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Ernest Shackleton
Anglo-Irish polar explorer
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15 February 1874Gregorian
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5 January 1922Gregorian
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Ernest Shackleton
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Ernest Shackleton
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Ernest Henry Shackleton
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26 November 1908Gregorian
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commonswikiSir Ernest ShackletonFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shackleton as a young man
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
(; 15 February ;– 5 January 1922) was a
who led three British expeditions to the , and one of the principal figures of the period known as the . Born in , Athy, , Ireland, Shackleton and his
family moved to
in suburban south London when he was ten. His first experience of the polar regions was as third officer on Captain 's
, from which he was sent home early on health grounds, after he and his companions Scott and
set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82°S.
During the
he and three companions established a new record
latitude at 88°S, only 97
(112 , 180 km) from the , the largest advance to the pole in exploration history. Also, members of his team climbed , the most active Antarctic volcano. For these achievements, Shackleton was knighted by
on his return home.
After the race to the
ended in December 1911 with 's conquest, Shackleton turned his attention to the crossing of Antarctica from sea to sea, via the pole. To this end he made preparations for what became the , 1914–17. Disaster struck this expedition when its ship, , became trapped in
and was slowly crushed before the shore parties could be landed. The crew escaped by camping on the sea ice until it disintegrated, then by launching the lifeboats to reach
and ultimately the inhabited island of , a stormy ocean voyage of 720 nautical miles and Shackleton's most famous exploit. In 1921, he returned to the
with the , but died of a heart attack while his ship was moored in South Georgia. At his wife's request he was buried there.
Away from his expeditions, Shackleton's life was generally restless and unfulfilled. In his search for rapid pathways to wealth and security, he launched business ventures which failed to prosper, and he died heavily in debt. Upon his death, he was lauded in the press, but was thereafter largely forgotten, while the heroic reputation of his rival Scott was sustained for many decades. Later in the 20th century, Shackleton was "rediscovered", and rapidly became a role model for leadership as one who, in extreme circumstances, kept his team together in a survival story described by cultural historian Stephanie Barczewski as "incredible". In his 1956 address to the , , one of his contemporaries, said "Scott for scientific method, Amundsen for speed and efficiency but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton", paraphrasing what
had written in a preface to .
, south London (a modern photograph)
Ernest Shackleton was born on 15 February 1874 in
near , , Ireland, about 46 miles (74 km) from . Ernest's father was Henry Shackleton, and his mother was Henrietta Letitia Sophia Gavan. His father's family was , originally from , England. His mother's family was , from counties
and . Ernest was the second of their ten children and t the second, Frank, achieved notoriety as a suspect, later exonerated, in the 1907 theft of the .
In 1880, when Ernest was six, Henry Shackleton gave up his life as a landowner to study medicine at , moving his family into the city. Four years later, the family moved again, from Ireland to
in suburban London. Partly this was in search of better professional prospects for the newly qualified doctor, but another factor may have been unease about their Anglo-Irish ancestry, following the
by Irish nationalists of , the British Secretary for Ireland, in 1882.
From early childhood, Shackleton was a voracious reader, a pursuit which sparked a passion for adventure. He was schooled by a governess until the age of eleven, when he began at Fir Lodge Preparatory School in West Hill, , in southeast London. At the age of thirteen, he entered . The young Shackleton did not particularly distinguish himself as a scholar, and was said to be "bored" by his studies. He was quoted later as saying: "I never learned much geography at school ... Literature, too, consisted in the dissection, the parsing, the analysing of certain passages from our great poets and prose-writers ... teachers should be very careful not to spoil [their pupils'] taste for poetry for all time by making it a task and an imposition." In his final term at the school he was still able to achieve fifth place in his class of thirty-one.
Shackleton in 1901, aged 27
Shackleton's restlessness at school was such that he was allowed to leave at 16 and go to sea. The options available were a
cadetship at , which Dr Shackle the mercantile mari or an apprenticeship "before the mast" on a sailing vessel. The third option was chosen. His father was able to secure him a berth with the North Western Shipping Company, aboard the
sailing ship Hoghton Tower.
During the following four years at sea, Shackleton learned his trade, visiting the far corners of the earth and forming acquaintances with a variety of people from many walks of life, learning to be at home with all kinds of men. In August 1894, he passed his examination for
and accepted a post as
of the Welsh Shire Line. Two years later, he had obtained his 's ticket, and in 1898, he was certified as a , qualifying him to command a British ship anywhere in the world.
In 1898, Shackleton joined , the regular mail and passenger carrier between
and . He was, as a shipmate recorded, "a departure from our usual type of young officer", content with his own company though not aloof, "spouting lines from Keats [and] Browning", a mixture of sensitivity and aggression but, withal, sympathetic. Following the outbreak of the
in 1899, Shackleton transferred to the troopship Tintagel Castle where, in March 1900, he met an army lieutenant, Cedric Longstaff, whose father
was the main financial backer of the
then being organised in London. Shackleton used his acquaintance with the son to obtain an interview with Longstaff senior, with a view to obtaining a place on the expedition. Longstaff, impressed by Shackleton's keenness, recommended him to , the expedition's overlord, making it clear that he wanted Shackleton accepted. On 17 February 1901, his appointment as third officer to the expedition's ship Discovery on 4 June he was commissioned into the Royal Navy, with the rank of
in the . Although officially on leave from Union-Castle, this was in fact the end of Shackleton's Merchant Navy service.
