This is how one of the first nature documentaries came about.

This is some of the earliest film of Antarctica and the South Atlantic. These groundbreaking images were captured by Frank Hurley, the legendary filmmaker who documented Sir Ernest Shackleton's doomed Antarctic expedition. When their ship, Endurance, sank, the crew fought to survive in one of the harshest ecosystems on the planet. The men were in close quarters with exotic wildlife and had relied on animals for precious calories as their supplies dwindled.

After the crew was rescued, Hurley returned to London, ready to show his incredible footage. But the investors just couldn't get enough of these adorable penguins, and he was sent all the way back down to get more. This footage would become part of Hurley's epic account of the expedition and also one of the world's first nature documentaries.

I'm historian Dan Snow. In 2022, on the expedition to find the wreck of Endurance, we also filmed the hardy, curious local wildlife, but this time using smartphones rather than a hand-crank film camera. Endurance is now streaming on Disney Plus and Hulu.