On August 6, 1914, Able Seaman Timothy McCarthy departs Plymouth onboard Endurance, worried that he is missing the great adventure of war. By the following January, Tim is embroiled in his own adventure, trapped in ice, facing the crushing loss of his ship, forced to live for months on an ever-shrinking ice floe, and undertaking two desperate attempts to reach safety onboard the unseaworthy James Caird. Tim endures all of this and more, all while being pitted against the most extreme weather conditions, with dwindling food supplies, inadequate clothing and protection, and no means of communication with the rest of the world.
Within three weeks of his return to Britain, Tim is belatedly given his opportunity to join the war effort. Onboard the SS Narragansett, Tim again faces many of the ordeals he has so recently survived, this time with the added threat of his fellow mariners turned enemy. This is Tim's story as a Live Donkey, Dead Lion.
