"The order to abandon ship was given at 5 P.M. For most of the men however, no order was needed because by then everybody knew that the ship was done and that it was time to give up trying to save her."At this point in the novel, Alfred Lansing is explaining what the fate of the Endurance is. Since he immediately revealed the fate of the ship rather then building up suspense and keeping the reader in the dark, he is emphasizing the fact that the story is not about a ship. Instead, he is emphasizing the real courage of the 27 man crew and the leadership of their captain. Lansing alludes to this in the preface by stating "Every action has been made to portray the events exactly as they occurred, and...the reactions of the men who lived them."
While the story of men purposefully abandoning their chance for safety may seem unrealistic and impractical in today's world, that has not always been the case. For instance, the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae. These men abandoned their wives, children, and other loved ones in order to protect others. While the Spartans neither dealt with a ship or sled dogs, they fought against an overwhelming number of Persian soldiers for 3 days (ironically that's how many days the crew of the Endurance fought to save her). Similarly though, the Spartans knew that they would die on the 3rd day and so, accepted their fate and prepared for the end.
