The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-01
MAN WHO NEARLY
 FOUND A POLE Sketch of EngIand's Great Fx-
 pIorer LIEUTENANT SHACkLETON He Was Boy of Energy and Char acter-Had Rowing Disposition Early In Lfe-Adventures
 of the Great Voyage.
LIEUTENANT SHACkLETON
From the London Mail.


 Lieutenant Shackleton set sail from the East India docks with his little ship, the Nimrod, and a gallant band of comrades bent upon the most daring enterprise yet attempted by explorer, the attainment of the south pole by a desperate rush across the ice of the gloomy Antarctic continent
 This afternoon he comes back to Lon don with the glory of a great achievement fresh upon him. If he has not planted the British flag at the south pole, he has really conquered 1t. He has looked upon 1t from afar, and but for the accident which deprived his party of pony at a most critical moment he would have reached 1t.
 The explorer comes of an old Yorkshire family which settled in Ireland nearly two centuries ago and intermarried with Irish families until 1t has become practi- cally Irish in blood. Among his ancestors have been men of some note. His great great. grandfather, Abraham Shackleton founded the boarding school at Ballytore at which Edmund Burke was a pupil, and one of Abraham Shackletons sons, the Poet Richard Shaclleton, was a lifelong friend of the great whig orator
 In 1886 he was sent to Dulwick college, but there he did not distinguish himself by his application "He never rose high in the school or applied 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 1 think he was not Is. to distinguish himself in athletics
 From the same authority we learn that he was a boy of energy and character prelude to a life of action-and lively and very pleasant fellow On leaving Dulwich. about 1889, to gratify his row ing disposition he went to sea, entering the merchant service and scircumnavigat- ing the world four times. During the South African war he took part in the transport of British troops by sea to Cape Town, but his real chance of distinction came when, In 1901, he fas chosen as third lieutenant in the antarctic expedition which sailed south in that year under Captain Scott. Ills determination and physique led to the selection of Captain Scott, as one of the three who, with himself, were to make the prolonged ana difficult sledge journey south toward the pole. On this occasion they reached point some hundreds of miles farther south than had been attained by any pre- vious explorer.
 Lieutenant Shackelton, despite his iron frame, suffered greatly on this expedition He was attacked by snow blindness, which caused him excruciating pain, and for some days. his health gave way com pletely Apparently at the very extrem- tty of death, he had to be placed on a sledge and dragged by his companions The party ran short of food, and curious story is recounted by him of how night after night they were haunted by visions 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 ap- pointed secretary to the Scottish Geo. graphical society in Edinburgh He had always had fondness for journalism, having for some weeks been editor of the South Polar Times, the little paper pulp lished for the delectation of Captain Scott's expedition, and he wrote occas- ionally for the press on his return to Eng land. In 1906 he resigned his secretary ! ship and contested Dundee in the unionist interest. Tt is,'' he said, "a fight for another poll" punning on the pole the | of which he has always had at | heart. He was not fated to succeed, and | there was huge majority against him.
 He married in April, 1904, Miss E. M. | and has two children boy just l { years old, who declares that he Ifs | going to be hero like daddy, and lit- | tie daughter years old.
 In appearance Lieutenant Shackleton is a man above middle height, not 40 years of age, and young looking for his age. His eyes are steel blue, with peculiar look | of determination, and the lines of his face | suggest will, personality, and power of | leadership. Any one seeing him for the | first time would say: Here is a resolute man." One of his hobbies is a love of the | poets, and his taste is fine, as he knows | by heart all the greatest of Merediths, | Tennysons and Browning's | poems. He is not above owning that he, too, has paid his tribute to Parnassus, though as a minor poet, he has not yet | in print.
 In 1907, after overcoming every kind of | he organized his famous expedi- | ton to the Antarctic which was to make 30 much history. The Nimrod was bought--a little whaler of ancient date | but stout in hull and admirably equipped. | The experience acquired in the Scott ex- petition was turned to excellent account. Shackleton took much lighter than has been usual with polar | explorers in the past as he had found | furs to be a distinct mistake, and the l King, when he inspected the Nimrod on | her departure, was so surprised at the | of the clothing that he asked whether it would really be warm enough | for the fearful cold of the south pole
 Other departures from precedent by which Lieutenant Shackleton showed his were the substitution of ponies for dogs and the spe- ,ially designed motor car, the first ever | anded on the southern continent. This was not an unqualified success. though it was most useful for laying depots and conveying stores
 In July, 1907, the Ninrod left the Hast India docks. q have made my will,' said Lieutenant Shackleton, as the little vessel | ,rept out of the Thames amid tears and cheers, "but don't imagine that such course betrays the slightest foreboding on ny part Nor was his confidence mis- )laced. As we all know, not a single life vas lost in his expedition, thus making what is really a new record in an explor- ation of such magnitude and danger. At Cowes the Nimrod was inspected by the King and Queen. and the Queen handed he intrepid sailor a silk flag which he | vas to plant in her honor at the farthest point south that he reached. Proceeding 1y Cape Colony and New Zealand to the A |