Brother Ernest Shackleton Antarctic Explorer and Survivor Antarctic Explorer and Survivor � by Dr. Ivan M. Tribe, KCT, KYCH, 33� In past generations, Americans and Europeans generally held polar explorers in high esteem. Those who endured great hardship won wide acclaim for their achievements, sometimes giving their lives in the process of their quest for fame. Among those who devoted their energies to such endeavors were a number of Masons, both American and British including Nathaniel Palmer, Elisha Kent Kane, Robert Peary, Robert Falcon Scott, Admiral Richard E. Byrd, and the subject of the following sketch, Sir Ernest Shackleton. While he discovered neither the North nor the South Pole, his exploits in the Antarctic rank as some of the major accomplishments of the age, particularly his 1914-1916 expedition where his name and character became virtually synonymous with the ship, Endurance, that bore him and his men to the far south. Ernest Henry Shackleton was born at Kildea in County Kildare, Ireland, of a farmer-physician father, whose ancestors hailed originally from Yorkshire, England, and an Irish mother. In 1884 the Shackletons moved to suburban London.

In 1887 young Ernest became a student at Dulwich College. He seems to have been somewhat indifferent to academics, and his teachers held him up as an example only after he became famous. Shackleton dropped out of school in 1890 and joined the Merchant Navy, making his first voyage from Liverpool to Valparaiso, Chile, aboard the Hoghton Tower. He made other journeys in the next few years, becoming certified as a First Mate in 1896 and as a Master two years later. Somewhat later, he gained commission as a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve. During this time, he served on two voyages that transported soldiers and supplies to Cape Town in the Boer War. That 1890 trip around Cape Horn always stuck in his mind and whetted his sense of adventure. He later told a journalist that "I felt strangely drawn to the mysterious south." Ernest Shackleton's pathway to international fame and "the mysterious south" began when he joined the Discovery expedition organized by the Royal Geographical Society and led by Robert Falcon Scott, a navy officer and member of Drury Lane Lodge 2127 in London.

In fact, prior to the group's departure, Shackleton took his Entered Apprentice degree on July 9, 1901, in Navy Lodge No. 2612, also in London. Several years would pass before he took additional Masonic work. Antarctic expeditions were a dangerous business. A legend concerning the Discovery voyage is that a 1901 recruiting advertisement in the Times of London read, "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of winter. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success." The trip of 1901-1902 fulfilled many of these promises, although most members survived. While Scott, Shackleton, and a Dr. Edward Wilson journeyed overland to a new record of 82�17'S latitude on December 31, 1902, they were still 463 nautical miles from the South Pole. Ernest became seriously ill with scurvy, and Scott had him sent back home. Back in England Shackleton married Emily Dorman on April 9, 1904.

Emily had been a friend of Ernest's sister that he had first met in 1897 after returning from a sea voyage to Japan. The marriage would result in three children; Raymond, Edward and Cecil; but would be characterized by long separations in which Emily often had to support herself and the children. Hoping to return to the Antarctic, Shackleton worked for Royal Magazine as a journalist and Secretary of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. The following year, the thirty-one-year-old explorer made an unsuccessful attempt for political office "standing" for a seat in the House of Commons from Dundee, Scotland. Soon after he began to work at securing financial support for another trip to the ''far South." Much of the monetary help Shackleton needed was provided by a Glasgow industrialist named William Beardmore. A grateful Shackleton would subsequently name a newly discovered mountain range and glacier after his chief benefactor. This journey, which commenced in August 1907, would become known to history as "the Nimrod Expedition" and provide Ernest Shackleton the "honour and recognition" he had so desperately sought.

New innovations used by these explorers included the use of an automobile and Manchurian ponies as beasts of burden, but they proved of limited value. The leader's three goals included the exploration of that portion of Antarctica known as King Edward Vil Land, reaching the South Pole, and reaching the Magnetic South Pole. All of the objectives were accomplished except for that of reaching the South Pole. Since Shackleton divided them into three groups, the trio of Douglas Mawson, Edgeworth David, and A. F. Mackay reached the Magnetic Pole in January 1909, enduring considerable hardship in the process. The exploratory group among other things ascended Mt. Erebus, the active volcano on Ross Island. Shackleton's group included Frank Wild, Eric Marshall, and Jameson Adams. On their unsuccessful quest to reach the pole the foursome managed to cross the Trans-Antarctic mountain range and became the first humans to set foot on the South Polar Plateau. Stretched almost to the breaking point, they reached 88�23'S latitude on January 9, 1909, a new record but still 97 miles short of the pole.

Fearing death and disaster if they tried to go further, they wisely returned to their base. Returning to England, they were, nonetheless, treated like heroes for their valiant effort. Shackleton was knighted for his efforts and basked in the glory of having led a party farther south than anyone had ever gone. His book, The Heart of the Antarctic, won him further acclaim. Of his failure to reach his main goal, he is said to have philosophically remarked, "Better a live donkey than a dead lion." He received additional Masonic light, being passed to Fellowcraft on November 2, 1911, and raised a Master Mason on May 30, 1913, both in Guild of Freemen Lodge No. 3525. According to a very well researched article by Leon Zeldis, Shackleton remained a member of both Guild of Freemen Lodge and Navy Lodge for the rest of his life. During these years back in England, other polar explorers reached the long sought destination of 90�S.

The Norwegian Roald Amundson arrived late in 1911, followed five weeks later on January 18, 1912, by Shackleton's sometimes friend, sometimes rival, Brother Robert Falcon Scott, who unfortunately perished with his companions on the return back to his base. Shackleton now sought a new goal crossing the southern continent from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. Seeking new financial supporters, he found three in the persons of Sir James Caird, a well-to-do jute manufacturing tycoon and member of Parliament; Dudley Docker; and Stancomb Wills. All three had lifeboats named in their honor. The principal ship was the well-named Endurance. By now Greenland sled dogs had been established as the most successful animal companions for Antarctic exploration, and English schoolchildren were said to have raised the money to buy and train them with participating schools getting a dog named for their school. A second ship, the Aurora, would meet Shackleton on the Ross Sea side of the continent.

