is what makes the story remarkable. Also that he personally voyaged in an open boat over 800 miles of treacherous open sea from Antarctica to South Georgia to find a means of rescue for the rest of the crew.
"Endurance became beset in the ice of the Weddell Sea before reaching Vahsel Bay, and drifted northward, held in the pack ice, throughout the Antarctic winter of 1915. Eventually the ship was crushed and sunk, stranding its 28-man complement on the ice. After months spent in makeshift camps as the ice continued its northwards drift, the party took to the lifeboats to reach the inhospitable, uninhabited Elephant Island. Shackleton and five others then made an 800-mile (1,287 km) open-boat journey in the James Caird to reach South Georgia. From there, Shackleton was eventually able to mount a rescue of the men waiting on Elephant Island and bring them home without loss of life."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition
Of course, the fact that he got them into that predicament in the first place makes you wonder about his leadership skills (plus, three men did die on another ship that was part of the expedition, on the other side of the continent). But it's a bit like how we are dazzled by QBs who lead their teams back to victory from large deficits, or who lead teams to frequent come-from-behind victories -- sometimes we don't stop to wonder why they are so far behind at the end of the game, or so frequently, in the first place.