The expedition ship
The National Antarctic Expedition, known as the Discovery Expedition after the ship , was the brainchild of Sir Clements Markham, president of the , and had been many years in preparation. It was led by , a Royal Navy torpedo lieutenant lately promoted Commander, and had objectives that included scientific and geographical discovery.
Although Discovery was not a Royal Navy unit, Scott required the crew, officers and scientific staff to submit to the conditions of the Naval Discipline Act, and the ship and expedition were run on Royal Navy lines. Shackleton accepted this, even though his own background and instincts favoured a different, more informal style of leadership. Shackleton's particular duties were listed as: "In charge of seawater analysis. Ward-room caterer. In charge of holds, stores and provisions […] He also arranges the entertainments."
Discovery departed London on 31 July 1901, arriving at the Antarctic coast, via
and , on 8 January 1902. After landing, Shackleton took part in an experimental balloon flight on 4 February. He also participated, with the scientists
and , in the first sledging trip from the expedition's winter quarters in , a journey which established a safe route on to the . During the Antarctic winter of 1902, in the confines of the iced-in Discovery, Shackleton edited the expedition's magazine The South Polar Times.
According to steward , he was "the most popular of the officers among the crew, being a good mixer", though claims that this represented an unofficial rival leadership to Scott's are unsupported. Scott chose Shackleton to accompany Wilson and himself on the expedition's southern journey, a march southwards to achieve the highest possible latitude in the direction of the South Pole. This march was not a serious attempt on the Pole, although the attainment of a high latitude was of great importance to Scott, and the inclusion of Shackleton indicated a high degree of personal trust.
The party set out on 2 November 1902. The march was, Scott wrote later, "a combination of success and failure". A record
latitude of 82° 17' was reached, beating the previous record established in 1900 by . The journey was marred by the poor performance of the dogs, whose food had become tainted, and who rapidly fell sick. All 22 dogs died during the march. The three men all suffered at times from snow blindness, frostbite and, ultimately, . On the return journey, Shackleton had by his own admission "broken down" and could no longer carry out his share of the work.
He later denied Scott's claim in The Voyage of the Discovery, that he had been carried on the . He was in a seriousl Wilson's diary entry for 14 January reads: "Shackleton has been anything but up to the mark, and today he is decidedly worse, very short winded and coughing constantly, with more serious symptoms that need not be detailed here but which are of no small consequence one hundred and sixty miles from the ship".
On 4 February 1903, the party finally reached the ship. After a medical examination (which proved inconclusive), Scott decided to send Shackleton home on the relief ship , which had arrived in McMurdo Sound in January 1903. Scott wrote: "He ought not to risk further hardship in his present state of health." There is conjecture that Scott's motives for removing him was resentment of Shackleton's popularity, and that ill-health was used as an excuse to get rid of him.
Years after the death of Scott, Wilson and Shackleton, , the expedition's second-in-command, claimed that there had been a falling-out on the southern journey, and that Scott had told the ship's doctor that "if he does not go back sick he will go back in disgrace." There is no corroboration of Armitage's story. Shackleton and Scott stayed on friendly terms, at least until the publication of Scott's account of the southern journey in The Voyage of the Discovery. Although in public they remained mutually respectful and cordial, according to biographer Roland Huntford, Shackleton's attitude to Scott turned to "smouldering scorn and dislike"; salvage of wounded pride required "a return to the Antarctic and an attempt to outdo Scott".
Ernest Shackleton's wife, Emily (née Dorman)
After a period of convalescence in New Zealand, Shackleton returned to England via San Francisco and New York. As the first significant person to return from the Antarctic, he found t in particular, the Admiralty wished to consult him about its further proposals for the rescue of Discovery. With Sir Clements Markham's blessing, he accepted a temporary post assisting the outfitting of the Terra Nova for the second Discovery relief operation, but turned down the offer to sail with her as chief officer. He also assisted in the equipping of the , which was being fitted out for the relief of the stranded
under . In search of more permanent employment, Shackleton applied for a regular commission in the Royal Navy, via the back-door route of the Supplementary List, but despite the sponsorship of Markham and of the president of the , he was not successful. Instead, he became a journalist, working for the , but he found this unsatisfactory. He was then offered, and accepted, the secretaryship of the
(RSGS), a post which he took up on 11 January 1904. On 9 April 1904 he married Emily Dorman, with whom he had three children: Raymond, Cecily, and Edward.
In 1905, Shackleton became a shareholder in a speculative company that aimed to make a fortune transporting Russian troops home from the Far East. Despite his assurances to Emily that "we are practically sure of the contract", nothing came of this scheme. He also ventured into politics, unsuccessfully standing in the
as the 's candidate for
in opposition to Irish Home Rule. In the meantime he had taken a job with wealthy Clydeside industrialist
(later Lord Invernairn), with a
which involved interviewing prospective clients and entertaining Beardmore's business friends. Shackleton by this time was making no secret of his ambition to return to Antarctica at the head of his own expedition.
