It is very unlikely that the engine room as depicted in the envelope is accurate to the actual engine room of The Endurance. That being said, we did make several efforts to accomplish accuracy while maintaining puzzle function. We started by looking for some kind of documentation that depicted the plans for the engine room but all we could find was some rough photos (in “South”) of original plans that were not very detailed to begin with. This is how we got the basic layout for the staircase, dual engine setup, etc. Then we branched out to examine other types of steam engines from that era. This gave us a good idea of how to model the basic design of both engines in the boiler room. The idea for pipes came straight from Lansing’s retelling of how they would constantly freeze and need hot water to loosen up the ice inside while trying to get free of the ice. In actual fact, this room would have been dirty, small, dark, and – as the ship was slowly crushed – wet!

An article in the Guardian tells of various dogs names: “Each one was assigned to a member of the team, and each was lovingly (if strangely) named. Here are just some of these names: Bummer, Chips, Hercules, Judge, Roy, Samson, Satan, Shakespeare, Slippery Neck...” You may recognize some of those as directly from Episode 2! We altered names when necessary for puzzle function. Speaking of puzzle function, this is one of the hardest in the series!

The “Ritz” was a relatively luxurious lodging for the crew compared to what they would later experience. It was warm, protected from howling winds, and allowed for times of ease together with games, laughter, reading, looking at photos, telling stories, communal haircuts and much more. We wanted to capture the essence of one of their comedic “productions” that had the men in so much laughter, so we used an actual celebration - Mid-Winter’s Day - as the template (even using the exact same day it was actually celebrated, June 22). Their ability to bond during these “easy” times, and create memories together, while staving off the despair of the long dark polar night could easily have been one of the key reasons for their ultimate survival. See? Games are more important than you might think!

Our choice to include plankton in this series might strike some as odd, but we had three reasons for it. First, we wanted to highlight the scientific involvement that a few of the crew had hoped for. Second, we wanted to provide a visual for the reader of the journal pages who learns about the pranks that were pulled using spaghetti in the Clark’s beakers. We thought that was hilarious! And third, plankton is one of the earliest signs of life and warmth returning to the waters, which is where the plot of this story starts to take its next turn.

We’re not sailors, so when we learned that a ship’s bell can represent 6 different times of day, and that - in real life - you would have to use context to discern what time it was, well... that just sent our puzzle-minded brains a-reeling. And now you get to experience the fun-factedness as well as the puzzle-aspect of this little tidbit of marine culture. You’re welcome!