Shackleton and his men's expedition on the Endurance was very treacherous, but despite the difficulties they faced; the men remained sane, relatively happy and sometimes even a little too comfortable. We'll look at some of the ways being cheerful helped them on their journey. It helped them not face reality, preventing them from going crazy and remember their purpose. Men used happiness to avoid facing reality, having fun on the Endurance. They refused to accept the facts; the truth that the ship would most likely have been crushed. We see that on August 4, 1915 the men of the Endurance had a lot of faith in their little ship, they were beginning to believe that it could withstand any pressure that the Antarctic flows might exert against it. (pg. 62 Para.1) Shackleton told them a parable about a mouse who was not afraid of a cat because he was drunk. (page 62 par. 2) The interpretation was that men felt a strange melancholy that drove them crazy. One of the men had a heart attack caused by fear of the dark. Proverbs 17:22 (NKJV) A cheerful heart is good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. The crew of the Endurance, on the other hand, were very sane, they laughed, joked and had fun, but on the Belgica the medicine was not used; their broken spirit has warped their minds with strange madness. The Endurance men used the cheerful medicine of which Proverbs speaks (Proverbs 17:22); Men played pranks to make others happy. Some of these included: frosting a piece of wood with icing for one of the crew members' birthday, putting a string of spaghetti in one of Clarks formaldehyde tubes, and telling one of the crew that they were having a masquerade party ; after he was dressed they took him down to the party; It was the only dress