Beardmore was sufficiently impressed with Shackleton to offer financial support, but other donations proved hard to come by. Nevertheless, in February 1907, Shackleton presented to the Royal Geographical Society his plans for an Antarctic expedition, the details of which, under the name , were published in the Royal Society's newsletter, Geographic Journal. The aim was the conquest of both the geographical South Pole and the . Shackleton then worked hard to persuade others of his wealthy friends and acquaintances to contribute, including Sir , who subscribed ?2,000 (2011 equivalent ?157,000) to secure a pla author Campbell M and
baron , whose contribution was secured less than two weeks before the departure of the expedition ship Nimrod. On 4 August 1907, Shackleton was appointed a Member of the , 4th Class (MVO; the present-day grade of Lieutenant).
South Pole Party (left to right): , Shackleton,
On 1 January 1908,
sailed for the Antarctic from , New Zealand. Shackleton's original plans had envisaged using the old Discovery base in McMurdo Sound to launch his attempts on the South Pole and South Magnetic Pole. Before leaving England, he had been pressured to give an undertaking to Scott that he would not base himself in the McMurdo area, which Scott was claiming as his own field of work. Shackleton reluctantly agreed to look for winter quarters at either the
(which Discovery had briefly visited in 1902) or .
To conserve coal, the ship was towed 1,650 miles (2,655 km) by the steamer Koonya to the Antarctic ice, after Shackleton had persuaded the New Zealand government and the Union Steamship Company to share the cost. In accordance with Shackleton's promise to Scott, the ship headed for the eastern sector of the Great Ice Barrier, arriving there on 21 January 1908. They found that the Barrier Inlet had expanded to form a large bay, in which were hundreds of whales, which led to the immediate christening of the area as the . It was noted that ice conditions were unstable, precluding the establishment of a safe base there. An extended search for an anchorage at King Edward VII Land proved equally fruitless, so Shackleton was forced to break his undertaking to Scott and set sail for McMurdo Sound, a decision which, according to second officer Arthur Harbord, was "dictated by common sense" in view of the difficulties of ice pressure, coal shortage and the lack of any nearer known base.
Nimrod arrived at McMurdo Sound on 29 January, but was stopped by ice 16 miles (26 km) north of Discovery's old base at . After considerable weather delays, Shackleton's base was eventually established at , about 24 miles (39 km) north of Hut Point. The party was in high spirits, despite the
Shackleton's ability to communicate with each man kept the party happy and focused.
The "Great Southern Journey", as
called it, began on 29 October 1908. On 9 January 1909, Shackleton and three companions (Wild,
and ) reached a new
latitude of 88° 23' S, a point only 112 miles (180 km) from the Pole. En route the South Pole party discovered the
(named after Shackleton's patron)
and became the first persons to see and travel on the South Polar Plateau. Their return journey to McMurdo Sound was a race against starvation, on half-rations for much of the way. At one point, Shackleton gave his one biscuit allotted for the day to the ailing Frank Wild, who wrote in his diary: "All the money that was ever minted would not have bought that biscuit and the remembrance of that sacrifice will never leave me". They arrived at Hut Point just in time to catch the ship.
The expedition's other main accomplishments included the first ascent of , and the discovery of the approximate location of the South Magnetic Pole, reached on 16 January 1909 by , , and . Shackleton returned to the United Kingdom as a hero, and soon afterwards published his expedition account, . Emily Shackleton later recorded: "The only comment he made to me about not reaching the Pole was 'a live donkey is better than a dead lion, isn't it?' and I said 'Yes darling, as far as I am concerned'".
In 1910, Shackleton made a series of three recordings describing the expedition using an Edison .
Several mostly intact cases of whisky and brandy left behind in 1909 were recovered in 2010, for analysis by a distilling company. A revival of the vintage (and since lost) formula for the particular brands found has been offered for sale with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the
which discovered the lost spirits.
Shackleton embarked on an extensive lecture tour in which he talked not only about his own polar journeys but also those of Scott and .
Shackleton caricatured by KITE for , 1909
On Shackleton's return home, public honours were quickly forthcoming. King Edward VII received him on 10 July and raised him to a
(CVO); in the King's Birthday Honours list in November, he was made a , becoming Sir Ernest Shackleton. He was honoured by the Royal Geographical Society, who awarded him a Gold M a proposal that the medal be smaller than that earlier awarded to Captain Scott was not acted on. All the members of the Nimrod Expedition shore party received silver
on 23 November, with Shackleton receiving a clasp to his earlier medal. Shackleton was also appointed a Younger Brother of , a significant honour for British mariners.
Besides the official honours, Shackleton's Antarctic feats were greeted in Britain with great enthusiasm. Proposing a toast to the explorer at a lunch given in Shackleton's honour by the Royal Societies Club, , a former , said: "When one remembers what he had gone through, one does not believe in the supposed degeneration of the British race. One does not believe that we have lost all sense of admiration for courage [and] endurance". The heroism was also claimed by Ireland: the Dublin Evening Telegraph's headline read "South Pole Almost Reached By An Irishman", while the Dublin Express spoke of the "qualities that were his heritage as an Irishman". Shackleton's fellow-explorers expres
wrote, in a letter to RGS Secretary , that "the English nation has by this deed of Shackleton's won a victory that can never be surpassed".
sent an effusive private letter to Emily Shackleton, praising the "unique expedition which has been such a complete success in every respect". The reality was that the expedition had left Shackleton deeply in debt, unable to meet the financial guarantees he had given to backers. Despite his efforts, it required government action, in the form of a grant of ?20,000 (2008: ?1.5 million) to clear the most pressing obligations. It is likely that many debts were not pressed and were written off.
