a box of carpet tacks in Tiera del Fuego ...
everyone should at least know who joshua slocum is. So much more hard core than this Shackleton fellow.

Ready for a swim in the Charles
check out CBI for a chance to go sailing in Boston. They provide boats and instruction to the public for nominal membership fees. Their fleet of mercuries is quite large, and they also have a number of sailboards, 420s, and Rhodes 19s.

Around Cape Horn
Perhaps not an Oscar nominee, but the ocean scenes are more realistic than anything coming out of Hollywood. Track down a copy of Around Cape Horn - Captain Irving Johnson narrates his voyage around the Cape, filmed by Johnson himself in 1929 aboard the giant bark Peking.