World War I was just starting in early August 1914 as the twenty-eight voyagers prepared to depart England, but Winston Churchill, first Lord of the Admiralty, told Shackleton to "proceed" as he had originally planned. The Endurance reached the Weddell Sea in January 1915, after an earlier twoday stop at the whaling station on the island of South Georgia. The weather in 1914 was exceptionally cold in the Antarctic, and by January 18, 1915, the ship was surrounded by ice floes and soon became trapped, frozen into an ice floe at 76�34'S. Under normal condition they were only a one-day journey from their proposed land base at Vahsel Bay. For 281 days this situation continued, although the ice floe shifted several hundred miles in the process. The men occupied themselves with a variety of work and activities initially supplementing their food supply with seal and penguin. But then in September conditions became worse.

Temperatures became colder, and the water beneath the ship began to freeze and on October 23 crushed it "beyond all hope of ever being righted," but as Shackleton further noted in his journal, their supplies were saved and "we are alive and well, and we have stores and equipment for the task that lies before us." The task before them had now become survival. Against overwhelming odds, they succeeded. The immediate goal of Shackleton and his men was to reach Paulet Island, some 346 miles away where they knew that a cache of supplies existed that had been left by a 1902 expedition (frozen food preservation did have some positives in Antarctic trips). They also had three lifeboats which they could drag across the ice and use in the chilly waters whenever they had the opportunity. After considerable hardships and near brushes with death, the weary sojourners reached Elephant Island in the South Shetlands on April 12, 1916. They had made land on a barren island, but real safety still eluded them.

Shackleton decided that he and five others would take the largest life boat, the James Caird, and attempt to reach the whaling station on South Georgia, an 800-mile journey. Brother Frank Wild, the second in command and an Australian, would remain behind with the others with instructions to move to Deception Island if Shackleton had not returned by a certain date. After seventeen days and surviving storms in an open boat, the James Caird made landing but some 130 miles by sea from the whaling station, so he and two others went over the rocky hillside of South Georgia to the station and a rescue party soon went out and picked up the other three. Relieving those twenty-two men back on Elephant Island still remained a daunting task. Chartering a small whaler from South Georgia proved impossible as Elephant Island was now blocked by ice floes and the rescue ship could only get within seventy miles of the men. Shackleton then went to Port Stanley in the Falklands and appealed for help, but his only immediate offer for aid came from Uruguay, which sent out a small fishing ship, but it, too, was forced to turn back thirty miles from its destination.

Journeying now to Punta Arenas, Chile, a third rescue effort via the Emma had to turn back when that ship was damaged by an iceberg. Finally, a fourth attempt to reach Elephant Island on a ship called the Yelcho, under the command of a Chilean navy officer and Mason named Luis Pardo (of Aurora Lodge No. 6 in Valparaiso) managed to reach the island on August 30, 1916, and rescue the castaways, who had survived their own share of hardships-including one pair of amputated toes- for 105 days on the island and were down to their last four days of food rations. Back in Punta Arenas, on September 4, the outside world, that had heard nothing of the Shackleton Expedition since October 1914, soon learned of their incredible but successful struggle in that all members of the party had survived. Shackleton's new goal was to learn the fate of the Aurora and its crew that was to meet him on the Ross Sea side of Antarctica. However, first he, together with Brothers Luis Pardo, Frank Wild, and Dr. A.

Mcilroy, the ship surgeon, and the other Mason on the expedition were honored on September 30, 1916, at a special meeting of Lodge of Harmony No. 1411 under English charter in Valparaiso. Shackleton was escorted to the East and honored for his achievements. Some 44 members and 85 visitors from other English speaking and Chilean lodges attended this historic meeting. Brother Luis Pardo, the Chilean connection in the historicres cue, was promoted by the navy for his heroic efforts and eventually spent four years in Liverpool, England, as a Consul, dying in 1935. Leaving Chile for New Zealand, Ernest Shackleton learned in December 1916 that many of the personnel from the Aurora expedition were stranded in the Ross Sea region. This group was not so lucky as those who had sailed on the Endurance as all of this party did not survive. Nonetheless, the intrepid leader did what he could, and to make a long story short, the survivors were on their way to Wellington by February 1917. By May Shackleton was back in England, and World War I continued to rage.

With his health increasingly shaky, the adventurous explorer still hoped to get into military action but was instead sent on a diplomatic mission to South America in hopes of persuading Argentina and Chile to abandon neutrality and join the allies. This proved an utter failure. Shackleton then became involved in an effort to establish a British presence on the Island of Spitzbergen, a property of neutral Norway. His Masonic Brothers from the Endurance, Frank Wild and Dr. Mcllroy, were also in on the plan. In the Norwegian town of Tromso, Shackleton experienced what Mcilroy assumed was a heart attack, but ''the Boss" would not undress so his physician friend could examine him. Nonetheless, he had to return to London, and Wild took over the expedition. It was Shackleton's first trip north of the Arctic circle. He soon returned in October 1918, however, as part of a British force bound for Murmansk, where he held the position of "Staff Officer in Charge of Arctic Equipment," a glorified term for storekeeper.