In the period immediately after his return, Shackleton engaged in a strenuous schedule of public appearances, lectures and social engagements. He then sought to cash in on his celebrity by making a fortune in the business world. Among the ventures which he hoped to promote were a tobacco company, a scheme for selling to collectors postage stamps overprinted "King Edward VII Land" (based on Shackleton's appointment as Antarctic postmaster by the New Zealand authorities), and the development of a Hungarian mining concession he had acquired near the city of , now part of . None of these enterprises prospered, and his main source of income was his earnings from lecture tours. He still harboured thoughts of returning south, even though in September 1910, having recently moved with his family to
in Norfolk, he wrote to Emily: "I am never again going South and I have thought it all out and my place is at home now". He had been in discussions with Douglas Mawson about a scientific expedition to the Antarctic coast between
and , and had written to the RGS about this in February 1910.
Any future resumption by Shackleton of the quest for the South Pole depended on the results of Scott's , which left from Cardiff in July 1910. By early 1912, the world was aware that the pole had been conquered, by the Norwegian . The fate of Scott's expedition was not then known. Shackleton's mind turned to a project that had been announced, and then abandoned, by the Scottish explorer , for a continental crossing, from a landing in the , via the South Pole to McMurdo Sound. Bruce, who had failed to acquire financial backing, was happy that Shackleton should adopt his plans, which were similar to those being followed by the German explorer . Filchner had left
in May 1911; in December 1912, the news arrived from South Georgia that his expedition had failed. The transcontinental journey, in Shackleton's words, was the "one great object of Antarctic journeyings" remaining, now open to him.
Map of the sea routes of , the , and , the overland supply depot route of the , and the planned overland route of the
Party led by Ernest Shackleton on his trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914–15:
Shackleton published details of his new expedition, grandly titled the "Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition", early in 1914. Two shi
would carry the main party into the Weddell Sea, aiming for Vahsel Bay from where a team of six, led by Shackleton, would begin the crossing of the continent. Meanwhile, a second ship, the , would take a supporting party under Captain
to McMurdo Sound on the opposite side of the continent. This party would then lay supply depots across the Great Ice Barrier as far as the Beardmore Glacier, these depots holding the food and fuel that would enable Shackleton's party to complete their journey of 1,800 miles (2,900 km) across the continent.
Shackleton used his considerable fund-raising skills, and the expedition was financed largely by private donations, although the British government gave ?10,000 (about ?680,000 in 2008 terms). Scottish
gave ?24,000, Midlands industrialist
gave ?10,000 and tobacco heiress
gave an undisclosed but reportedly "generous" sum. Public interest in the expedit Shackleton received more than 5,000 applications to join it. His interviewing and selection methods someti believing that character and temperament were as important as technical ability, he asked unconventional questions. Thus physicist Reginald James was as others were accepted on sight because Shackleton liked the look of them, or after the briefest of interrogations. Shackleton also loosened some traditional hierarchies, expecting all men, including the scientists, to take their share of ship's chores. He ultimately selected a , twenty-eight on each ship.
Despite the outbreak of the First World War on 3 August 1914, Endurance was directed by the , , to "proceed", and left British waters on 8 August. Shackleton delayed his own departure until 27 September, meeting the ship in .
While Shackleton led the expedition, Captain F. Worsley commanded the Endurance and Lieutenant J. Stenhouse the Aurora.
On the Endurance, the second in command was the experienced explorer Frank Wild. The meteorologist was Captain L. Hussey (also an able banjo player). Dr. McIlroy was head of the scientific staff, which included Wordie.
was one of two surgeons and also in charge of keeping the 70 dogs healthy.
was in more immediate charge as head dog-handler. Other crew included James, Hussey, Greenstreet, a carpenter Henry McNeish, and Clark (the biologist). Of later independent fame was the photographer . There was a (male) cat named Mrs. Chippy that belonged to the carpenter Henry McNeish. Mrs. Chippy was shot when the Endurance sank, due to the belief it would not have survived the ordeal that followed.
Endurance departed from South Georgia for the Weddell Sea on 5 December, heading for Vahsel Bay. As the ship moved southward ,
was encountered, which slowed progress. Deep in the Weddell Sea, conditions gradually grew worse until, on 19 January 1915, Endurance became frozen fast in an . On 24 February, realising that she would be trapped until the following spring, Shackleton ordered the abandonment of ship's routine and her conversion to a winter station. She drifted slowly northward with the ice through the following months. When spring arrived in September, the breaking of the ice and its later movements put extreme pressures on the ship's hull.
Shackleton after the loss of Endurance
Until this point, Shackleton had hoped that the ship, when released from the ice, could work her way back towards Vahsel Bay. On 24 October water began pouring in. After a few days, with the position at 69° 5' S, 51° 30' W, Shackleton gave the order to abandon ship, saying, "She's going down!"; and men, provisions and equipment were transferred to camps on the ice. On 21 November 1915, the wreck finally slipped beneath the surface.
