Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-07-13
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LIEUTENANT SHAckLEToN.
A Personal Sketch of the Man Who
Nearly Found a Pole.


/ gloomy Antarctic continent.
And recently he comes back to
London 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 It.
He has looked upon it from afar, and
but for the accident which deprived
his party of a pony at a most critical
moment 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 1t has
become practically Irish in blood.
Among his ancestors have been men
of some note. His great-great-grand-'
father, Abraham Shackleton, founded
the boarding school at Ballytore at
which Edmund Burke was pupil, and
one of Abraham Shackleton's sons, the
poet Richard Shackleton, was a life
long friend Of the great Whig orator.
In 1886 he was sent to Dulwich Col
lege, but there he did not distinguish
himself by his application. HE never
rose high in the school or applied him
self to his books" said his form mas
ter, "but his merits were always rec
ognized as being out Of all relation TO
his place in form. He left too young,
for I think he was not 16, to distin-
guish himself in athletics"
From the same authority we learn
that he was boy Of energy and char
acter-prelude to a life Of action-and
lively and very pleasant fellow"
| 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 transport OF Brit
ish troops by sea to Cape Town, but
his real chance of distinction came
when in 1901 he was chosen as third
lieutenant in the Antarctic expedition
which sailed south in that year under
Capt. Scott. His determination and
physique led to his selection by Capt.
Scott as one Of the three who with HIM
self were to make the prolonged and
difficult sledge journey south toward
the Pole. On this occasion they
reached a point some hundreds Of
miles further south than had been at
tanned by any previous explorer.
Lieut. Shackleton, despite his iron
frame, suffered greatly on this expedi-
ton. He was attacked by snow blind
ness, which caused him excruciating
pain, and for some days his health
gave way completely. Apparently at
the very extremity Of death, he had to
be placed on a sledge and dragged by
his companions. The party ran short
of food and a curious story Is re-
counted 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
appointed secretary to the Scottish
Geographical Society in Edinburgh.
He had always had fondness for
Journalism, having for some weeks
been editor Of the South Polar Times,
the little paper published for the de-
lectation of Capt. Scott's expedition,
and he wrote occasionally for the press
on his return to England. In 1906 he
resigned his secretaryship and con-
tested Dundee in the Unionist interest.
1T is" he said, "a fight for another
poll" punning on the Pole the con-
quest of which he has always had at
heart. He was not fated to succeed,
and there was a huge majority against
him.
He married in April, 1904, Miss E.
M. Dorman, and has two children-a
boy just 4 years old, who declares that
he "is going to be hero like daddy"
and a little daughter 2 years old.
In appearance Lieut.. Shackleton is
man above middle height, not 40
years Of age, and young looking for
his age. His eyes are steel blue, with
a peculiar look Of determination, and
the lines Of his face suggest will, per-
sonality and power Of leadership.
Any one seeing him for the first time
would say, Here is a resolute man."
One Of his hobbies Is love Of the
poets, and his taste is fine. as he knows
by heart all the greatest Of Meredith's,
Wordsworth's Tennyson's and Brown
ing's poems. He is not above owning
that he too has paid his tribute to
Parnassus, though as minor poet he
has not yet appeared in print.
In 1907, after overcoming every kind
of difficulty, he organized his famous
expedition to the Antarctic, which was
to make so much history. The MINI
rod was bought-a little whaler Of
ancient date but stout in hull-and
admirably equipped. The experience
acquired in the Scott expedition was
turned to excellent account. Lieut..
Shackleton took much lighter clothing
than has been usual with Polar ex-
plorers in the past, as he had found
| furs to be a distinct mistake, and the
king, when he inspected the Nimrod
on her departure, was so surprised at
the thinness 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 Lieut.. Shackleton showed his
resources were the substitution Of
Manchurian ponies for dogs and the
specially designed motor car, the first
ever landed 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 Nimrod left the
East India docks. II have made my
WILL" said Lieut.. Shackleton. as the
little vessel crept out of the Thames
amid tears and cheers, but don't i'm
agine that such a course betrays the
slightest foreboding on my part" Nor