Three weeks after his arrival in Murmansk, the Great War ended, and the Allies were now in opposition to the Bolsheviks who were trying to solidify their control of Russia. In a letter to home, Shackleton had some prophetic and astute comments about the evils of bolshevism, but he was drinking heavily, and his health continued to decline. By March 1919 he was back in London and demobilized after five months of service. Although hoping for another polar expedition, the symbol of British endurance was now virtually broken financially and lecturing twice a day about the Endurance Expedition. His last book, simply titled South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition (1919) sold well, but he had signed over royalties to pay debts. Despite his deteriorating health, Shackleton still planned a return to Antarctica; this time his goal was to circumnavigate the continent. A wealthy old friend from school days, John Q. Rowett, came forth with finances. Several veterans from earlier journeys joined him, and a ship renamed the Quest was outfitted for the journey.

They left England on September 17, 1921, but the ship was not a good one and had to be repaired enroute more than once. The leader was also frequently ill. The Quest reached South Georgia on January 4, 1922. Later that night the noted explorer-old before his time-had another heart attack and died in the early morning hours on the 5th. Comrades were transporting his remains back to England, but when his widow got the news, she asked that his body be returned to South Georgia. She wrote that "His spirit had no place in England...if he had a home on earth, it must be among the mystic craigs and glaciers of the island in the Southern Ocean which had meant so much to him." Receiving the word at Montevideo, Uruguay, they returned him to South Georgia where he lies in the cemetery at the whaling station at Grytviken. In his day Shackleton was celebrated as one the great explorers of the age. Largely forgotten for a time, interest in his exploits revived a few years ago when documentary films about his adventures revived interest in the man.

Although he never discovered the South Pole, he did contribute much knowledge of Antarctica through his expeditions. His cool leadership in the face of the adversity encountered during the Endurance episode revealed an extraordinary talent for "grace under pressure." Members of the fraternity worldwide can take pride in the determination and skill that Brother Ernest Shackleton exhibited during his lifetime. Further reading: Books about Shackleton are numerous. The most detailed is Roland Huntford's Shackleton (1996), while Caroline Alexander's The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition (1998) is also quite good. His own accounts have been reprinted. Internet searchers can benefit from the biography at Of particular interest to Masons is Leon Zeldis' "Sir Ernest Shackleton and Luis Pardo: Two Masons Joined by Fate and Heroism" at the Freemasonry in Israel website. His Masonic record is also on the website of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and the Yukon. Sir Knight Ivan M. Tribe, KCT, KYCH, 33�, and a professor emeritus of history at the University of Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Ohio, is a Past Commander of Athens Commandery No. 15, Athens, Ohio.

He resides at 111 East High Street, McArthur, OH 45651- 1111 Update: July 19, 2014 Bookyards.com - The Library To The World | Ernest Shackleton - Authors Main article: Discovery Expedition Discovery Shackleton participated in the National Antarctic Expedition, which was organized by the Royal Geographical Society in 1901, and led by Robert Falcon Scott. This expedition is also called the "Discovery Expedition", as its ship was called Discovery. He may have placed what has become one of the world's most famous advertisements in the Times of London in December 1901: "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success." (Historians do not all agree on when or in which newspaper the ad was placed, and some have disputed that this ad was ever placed - no one has yet been able to locate the original newspaper clipping; see [1] for a full discussion.) Shackleton with Scott and Dr Edward Wilson trekked south towards the South Pole in 1902.

The journey proceeded under difficult conditions, partially the result of their own inexperience with the Antarctic environment, poor choices and preparation and the pervading assumption that all obstacles could be overcome with personal fortitude. They used dogs, but failed to understand how to handle them. As with most of the early British expeditions, food was in short supply; the personnel on long treks were usually underfed by any measure and were essentially starving. Scott, Wilson and Shackleton made their "furthest south" of 82�17'S on December 31, 1902. They were 463 nautical miles (857 km) from the Pole. Shackleton developed scurvy on the return trip and Dr. Wilson suffered from snow blindness at intervals. When Morning relieved the expedition in early 1903, Scott had Shackleton returned to England, though he had nearly fully recovered.

There have been recent suggestions that Scott disliked Shackleton's popularity in the expedition and used his health as an excuse to remove him, however both Shackleton and Scott continued to be on friendly terms in their subsequent correspondence and meetings; he was Merchant Marine and Scott was Royal Navy—which was also part of the contention with whether Albert Armitage was to remain for the second winter. In part, Scott exhibited unusual stamina and may not have recognized differing abilities of others. 1907 - 1909 Nimrod Expedition Main article: Nimrod Expedition Shackleton, by Nadar. Shackleton organized and led the "British Antarctic Expedition" (1907–1909) to Antarctica. The primary and stated goal was to reach the South Pole. The expedition is also called the Nimrod Expedition after its ship, and the "Farthest South" expedition.

Shackleton's base camp was built on Ross Island at Cape Royds, approximately 20 miles (40 km) north of the Scott's Hut of the 1901–1904 expedition; the hut built at this camp in 1908 is on the list of the World Monuments Watch's 100 most endangered sites [2]. Because of poor success with dogs during Scott's 1901–1904 expedition, Shackleton used Manchurian ponies for transport, which did not prove successful. Accomplishments of the expedition included the first ascent of Mount Erebus, the active volcano of Ross Island; the location of the Magnetic South Pole by Douglas Mawson, Edgeworth David and MacKay (January 16, 1909); and locating the Beardmore Glacier passage. Shackleton, with Wild, Marshall, and Adams, reached 88�23'S: a point only 97 nautical miles (180 km) from the South Pole.

