Alfred Lansing was a native of Chicago. After serving more than five years in the Navy, he enrolled at North Western University, Illinois and majored in journalism. Until 1949 he edited a weekly newspaper in Illinois. He then joined the United Press and in 1952 became a freelance writer. Endurance was his first book. He died in 1975.
Frank Hurley was an Australian photographer. From 1911-14 he accompanied Douglas Mawson on his Australasian Antarctic Expedition and was one of the party that sledged to the South Pole. On his return he was recruited for Shackleton's trans-Antarctic expedition. He died in Sydney in 1962 at the age of 71.