Geometry and Anecdote

In the Putnam or Math Olympiad exams, historically, the problems on geometry see the worst performance from the students. I am not an enthusiast of geometric problems in general, but in homage to Suresh's Geomblog, I pay attention to them sometimes. Here is a partial anecdote I heard from Bill Steiger and can use any pointers. In one of the Antarctica expeditions (of Shackleton? Scott?), the crew of the ice-wrecked ship had to choose a few things to take with them when they abandoned the ship. Apparently, one of the items a crew member carried with him was a volume of the Encyclopedia Brittanica, and it was the volume on Geometry. Touching. Let Algebra and Trigonometry be drowned.