While the expedition did not make it to the pole, nonetheless, Shackleton, Adams, Marshall, and Wild were the first humans to not only cross the Trans-Antarctic mountain range, but also the first humans to set foot on the South Polar Plateau. Shackleton returned to the United Kingdom a hero and was immediately knighted. For three years he was able to bask in the glory of being "the man who reached furthest to the south." Of his failure to reach the South Pole, Shackleton remarked: "Better a live donkey than a dead lion." It should, however, be pointed out that Shackleton and his group were exceedingly fortunate to return from the Pole. They had cut rations severely, such that there was no margin of safety. They had very good weather throughout their return, in contrast to Scott's experience three years later. 1914 - 1916 Endurance Expedition Main article: Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition Shackleton's most famous expedition set out from London on August 1, 1914, to reach the Wedell Sea on January 10, 1915, where the pack ice closed in on the Endurance.

The ship was broken by the ice on October 27, 1915. The 28 crew members managed to flee to Elephant Island, bringing three small boats with them. All of them survived after Shackleton and five other men managed to reach the southern coast of South Georgia in one of the small boats, from where Shackleton organized a rescue operation to bring home the remaining men. 1917 Ross Sea Party Main article: Ross Sea Party After his legendary ordeal in the Weddell Sea sector, Ernest Shackleton arrived in New Zealand during December 1916. He was advised that his supply team the Ross Sea Party was stranded in Antarctica. By that time the Aurora had been repaired and after discussion with the Aurora's captain, Shackleton immediately sailed to Ross Island to bring his men home. On January 10, 1917, the ship pulled alongside the pack ice near Cape Royds and worked its way to Cape Evans. One week later, Shackleton and the Ross Sea Party survivors were headed back to Wellington, New Zealand. 1921 - 1922 Shackleton-Rowett Expedition Main article: Shackleton-Rowett Expedition "The Autumn Sunset".

In: "The Heart of the Antarctic", Volume I, by E. H. Shackleton, 1909 In 1921, Shackleton set out on another Antarctic expedition. Its purpose was to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent by sea, but it was derailed when Shackleton died of a heart attack on board his ship, the Quest, while anchored off South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands on January 5, 1922. His body was being returned to England when his widow requested that the burial take place on Grytviken, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands instead. Shackleton was buried there on March 5, 1922. Legacy In 1994, the James Caird Society was set up to preserve the memory of Shackleton's achievements. Its first Life President was Shackleton's younger son, Edward Shackleton, and his granddaughter, Alexandra Shackleton, has been Life President since 1995. Sir Ernest Shackleton is the subject of Shackleton, a two-part Channel 4 drama directed by Charles Sturridge and starring Kenneth Branagh as the explorer.

The same story is related in greater detail in the book Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing. Shackleton's grave, near the former whaling station at Grytviken on South Georgia is frequently visited by tourists from passing cruise ships. The British Antarctic Survey's logistics vessel RRS Ernest Shackleton (the replacement for RRS Bransfield) is named in his honour. Wikisource has original text related to this article: Shackleton's diaries There is a Shackleton Memorial Library at the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge. The boat that he sailed to South Georgia is in the entry foyer at Dulwich College, South London. Ironically, he was far from an exemplary student at the school and was relentlessly discouraged from pursuing his ambitions as an explorer, only being held up as an example to students after his death. Shackleton Crater lies at the south pole of the Moon.

Popular Culture References The following line can be found in The Weakerthans song "Our Retired Explorer (Dines With Michel Foucault in Paris, 1961)", which appeared in their CD Reconstruction Site (2003): "I must say that in the right light you look like Shackleton." The following line can be found in Beastie Boys song "Oh Word?", which appeared in their CD To The 5 Boroughs (2004): "Like Ernest Shackleton said to Ord Lees, 'I'll have dog pemmican with my tea.'" Bibliography Works by Shackleton The Heart of the Antarctic: The Story of the British Antarctic Expedition 1907 -1909 by Sir Ernest Shackleton (Collins) ISBN 1-903464-28-5 Shackleton: The Polar Journeys: Incorporating the "Heart of the Antarctic" and "South" by Sir Ernest Shackleton (Collins, 2002) ISBN 1-903464-26-9 South: Journals of His Last Expedition to Antarctica by Sir Ernest Shackleton (Robson Books, 1999) ISBN 1-

86105-279-0 South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-17 by Sir Ernest Shackleton (Ebury Press, 1991) ISBN 0-7126-3927-6 Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Ernest Henry, Sir Shackleton, Christopher Ralling (Peter Bedrick Books, 1986) ISBN 0-87226-082-8 Aurora Australis by Sir Ernest Shackleton (Paradigm Press, 1986) ISBN 0-948285-07-9 South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-17 by Sir Ernest Shackleton (Heinemann, 1970) ISBN 0-434-69500-9 Biographies and histories Polar Castaways: The Ross Sea Party Of Sir Ernest Shackleton, 1914-17 by Richard McElrea (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2004) ISBN 0-7735-2825-3 Shackleton

 by Roland Huntford.

2nd edition 1996, Abacus History, London. 774pp ISBN 0-349-10744-0 Shackleton's Forgotten Expedition: The Voyage of the Nimrod by Beau Riffenburgh (Bloomsbury USA, 2004) ISBN 1-58234-488-4 South with Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition, 1914-1917 by Frank Hurley (Simon & Schuster, 2001) ISBN 0-7432-2292-X Shackleton's Forgotten Men: The Untold Tale of an Antarctic Tragedy by Lennard Bickel, Rt. Hon. Lord Shackleton (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2000) ISBN 1-56025-256-1 Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition by Dennis N. T. Perkins, Margaret P. Holtman, Paul R.

Kessler, Catherine McCarthy (American Management Association, 2000) ISBN 0-8144-0543-6 The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander (Knopf, 1998) ISBN 0-375-40403-1 Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley (the captain of the Endurance) Endurance by Alfred Lansing (McGraw Hill, 1969) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 58-59666 Shackleton's Voyage by Donald Barr Chidsey (Award Books/Tandem Books, 1967) The Long White Road; Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic adventures by Marvin Hubert Albert (D.

