically. Yet Orde-Lees, though eccentric, was possibly the strongest: a former Royal Marines PT director who survived a 12-foot, 1,100-pound leopard seal attack only by Frank Worsley's rifle. By April, the floe had shrunk to 50 yards across. On April 9, Shackleton ordered the boats launched. They cleared the pack as a tide rip—150 feet of surging ice—roared past. That night on a new floe, Shackleton awoke at 11 p.m. A deep rumble. A crack opened directly beneath his tent. The men scrambled out unharmed. Then the shout: "Somebody's missing!!!" Sources "Endurance", By Alfred Lansing "The Endurance", By Caroline Alexander "Shackleton's Epic", By Tim Jarvis "Forged in Crisis", By Nancy Koehn

    Shackleton - Part 2: The Drift of the Ice
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About

A narrative history podcast about people pushed to the absolute edge. Hosted by Australian author Tom Trumble (Penguin Random House), In Extremis tells longform stories from WWII, the Cold War, and beyond — survival, mutiny, betrayal, leadership under pressure. Military history told as gripping human narrative. Coming soon: Shackleton and Mawson in Antarctica. Nancy Wake — the White Mouse. The assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. The Cuban Missile Crisis. Chernobyl. The Mutiny on the Batavia. Also coming: Amelia Earhart. Vivian Bullwinkel. Captain Richard de Crespigny. The Thai cave rescue.

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