For almost two months, Shackleton and his party camped on a large, flat floe, hoping that it would drift towards , approximately 250 miles (402 km) away, where it was known that stores were cached. After failed attempts to march across the ice to this island, Shackleton decided to set up another more permanent camp (Patience Camp) on another floe, and trust to the drift of the ice to take them towards a safe landing. By 17 March, their ice camp was within 60 miles (97 km) of Paulet Island but, separated by impassable ice, they were unable to reach it. On 9 April, their ice floe broke into two, and Shackleton ordered the crew into the lifeboats, to head for the nearest land. After five harrowing days at sea, the exhausted men landed their three lifeboats at , 346 miles (557 km) from where the Endurance sank. This was the first time they had stood on solid ground for 497 days. Shackleton's concern for his men was such that he gave his mittens to photographer , who had lost his during the boat journey. Shackleton suffered frostbitten fingers as a result.
Launching the
from the shore of , 24 April 1916
was an inhospitable place, far from rescue upon chance discovery was very unlikely. Consequently, Shackleton decided to risk an open-boat journey to the 720-nautical-mile-distant
whaling stations, where he knew help was available. The strongest of the tiny 20-foot (6.1 m) lifeboats, christened
after the expedition's chief sponsor, was chosen for the trip. Ship's carpenter
made various improvements, including raising the sides, strengthening the keel, building a makeshift deck of wood and canvas, and sealing the work with oil paint and seal blood. Shackleton chose five companions for the journey: , Endurance's captain, who would be respon , who had "begged to go"; two strong sailors in
and , and finally the carpenter McNish. Shackleton had clashed with McNish during the time when the party was stranded on the ice, but, while he did not forgive the carpenter's earlier insubordination, Shackleton recognised his value for this particular job.
Shackleton refused to pack supplies for more than four weeks, knowing that if they did not reach South Georgia within that time, the boat and its crew would be lost. The James Caird was launched on 24 April 1916; during the next fifteen days, it sailed through the waters of the southern ocean, at the mercy of the stormy seas, in constant peril of capsizing. On 8 May, thanks to Worsley's navigational skills, the cliffs of South Georgia came into sight, but hurricane-force winds prevented the possibility of landing. The party was forced to ride out the storm offshore, in constant danger of being dashed against the rocks. They later learned that the same hurricane had sunk a 500-ton steamer bound for South Georgia from Buenos Aires. On the following day, they were able, finally, to land on the unoccupied southern shore. After a period of rest and recuperation, rather than risk putting to sea again to reach the whaling stations on the northern coast, Shackleton decided to attempt a land crossing of the island. Although it is likely that Norwegian whalers had previously crossed at other points on ski, no one had attempted this particular route before. For their journey, the survivors were only equipped with boots they had pushed screws into to act as climbing boots, a carpenter's , and 50 feet of rope. Leaving McNish, Vincent and McCarthy at the landing point on South Georgia, Shackleton travelled 32 miles (51 km) with Worsley and Crean over extremely dangerous mountainous terrain for 36 hours to reach the whaling station at
on 20 May.
The next successful crossing of South Georgia was in October 1955, by the British explorer , who travelled much of the same route as Shackleton's party. In tribute to their achievement, he wrote: "I do not know how they did it, except that they had to — three men of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration with 50 feet of rope between them — and a carpenter's ".
"All Safe, All Well", allegedly depicting Shackleton's return to Elephant Island, August 1916. A photograph of the departure of the James Caird in April was doctored by photographer
to create this image.
Shackleton immediately sent a boat to pick up the three men from the other side of South Georgia while he set to work to organise the rescue of the Elephant Island men. His first three attempts were foiled by sea ice, which blocked the approaches to the island. He appealed to the
government, which offered the use of , a small seagoing
from its navy. Yelcho, commanded by Captain , and the British whaler
on 30 August 1916, at which point the men had been isolated there for four and a half months, and Shackleton quickly evacuated all 22 men. The Yelcho took the crew first to
and after some days to
in Chile where crowds warmly welcomed them back to civilisation.
There remained the men of the , who were stranded at
in McMurdo Sound, after Aurora had been blown from its anchorage and driven out to sea, unable to return. The ship, after a drift of many months, had returned to New Zealand. Shackleton travelled there to join Aurora, and sailed with her to the rescue of the Ross Sea party. This group, despite many hardships, had carried out its depot-laying mission to the full, but three lives had been lost, including that of its commander, .
When Shackleton returned to England in May 1917, Europe was in the midst of the . Suffering from a heart condition, made worse by the fatigue of his arduous journeys, and too old to be conscripted, he nevertheless volunteered for the army. Repeatedly requesting posting to the front in France, he was by now drinking heavily. In October 1917, he was sent to
to boost British propaganda in South America. Unqualified as a diplomat, he was unsuccessful in persuading Argentina and Chile to enter the war on the Allied side. He returned home in April 1918.
Shackleton was then briefly involved in a mission to
to establish a British presence there under guise of a mining operation. On the way he was taken ill in , possibly with a heart attack. Appointment to a military expedition to
obliged him to return home again, before departing for northern Russia.