McKay Co, 1957) ASIN B0006AV0J4 DVDs Shackleton - The Greatest Survival Story of All Time Kenneth Branagh (A&E Home Video, 2002) ISBN B000063TON The Endurance - Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition Liam Neeson (Columbia Tristar, 2000) ISBN B0000A7W16 Antarctic Explorers: Ernest Shackleton Ernest H. Shackleton 1874-1922 Ernest Henry Shackleton was born at Kilkea House, County Kildare, on February 15, 1874. The Shackletons came originally from Yorkshire. The founder of the family was Abraham Shackleton, a Quaker, who moved to Ireland early in the eighteenth century and started a school at Ballitore, near Dublin. Henry Shackleton, Ernest's father, was Abraham's direct descendant in the fourth generation. Henry tried to enter the army but his poor health prevented him. Becoming a farmer instead, he settled in the green, fertile, rolling fields of County Kildare at a place called Kilkea.

Ernest's mother, born Henrietta Letitia Sophia Gavan, married Henry in 1872, bringing a touch of Irish blood into an otherwise pure Anglo-Irish lineage. Ernest's birth happened to coincide with the disastrous potato crop failure, so much a part of Irish history. This meant an agricultural depression and difficult times for farmers. Henry Shackleton was a survivalist and therefore abandoned his farm before it was too late. At the age of 33, Henry left his farm to Trinity College in Dublin and started a new career in medicine. In 1884, Dr. Shackleton crossed the water and settled in England. It was in suburban London that Ernest Shackleton spent the remainder of his boyhood years. Ernest's mother became mysteriously an invalid and remained so for the last forty years of her life. Dr. Shackleton, with help from his mother-in-law and various female relatives from Ireland, raised Ernest and the other children. Until the age of eleven-and-a-half, Shackleton was educated at home by a governess. He then went to Fir Lodge Preparatory School, down the road from his home, Aberdeen House, in West Hill.

In 1887 Ernest left Fir Lodge to go to Dulwich College. Henry desired for his son to enter the medical field but Ernest would have no part of it. Longing for the sea, Ernest left Dulwich at the end of the Lent term in 1890 and on April 19, at the age of sixteen, went to Liverpool and joined the full rigger HOGHTON TOWER, owned by the North Western Shipping Company of Liverpool. Ernest's first experience at sea belongs to sailor's folklore. The HOGHTON TOWER was bound for Valparaiso round Cape Horn. They reached Cape Horn in the middle of winter and fought against storms for nearly two months before finally rounding the Cape. Battered by the seas, the HOGHTON TOWER reached Valparaiso in the middle of August. From there she sailed for Iquique, Chile where for six weeks she loaded nitrates. The HOGHTON TOWER returned to Liverpool at the end of April, 1891, with food and water running out. It was a hard, difficult trip, especially for a sixteen-year-old old novice.

Shackleton went on to spend five years sailing to and from the Far East and America. In 1896, without much difficulty, Shackleton passed for First Mate. In April 1898, he was certified as Master. At the age of twenty-four he had qualified to command a British ship anywhere on the seven seas. In the summer of 1897, Shackleton met and became attracted to one of his sisters' friends, Emily Dorman. Ernest had just returned from a voyage to Japan aboard the FLINTSHIRE when he met the tall, dark-haired young woman "with a good figure". At the end of 1898, the FLINTSHIRE ran aground near Middlesbrough which gave him the opportunity to take leave for 24-hours in order to go home for his father's birthday on January 1. On the way, he stopped and visited The Firs, where Emily lived, and for the first time Ernest was seriously in love. Shackleton had enough of tramping to the East.

To improve his standing with Emily and her father, he left the Welsh Shire Line and, early in 1899, took a position with the Union Castle Line. The Union Castle Line belonged to the élete of the merchant service. The ships were immaculate, from their red and black funnels to their red boot topping. Used to carry mails between England and South Africa, it was the next best thing to the navy. The brasswork glistened as officers paraded in navy blue and gold braid across the decks. As a bonus, the Union Castle Line meant coming home regularly every two months instead of long and undetermined absences aboard a tramper. It was an ideal itinerary: down the Solent from Southampton, round the bulge of Africa, across the Bight of Benin, into the docks at Cape Town and back...six thousand miles each way. By December, promoted to Third Officer, Shackleton was transferred to the TINTAGEL CASTLE which was hauling troops to the Cape since, in October 1899, the Boer War had broken out. During the summer of 1900, Shackleton was in London on leave, seeing Emily when he could.

Then, on September 13, Shackleton wrote to volunteer for the National Antarctic Expedition (commanded by Robert Falcon Scott ), which was in the process of being organized. Four days later he visited the expedition offices in person to press home his desires. A journalist later asked Shackleton where he got the notion to become an explorer and Ernest responded, "I think it came to me during my first voyage...I felt strangely drawn towards the mysterious south...we rounded Cape Horn in the depth of winter. It was one continuous blizzard all the way...Yet many a time, even in the midst of all this discomfort, my thoughts would go out to the southward...But strangely enough, the circumstance which actually determined me to become an explorer was a dream I had when I was twenty-two. We were beating out to New York from Gibraltar, and I dreamt I was standing on the bridge in mid-Atlantic and looking northward. It was a simple dream. I seemed to vow to myself that some day I would go to the region of ice and snow and go on and on till I came to one of the poles of the earth, the end of the axis upon which this great round ball turns".

