The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-02-24
|SHACKLETON TO
/ REST IN CRAVE
AT GRYTvIKEN
wife Of Arctic Explorer Chooses
Rocky FerbiddIng Coast for In !,
torment Of Husbands Body.

New York, Feb. 24.-Grytvfken,
chosen by Lady Shackelton as the
last resting place for the body of
her late husband, Sir Ernest
Shackleton, British explorer who
died aboard his tiny craft "Quest"
last January 5, is an icebound, iso-
late habitation of 20 persons who
cling to the frozen shores OF South
Georgia Island, called the Gate
way to the Antarctic"
Sir Ernest's body was brought
from the Antarctic to Montevideo
following his death and will be ac-
companied by Captain Frank Hus-
Bey, a member of Shakelton's ex-
petition, when II starts again on
Its journey into the Polar regions.
Lady Shackleton's decision to halt
removal of the body to England is
In accordance with lifelong wish
OF the explorer that he be laid to
rest amid the scenes where his life
work had been carried on. Only
at the outset Of his last voyage, he
told friends he wanted ito die with
his boots on, like an old sea-dog. )"
South Georgia Island has figured
several times in Shackelton's ca
reer. He served under Captain r.
+. Scott in 1901 when that intrepid
pioneer into the icelands of the
south made q dash from that island
which resulted in discovery of the
south magnetic pole.
Forbidding Coast.
One hundred miles long. with a
rocky, forbidding coast line so in
dented that its width varies from
20 miles to only one-half mile, most
OF its mountainous interior is COW
cred with ice and snow throughout
the year. Huge ice cliffs overhang
its fjords and bays and great ice
bergs breaking off from massive
glaciers make it dangerous haven
for the occasional wandering whal-
ing ships which touch its shores.
The island was discovered in 1875
. by Anthony LaRoche. Captain
Cook, in IT'S, took possession in
the name of the British empire
Until more than 100 years later,
when 1t was visited by a German
expedition aboard the Moeltke, it
remained unexplored, but the pres
made 1t the occasional rendezvous
of whalers for the first few years
of this century, until the animals
there became nearly extinct
Ducks, pigeons and arctic fowl are
numerous on the island.
1t was while drifting with the
ice past the settlement of Grytvi-
ken. bound toward the midnight
sun on a voyage of exploration
which was to have covered 10000
miles, that Shackleton suddenly
died. His comrades removed his
body from the Quest" to a Nor
wegian whaIer bound for Montevid-
EAp and continued the expedition un-
F1Rr the leadership of sub-comman-
Yer Frank Wild.
~Losto Enderby.
They headed in the direction of
the lost" Enderby land, vague
country just south of South Geor-
gia Island which was reported dis
covered 80 years ago, but which no
one has been able to locate since
Shackleton's body has been
placed in plain wooden coffin.
made by the whalers at Grytviken,
and Theoretically sealed with zinc.
1t will be placed in a rock-piled
cairn,. among the mounds marking
the graves of other explorers, adj
venturers and whaler} who lost
their lives at the Gateway of the
Antarctic"
A simple burial ceremony will be
held in the crude church at Grytvi-
ken, with only Captain Hussey, of
Shackleton's world of admirers, to
see that his wishes and the COM
mands of Lady Shackleton are car
ried out.
The king of Toro, Africa, is prob