Shackleton was specially appointed a temporary major on 22 July 1918. From October 1918 he served with the
under the command of Major-General (later Field Marshal Lord) , with the role of advising on the equipment and training of British forces in arctic conditions. For his "valuable services rendered in connection with Military Operations in North Russia" Shackleton was appointed an
(OBE) in the 1919 King's Birthday Honours, and was also
by General Ironside. Shackleton returned to England in early March 1919, full of plans for the economic development of Northern Russia. In the midst of seeking capital, his plans foundered when Northern Russia fell to
control. He was finally discharged from the army in October 1919, retaining his rank of major.
, passing through , London
Film fragment from 1922: Sir Ernest Shackleton
Shackleton returned to the
and published his own account of the Endurance expedition, South, in December 1919. In 1920, tired of the lecture circuit, Shackleton began to consider the possibility of a last expedition. He thought seriously of going to the
area of the , a largely unexplored region, and raised some interest in this idea from the Canadian government. With funds supplied by former schoolfriend , he acquired a 125-ton Norwegian sealer, named Foca I which he renamed . T the destination became the Antarctic, and the project was defined by Shackleton as an "oceanographic and sub-antarctic expedition". The goals of the venture were imprecise, but a circumnavigation of the Antarctic continent and investigation of some "lost" sub-Antarctic islands, such as , were mentioned as objectives.
Rowett agreed to finance the entire expedition, which became known as the . On 16 September 1921, Shackleton recorded a farewell address on a
system created by , who claimed it was the first "talking picture" ever made. The expedition left England on 24 September 1921.
Although some of his former crew members had not received all their pay from the Endurance expedition, many of them signed on with their former "Boss". When the party arrived in , Shackleton suffered a suspected heart attack. He refused a proper medical examination, so Quest continued south, and on 4 January 1922, arrived at .
Sir Ernest Shackleton's grave in ,
In the early hours of the next morning, Shackleton summoned the expedition's physician, , to his cabin, complaining of back pains and other discomfort. According to Macklin's own account, Macklin told him he had been overdoing things and should try to "lead a more regular life", to which Shackleton answered: "You are always wanting me to give up things, what is it I ought to give up?" "Chiefly alcohol, Boss," replied Macklin. A few moments later, at 2:50 a.m. on 5 January 1922, Shackleton suffered a fatal heart attack.
Macklin, who conducted the postmortem, concluded that the cause of death was
of the coronary arteries exacerbated by "overstrain during a period of debility". , a veteran of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition, offered to accompany the body back to B while he was in
en route to England, a message was received from Emily Shackleton asking that her husband be buried in South Georgia. Hussey returned to South Georgia with the body on the steamer , and on 5 March 1922, Shackleton was buried in the
cemetery, South Georgia, after a short service in the , with
officiating. Macklin wrote in his diary: "I think this is as 'the Boss' would have had it himself, standing lonely in an island far from civilisation, surrounded by stormy tempestuous seas, & in the vicinity of one of his greatest exploits."
On 27 November 2011, the ashes of Frank Wild were interred on the right-hand side of Shackleton's grave site in Grytviken. The inscription on the rough-hewn granite block set to mark the spot reads "Frank Wild , Shackleton's right-hand man."
Study of diaries kept by , medical officer to the 1907–09 expedition, suggests that Shackleton suffered from an
("hole in the heart"), a , which may have been a cause of his health problems.
Before the return of Shackleton's body to South Georgia, there was a memorial service held for him with full military honours at Holy Trinity Church, , and on 2 March a service was held at , London, at which the King and other members of the royal family were represented. Within a year the first biography, , by , was published. This book, as well as being a tribute to the explorer, was a practical effort
Shackleton died some ?40,000 in debt (2011: ?1.6 million). A further initiative was the establishment of a Shackleton Memorial Fund, which was used to assist the education of his children and the support of his mother.
1932 statue of Sir Ernest Shackleton outside the London headquarters of the
During the ensuing decades Shackleton's status as a polar hero was generally outshone by that of Captain Scott, whose polar party had by 1925 been commemorated on more than 30 monuments in Britain alone, including stained glass windows, statues, busts and memorial tablets. A statue of Shackleton designed by
was unveiled at the Royal Geographical Society's
headquarters in 1932, but public memorials to Shackleton were relatively few. Likewise, the printed word saw much more attention given to Scott–a forty-page booklet on Shackleton, published in 1943 by OUP as part of a "Great Exploits" series, is described by cultural historian Stephanie Barczewski as "a lone example of a popular literary treatment of Shackleton in a sea of similar treatments of Scott". This disparity continued into the 1950s.
In 1959 Alfred Lansing's
was published. This was the first of a number of books about Shackleton that began to appear, showing him in a highly positive light. At the same time, attitudes towards Scott were gradually changing as a more critical note was sounded in the literature, culminating in 's 1979 treatment of him in his dual biography Scott and Amundsen, described by Barczewski as a "devastating attack". This negative picture of Scott became accepted as the popular truth as the kind of heroism that Scott represented fell victim to the cultural shifts of the late twentieth century. Within a few years he was thoroughly overtaken in public esteem by Shackleton, whose popularity surged while that of his erstwhile rival declined. In 2002, in a BBC poll conducted to determine the "100 Greatest Britons", Shackleton was ranked 11th while Scott was down in 54th place.