In March, 1900, Shackleton was on his second trooping voyage to South Africa in the TINTAGEL CASTLE when he met Cedric Longstaff, a lieutenant in the East Surrey Regiment. Longstaff's father, Llewellyn, happened to be the principal benefactor of the National Antarctic Expedition...he had donated £25,000 to make the expedition possible. Shackleton persuaded Cedric Longstaff to give him an introduction to his father. The summer of 1900 was filled with uncertainty. Ernest's brother, Frank, was commissioned in the Royal Irish Fusiliers, bound for South Africa to take part in the final days, so it seemed, of the war. But front-page news was Carsten Borchgrevink , recently returned from the Antarctic where he was the first man to winter on the Antarctic continent. Shackleton's romantic imagination ran wild as he went down to Wimbledon to meet Llewellyn Longstaff. Like Shackleton, Mr. Longstaff was a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and, besides, would always welcome anyone who had recently seen his son. He was overwhelmed by Shackleton's personality.

When Shackleton asked his help in joining the expedition, Longstaff could hardly refuse. As Shackleton returned to sea, Longstaff made it clear to Sir Clements Markham that he wanted Shackleton accepted for the expedition. Sir Clements told Scott who promptly passed the matter on to Albert Armitage as he simply "had no time to attend to it". Early in March 1901, Shackleton returned to Southampton on the CARISBROOK CASTLE to find himself part of the National Antarctic Expedition. Shackleton would depart with Scott on the historic DISCOVERY EXPEDITION to Antarctica later that summer. (NOTE: the story of the National Antarctic Expedition is written, in detail, under the chapter devoted to Robert Falcon Scott ). Shackleton became seriously ill on Scott's southern sledge journey, midway through the expedition, and had to be invalided home aboard the relief ship MORNING. As Bernacchi, with Scott's DISCOVERY EXPEDITION noted, Shackleton was "deeply disappointed & would give anything to remain. Although everyone is so anxious to return this year with the DISCOVERY few are so poor spirited as to wish to return in the MORNING".

On June 12,1903, after convalescing in New Zealand, Shackleton landed in England. A huge scandal had broken out about the affairs of the DISCOVERY EXPEDITION. It seems everyone was upset about Scott remaining for a second winter in the Antarctic. The organizers had explicitly said that under no circumstances was Scott to stay for a second year...it would be considered professional incompetence to allow the DISCOVERY to be frozen in, risking being crushed by the ice. Sir Clements sent a telegram to Shackleton: "The Admiralty will undertake rescue of Discovery. Committee appointed. Come to me. I wish to consult you". The expedition organizers wanted Shackleton to sail out as chief officer on the TERRA NOVA to assist the MORNING, if necessary, to get Scott and his men back home. Shackleton declined as, according to Armitage, "he meant to return and prove to Scott 'that he---Shackleton---was a better man than Scott' ". Besides, Emily had now agreed to marry him. Meanwhile, early in October Shackleton visited Sir Clements Markham, in Markhams' words, with "full plans for another expedition".

Sir Clements discouraged him and Shackleton went on to join the staff of Royal Magazine as a journalist. On January 11, 1904, after a long and nerve-racking wait, Shackleton found himself elected to the desired post of secretary to the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. He now had a full-time job and, as he wrote to Emily, "I am so happy dearest thinking about all the times which are to be in the future...we do want to settle down and have our own house at last after all these years of waiting". In London, on April 9, Ernest Shackleton and Emily Dorman were married at Christchurch, Westminster. A week before the wedding the DISCOVERY returned to New Zealand after her second season in the ice. The record southing, in which Shackleton had participated, was still intact. When Shackleton walked up the aisle with Emily he was still one of the men who had reached the Furthest South...no finer wedding present could have been given. Shackleton discovered a new-found gift: public speaking. He made many acquaintances as secretary and was soon asked to run for Parliament.

On November 16, 1904, the Dundee Courier announced that Shackleton "is to uphold the Unionist cause in the next election". On February 2, 1905, Emily gave birth to their first child, a boy. This was exciting but, unfortunately, he had no income...in mid-January he had resigned his position at the RSGS to further his political career. He subsequently finished in fourth place in the election. A time of uncertainty would prevail until early in 1907. On Monday, February 11, Shackleton was in London at the RGS. In the same room stood Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen...it was an extraordinary scene. Shackleton had come to ask for the support of the RGS and the patronage of the King...he planned on spending the next winter in Antarctica and he only had six months to prepare. The NIMROD Expedition 1907-09 In the Geographical Journal for March, 1907, Shackleton outlined his plans, some of which subsequently had to be changed.

The expedition was expected to leave New Zealand at the beginning of 1908 and proceed to winter quarters on the Antarctic continent. Here the men and stores would be landed, followed quickly by the retreat of the ship to New Zealand to prevent her from being frozen in. Shackleton announced, "The shore-party of nine or twelve men will winter with sufficient equipment to enable three separate parties to start out in the spring. One party will go east, and, if possible, across the Barrier to the new land known as King Edward VII Land, follow the coastline there south, if the coast trends south, or north if north, returning when it is considered necessary to do so. The second party will proceed south over the same route as that of the southern sledge-party of the DISCOVERY; this party will keep from fifteen to twenty miles from the coast, so as to avoid any rough ice. The third party will possibly proceed westward over the mountains, and, instead of crossing in a line due west, will strike towards the magnetic Pole.

The main changes in equipment will be that Siberian ponies will be taken for the sledge journeys both east and south, and also a specially designed motor-car for the southern journey...I do not intend to sacrifice the scientific utility of the expedition to a mere record-breaking journey, but say frankly, all the same, that one of my great efforts will be to reach the southern geographical Pole. I shall in no way neglect to continue the biological, meteorological, geological and magnetic work of the DISCOVERY". The first step was to secure an office in London. A furnished room at 9 Regent Street served as headquarters of the expedition. The staff consisted of Mr. Alfred Reid, who had gained considerable experience in connection with previous polar adventures, and a district messenger. Fortunately, there was a typing office on the same floor which could deal with the correspondence which grew from day to day. Shackleton secured estimates for the supplies from a number of different companies as he wanted the best of everything possible. Shackleton stipulated that all the goods were to be delivered in London by June 15, for the ship was to leave England on June 30. As for the ship, Shackleton's first choice was the BJORN, owned by Mr.

