The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-08-13
LIEUTENANT SHACKLETON.
A Personal Sketch Of the Man Who
Nearly Found Pole.

Lieutenant Shackleton set sail from
the East India docks with his little
ship the Nimrod and gallant band
Of comrades bent upon the most dar-
ing enterprise yet attempted by ex-
plorer. the attainment Of the South
Pole by a desperate rush across the
ice Of the gloomy Antarctic continent.
And recently he comes back to Lon
don with the glory of a great achieve
ment fresh upon him. If he has not
planted the British flag at the South
Pole he has really conquered it. He
has looked upon it from afar, and but
for the accident which deprived his
party of pony at most critical mo-
ment he would have reached it.
The explorer comes Of an old York
shire family which settled in Ireland
nearly two centuries ago and inter-
married with Irish families until it has
become practically Irish in blood.
Among his ancestors have been men
of some note. His great-great-grand-
father, Abraham ShackIjeton. founded
the boarding school at Ballytore at
which Edmund Burke was a pupil,
and one Of Abraham Shackleton' 5
sons, the poet Richard Shackleton,
was a lifelong friend Of the great
Wing orator.
In 1886 he was sent to Dulwich
college. but there he did not distin-
guish himself by his application. HE
never rose high in the school Or ap-
piled himself to his books" said his
former master, "but his merits were
always recognized as being out of all
relation to his place in form. He
left too young, for I think he was not
l6, to distinguish himself in athlet-
ics.' :
From the same authority We learn
that he was boy Of energy and char
acter-prelude to a life Of action
and a lively and very pleasant fel-
low" On leaving Dulwich, about
1889, to crafty his rowing disposition
he went to sea, entering the merchant
service and circumnavigating the
world four times. During the South
African war he took part in the trans
port of British troops by sea to Cape
Town. but his real chance Of distine-
tion came when in 1901 he was chosen
as third lieutenant in the Antarctic ex-
pedition which sailed south in that
year under Capt. Scott. His deter
mination and physique led to his Sc
lection by Capt. Scott as one of the
three who with himself were to make
the prolonged and difficult sledge
journey south toward the Pole. On
this OCCASION they reached point
some hundreds of miles further south
than had been attained by any pre-
vious explorer.
Lieut.. Shackleton, despite his iron
frame, suffered greatly on this ex-
pedition. He was attacked by snow
blindness, which caused him excrucl-
ating pain. and for some days his
health gave way completely. Appar-
emily at the very extremity of death,
he had to be placed on sledge and
dragged by his companions. The party
ran short of food and a curious story
is recounted by him Of how night at
ter night they were haunted by Wis
ions Of delicious food in their dreams.
One nightmare necessarily beset him.
! He thought that he was continually
chased by enormous slabs Of pastry.
On his return home in 1904 he was
appointed secretary to the Scottish
Geographical Society in Edinburgh.
He had always had a fondness for
journalism, having for some weeks
been editor of the South Polar Times,
the little paper published for the de-
lectation of Capt. Seott's expedition,
and he wrote occasionally. for the
press on his return to England. In
| 1906 he resigned his see:etarys!1ip
and contested Dundee in the UnioniSt
interest. cit is,' he said. " fight
for another poll" punning on the
Pole the conquest of which he has al
ways had at heart. He was not fated
to succeed, and there was huge ma
jority against him.
He married in April, 1904, Miss T..
NJ. Dorman. and has two ehildren-a
boy just four years old, who declares
that he "is going 10 be hero just
like daddy and little daughter :
years old.