In 2001 Margaret Morrell and Stephanie Capparell presented Shackleton as a model for corporate leadership in their book . They wrote: "Shackleton resonates with executives in today's business world. His people-centred approach to leadership can be a guide to anyone in a position of authority". Other management writers were soon following this lead, using Shackleton as an exemplar for bringing order from chaos. The Centre for Leadership Studies at the
(United Kingdom) offers a course on Shackleton, who also features in the management education programmes of several American universities. In
a "Shackleton School" was set up on "" principles, with the motto "The Journey is Everything". Shackleton has also been cited as a model leader by the , and in a textbook on Congressional leadership, Peter L Steinke calls Shackleton the archetype of the "nonanxious leader" whose "calm, reflective demeanor becomes the antibiotic warning of the toxicity of reactive behaviour". In 2001, the Athy Heritage Centre-Museum, Athy, County Kildare, Ireland, established the Ernest Shackleton Autumn School, which is held annually, to honour the memory of Ernest Shackleton.
, Shackleton and
Shackleton's death marked the end of the , a period of discovery characterised by journeys of geographical and scientific exploration in a largely unknown continent without any of the benefits of modern travel methods or radio communication. In the preface to his 1922 book , , one of Scott's team on the Terra Nova Expedition, wrote: "For a joint scientific and geographical piece of organisation, give me S for a Winter Journey, W for a dash to the Pole and nothing else, Amundsen: and if I am in the devil of a hole and want to get out of it, give me Shackleton every time".
In 1993 Trevor Potts re-enacted the Boat Journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia in honour of Sir Ernest Shackleton, totally unsupported, in a replica of the James Caird. In 2002,
produced , a
depicting the 1914 expedition with
in the title role. Broadcast in the United States on the , it won two .
auction in London in 2011, a biscuit that Shackleton gave "a starving fellow traveller" on the 1907–09 Nimrod expedition sold for ?1250. That same year, on the date of what would have been Shackleton's 137th birthday, Google honored him with a .
Bronze portrait bust of Shackleton by
at the , located near the cemetery where Shackleton is buried. (Unveiled November 2017).
In January 2013, a joint British-Australian team set out to duplicate Shackleton's 1916 trip across the Southern Ocean. Led by explorer and environmental scientist , the team was assembled at the request of Alexandra Shackleton, Sir Ernest's granddaughter, who felt the trip would honour her grandfather's legacy. In October 2015, Shackleton's decorations and m the sale raised ?585,000. This team became the first to replicate the so-called "double crossing"; sailing from Elephant Island to South Georgia, and the crossing of the South Georgian mountains from King Haakon Bay (where Shackleton had landed nearly 100 years prior) to Stromness. The expedition very carefully matched legacy conditions, using a replica of the James Caird (named for the project's patron: the Alexandra Shackleton), period clothing (by ), replica rations (both in calorific content and rough constitution), period navigational aids, and a
just as Shackleton had used. This expedition was made into a documentary film, screening as Chasing Shackleton on
in the United States, and
elsewhere on the .
In 2016 a statue of Shackleton by Mark Richards was erected in , sponsored by . In 2017, the musical play Ernest Shackleton Loves Me by Val Vigoda and Joe DiPietro made its debut in New York City at the Tony Kiser Theater, an
venue. Blended with a parallel story of a struggling composer, the play retells the adventure of Endurance in detail, incorporating photos and videos of the journey.
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO, 1909; MVO 4th Class: 1907)
Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Military Division (OBE, 1918)
Polar Medal (1904; with clasp for Nimrod Expedition: 1909)
British War Medal (1918)
Allied Victory Medal (1918, with MID)
Knight of the
of Denmark (1909)
Knight of the
of Sweden (1909)
Knight of the
of Norway (1909)
Officer of the
of France (1909)
Knight of the
, 3rd Class, of Russia (1910)
, 3rd Class (1911)
Officer of the
Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of Antwerp (1909)
Boston Medal, with bar (1910)
, the first book produced in Antarctica, during the Nimrod Expedition
, British long-range maritime patrol aircraft used by the , named after him
, a research ship operated by the
that lies at the south pole of the Moon
, refers to the reported situations where an unseen presence such as a "spirit" provided comfort or support during traumatic experiences.
Modern calculations, based on Shackleton's photograph and Wilson's drawing, place the furthest point reached at 82° 11'. (, pp. 214–5)
Beardmore's help took the form of guaranteeing a loan at Clydesdale Bank, for ?7,000 (2008 equivalent approx. ?350,000), not through an outright gift. (, p. 106)
The distance from the Pole is commonly given as 97 or 98 miles, this being the distance in nautical miles. (, p. 210)
This expedition took place under Mawson, without Shackleton's participation, as the
1911–13. (, p. 298)
Filchner was able to bring back geographical information that would be of much use to Shackleton, including the discovery of a possible landing site at . (, p. 367)
Churchill sent Shackleton a one-word telegram on 3 August – Proceed. (, p. 324)
For an account of McNish's "mutiny", see , pp. 475–76. Despite McNish's heroics during the James Caird voyage, Shackleton refused to recommend him for the award of a Polar Medal. (, p. 656)
. New Scientist. 5 Dec .