C. Christiansen. The BJORN was a new ship, built specially for polar work, but was simply too expensive to purchase. Instead, when Shackleton returned to London after visiting Christiansen in Sandyfjord, the purchase of the NIMROD was made. At the time, the NIMROD was on a sealing venture, out of Newfoundland, but was expected to return very soon. The ship was small and old and her maximum speed under steam was hardly more than six knots, but on the other hand, she was strongly built. The NIMROD did not return as soon as Shackleton expected and when she did arrive, she had been somewhat damaged by the ice. She was inspected on Shackleton's behalf and pronounced sound. A rapid transit was made across the Atlantic and the ship arrived in the Thames on June 15, 1907. Shackleton was very disappointed when he first inspected the ship; she was run down and smelt strongly of seal-oil. In addition, she required new caulking and masts. As work began on the NIMROD, Shackleton contracted Messrs.

Humphreys, of Knightsbridge, to construct the hut in which to live during the Antarctic winter. The hut would be shipped in sections aboard the NIMROD. It was made of stout fir timbering of best quality in the walls, roofs and floors. The walls were strengthened with iron cleats bolted to main posts and horizontal timbering, and the roof was reinforced with iron tie rods. The hut was lined with match-boarding and the walls and roof were covered first with strong felt, then one-inch tongued and grooved boards, followed by an additional covering of felt. Granulated cork was used as insulation. The hut was to be erected on wooden piles, driven into the ice, with rings attached to the roof so that guy ropes could be used to give additional resistance to the gales. "The personnel of an expedition of the character I proposed is a factor on which success depends to a very large extent. The men selected must be qualified for the work, and they must also have the special qualifications required to meet polar conditions.

They must be able to live together in harmony for a long period without outside communication, and it must be remembered that the men whose desires lead them to the untrodden paths of the world have generally marked individuality", Shackleton wrote. The staff: SHORE PARTY Lieutenant Rupert England, R.H.R., Master. John K. Davis, first officer. A. L. A. Mackintosh, second officer. Dr. William Arthur Rupert Michell, surgeon. H. J. L. Dunlop, chief engineer. Alfred Cheetham, third officer and boatswain. The work of preparing for the expedition was rapid and as the end of July approached, the stores and equipment were loaded on board the NIMROD in readiness for the voyage to New Zealand. On July 30, 1907, the NIMROD sailed from the East India Docks for Torquay. The first night was spent at Greenhithe and on the morning of the 31st the ship continued for Torquay.

A detour was made when a tug overtook the NIMROD and conveyed news that the King and Queen wished to come on board to inspect the ship and equipment on Sunday, August 4. By Sunday, the ship was anchored at Cowes, and their Majesties, the King and Queen, their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, the Princess Victoria, Prince Edward and the Duke of Connaught came on board. The King presented Shackleton with the Victorian Order and the Queen presented him with a Union Jack to carry on the southern sledge journey. The NIMROD sailed for Torquay early the next morning and arrived there on August 6. Farewell dinner and drinks were ingested that evening and on the morning of Wednesday, August 7, the ship sailed for New Zealand. After calling at St. Vincent and Cape Town, the NIMROD arrived at Lyttelton, New Zealand, on November 23. The Commonwealth Government gave Shackleton £5000 and the New Zealand Government another £1,000 which allowed Shackleton to increase the number of the shore party and add additional equipment.

The New Zealand Government also agreed to pay half the cost of towing the NIMROD down to the Antarctic circle so that coal could be saved. At 4 P.M. on January 1, 1908, the lines were cast off from the wharf and the NIMROD was off for the south. Thousands watched and cheers broke out as the NIMROD passed the United States' magnetic survey ship GALILEE. With the KOONYA steaming in front, Shackleton moved up close to her stern and hauled in the 4-inch wire cable to be used to tow the NIMROD south. Everything went well until the third of January. As Mackintosh wrote, "A truly miserable day and night: everything upside down, nearly every one seasick. We exchanged signals with the KOONYA occasionally--this afternoon she enquired how our passengers were faring? We replied and told her that 'there were 20 seasick, but all cheerful'. It's blowing strong from S.W. with quite a tidy sea and swell". The weather moderated the next day but some of the crew were still very ill; Marshall, Mawson and Priestley being the worst.

The first pony was lost on January 6. "Doctor" fell over onto his back in a very awkward manner. Try as they might, the poor animal could not get up so it was shot. Gales accompanied the ships on the journey south and on January 14 the first iceberg was sighted. The next day the pack ice was sighted off the starboard bow extending all the way to the port bow. A short time later the NIMROD was on her own as the KOONYA'S tow-line was cast off. After navigating through dense clusters of bergs, the NIMROD entered the Ross Sea on January 16, the first ship to do so without the vessel having been held up by pack-ice. January 17 found them at 70°43'S, 178°58'E. The NIMROD skirted the Barrier until January 25 at which time Shackleton gave up all hope of reaching King Edward VII Land. The pack-ice was too thick as well as being interspersed with giant icebergs.