Croome, Angela (2 Jan 1958). . New Scientist 2017.
. . 11 June 1901. p. 3926.
. . 9 August 1907. p. 5447.
. . 16 July 1909. p. 5461.
. . 24 December 1909. p. 9763.
. . 23 November 1909. p. 8665.
Favourite Cat Stories by Stella Whitelaw, 2000
South by Sir Ernest Shackleton, 1919
(Supplement). 24 September 1918. p. 11408.
(PDF) 2017.
(Supplement). 30 May 1919. p. 6975.
(Supplement). 8 June 1920. p. 6456.
(Supplement). 15 March 1921. p. 2187.
Foster, Jonathan. . The Secret Life of Harry Grindell Matthews. Archived from
on 22 January .
(archived in the ); published 5 May 1922; retrieved 25 June 2014
, by , published 1923 by
Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (13 January 2016). .
. Athy Heritage Centre-Museum 2014.
Smith, K. Annabelle (21 May 2012). . Smithsonian 2016.
Hooton, Christopher (15 February 2011). . Associated Newspapers Limited 2011.
Marks, Kathy (2 January 2013). .
. . 8 October .
Debelle, Penelope (11 February 2013). . News.com,au 2017.
Hartman, Darrell (1 December 2014). . The Daily Beast 2017.
Brice, Rebecca (11 February 2013). . ABC News Australia: The World Today 2017.
Austin, Nigel (3 March 2013). . The Advertiser 2017.
. PBS 2017.
. 31 August 2016.
McPhee, Ryan (14 April 2017). . Playbill 2017.
Sommers, Michael (2 May 2015). . The New York Times 2017.
. Christie's. 8 October .
Printed sources
Alexander, Caroline (1998). The Endurance: Shackleton's legendary Antarctic expedition. London: Bloomsbury.  .
Barczewski, Stephanie (2007). Antarctic Destinies: Scott, Shackleton and the changing face of heroism. London: Hambledon Continuum.  .
Byrne, James Patrick (2008). Ireland and the Americas. ABC-CLIO.
Crane, David (2005). Scott of the Antarctic. London: Harper Collins.  .
(2003). Captain Scott. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.  .
Fisher, Margery and James (1957). Shackleton. James Barrie Books Ltd.
(1985). Shackleton. London: Hodder & Stoughton.  .
Jones, Max (2003). The Last Great Quest. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  .
Kimmel, Elizabeth Cody (1999). Ice story: Shackleton's lost expedition. New York, N.Y.: Clarion Books.  .
Mill, Hugh Robert (1923). . Internet Archive (originally William Heinemann) 2008.
Mills, Leif (1999). Frank Wild. Whitby: Caedmon of Whitby.  .
Morrell, M Capparell, Stephanie (2001). Shackleton's Way: Leadership lessons from the great Antarctic explorer. New York, N.Y.: Viking.  .
Perkins, Dennis N.T. (2000). . New York, N.Y.: AMACOM (a division of the American Management Association).  .
Preston, Diana (1997). A First Rate Tragedy: Captain Scott's Antarctic Expeditions. London: Constable & Co.  .
(2005). Nimrod: Ernest Shackleton and the Extraordinary Story of the 1907–09 British Antarctic Expedition. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.  .
Riffenburgh, Beau, ed. (October 2006). . 1. New York, N.Y.: Taylor & Francis Group.  .
Savours, Ann (2001). The Voyages of the Discovery. London: Chatham Publishing.  .
Shackleton, Ernest (1911). Heart of the Antarctic. London: William Heinemann.
Shackleton, Ernest (1982) [1919]. . London: Century Publishing.  .
Shackleton, Ernest (1919). .
(BFIVO54) 2011.
Wheeler, Sara (2001). Cherry: A life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard. 2001: Jonathan Cape.  .
(1975). Diary of the Discovery Expedition. London: Blandford Press.  .
(1931). Endurance: An Epic of Polar Adventure. London: Philip Allen.
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Katz, Gregory (18 January 2011). . Toronto Star. Associated Press 2011.
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Lusher, Adam (27 November 2011). . Telegraph 2011.
. BBC News. 4 April .
Stansall, Ben (30 September 2011). . ABC News 2011.
(2004). South with Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition , the photographs of Frank Hurley. London: Bloomsbury.  .
(2001). Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.  .
(2006). The Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton. London: William Heinemann.
Shackleton, J MacKenna, John (2002). Shackleton: an Irishman in Antarctica. University of Wisconsin Press.  .
Turley, Charles (1914). The Voyages of Captain Scott. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
(1999). Shackleton's Boat Journey. London: Pimlico.  .
Find more aboutErnest Shackletonat Wikipedia's
from Wikimedia Commons
from Wikiquote
from Wikisource
– A website created and updated by the Shackleton family
– A charity set up to honor his legacy by supporting social projects
. Athy Heritage Centre Museum 2011.
– New York Times article on the whisky recovered in 2010
at the University of Cambridge
Listen to Ernest Shackleton describing his 1908 , and read more about the recording on [australianscreen online]
(photo by Philip Brocklehurst)
(archive.org – Free download)
attempts a
(public domain audiobooks)
Smithsonian December 11, 2015
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