It seemed impossible to reach land, and the shortness of coal, the leaky condition of the ship, and the absolute necessity of landing all the stores and putting up the hut before the vessel left them made the situation extremely anxious for Shackleton. Fearing becoming trapped in the ice, Shackleton could see no option other than steering for McMurdo Sound. At 8 P.M. she turned to the west and on January 28 they entered McMurdo Sound. Around midnight, the frozen sea stopped them some 20 miles short of Hut Point; the ice anchor was dropped and made fast to the floe. Shackleton decided to lay off the ice-foot for a few days to give Nature a chance to break up the ice. Meanwhile, on the evening of the 29th, the sides and top of the motor-car case were removed and the wheels put on the car. On the 30th most of the beams of the pony shelter were removed so the ponies could be removed without difficulty at a moments notice. Most of them were in very poor shape and one, "Nimrod", had to be shot. The voyage had been without accident until the morning of the 31st.

The entire crew was busy unpacking the stores from the after-hatch, preparatory to landing them, when a hook on the tackle slipped and, swinging suddenly across the deck, struck Mackintosh in the right eye. He fell to the deck in great pain but was able, in a few minutes, to walk to England's cabin where Marshall examined him. It was clear that the eye must be removed so Marshall, assisted by Michell and Mackay, administered chloroform to Mackintosh and removed the eye. At 9:30 P.M. on February 3, the ship was fast alongside the ice foot off Hut Point Peninsula. The offloading began with the motor car the first thing to go over the side. By February 12th, the stores were safely ashore. The temperatures were now consistently below -10°F. The NIMRODS' masts "were grey with the frozen spray and the bows were a coat of mail". At 10:45 P.M. on February 22, the NIMROD headed northward and arrived at Port Chalmers, New Zealand, on March 6, 1908.

It took a few more weeks to transform the hut from an empty shell to a fully furnished and functional lodging. The fifteen men had to eat, sleep, work, worry, talk and meet all their social needs for their time in Antarctica in the tiny hut. Shackleton had his own space while two men each shared the seven other cubicles. The meteorologist, Jameson Adams, set to work building a meteorological screen on a hill near the hut to measure air temperature, wind speed / direction and evaporation. Measurements were taken nearly round the clock as Adams took them from 8 am to 8 PM and the night watchman took the 10 PM to 6 am shift. Douglas Mawson built an anemometer on the tallest ridge; wind speed was frequently recorded above 100 mph. Professor Edgeworth David made a snow gauge from spare stove and chimney parts. Evaporation was measured by hanging measured cubes of snow and ice from rods projecting from the wall of the hut. Sometimes wind direction could be tracked by monitoring the steam plume coming from Mount Erebus.

The biologist, James Murray, built a sledge which could be lowered through a crack in the ice and pulled along the bottom which scooped up a vast variety of small fish, crustacean and other marine animals. Oddly to Murray, the fish and other animals would freeze before he could get back to the hut but, once thawed out, they would spring back to life. As the sun began to set in March, tiny details of the daily routine became major events. The weather was an important factor of everyday life; in a blizzard the chores of emptying dishwater and ashes and getting fresh ice became small feats of endurance. Night watchmans' duties were rotated every two weeks. Two men were exempted from these duties: Roberts, who was the cook, and Sir Philip Brocklehurst, whose toes were still black with frostbite (one later amputated by Marshall) after his climb of Mount Erebus. (NOTE: The successful ascent of Mount Erebus was one of the first accomplishments of the expedition. Six men, among them Douglas Mawson , measured the crater. They quickly descended by sliding down the 5000 feet in four hours).

The others tended to their specialties: Adams wound the chronometers, checked instruments and did other meteorological work; Marshall, the surgeon, tended to medical needs and exercised ponies; Wild, the storekeeper, issued food to the cook, opened the cases of tinned food and dug the meat out of the snowdrifts (penguin, seal or mutton); Joyce fed the dogs and trained them for sledge-pulling; David spent time on geological studies; Priestley and Murray worked at dredging; Mawson studied the aurora, ice structures and measured atmospheric electricity. By midwinter, activity had declined to a lazy pace, as compared to the torrid one set earlier. Most of the men now stayed up late and Professor David, more of a late-night person than the others, organized an 11 o'clock tea. Nearly all were sound asleep by 1 am. First up at 7:30 am would be Roberts, to start breakfast, and Armitage, to feed the ponies. At 8:30 am the rest would get up and at 8:45 the table was lowered from the roof. At 9:00 they all sat down to porridge and hot milk.

Occasionally a second course would follow consisting of bottled fruit and tea, followed by a smoke. Lunch was at 1:00 PM and dinner was at 6:45 sharp. On birthdays and midwinter's day (June 21), they broke the rules and celebrated with what Shackleton described as "a sort of mild spree". Optimism was high through the six-month night. "We were all busy and there was little cause for us to find the time hung heavy on our hands; the winter months sped by". Evidently, the men were actually thrilled when winter ended since they were obviously getting on each others' nerves. One night, as Marshall writes, Wild "showed sign of being drunk, & was anxious to make a row, but after a little while persuaded him to turn in. Was seriously thinking of getting him outside to give me a hand with the ponies & then giving him a damn good hammering, as he was becoming very talkative and objectionable & Shacks was evidently afraid to come out and stop him, although awake and hearing all said". At the beginning of August, Mackay suddenly went for Roberts, the cook, with whom he shared a cubicle.

It seems that Roberts put his feet on Mackay's chest to lace up his boots. Mackay, much bigger and stronger, tried to wring Robert's neck and may have succeeded if Mawson, who was bigger and stronger still, hadn't stepped in. In Priestley's words, it was "lucky evidently that the Winter (was) almost over instead of just beginning". In Marshall's version, Shackleton was "in a regular panic about it & threatens he will shoot (Mackay). This is the 2nd time he has said (so). He is so easily frightened that he is not to be trusted with a pistol...Mac quite all right but slightly eccentric & quick tempered". Spring arrived and the plans, worked out over the winter, were ready to be launched. Shackleton, Adams, Marshall and Wild would head south for the Pole, a 1700-mile trek; Edgeworth David (aged 50) would lead the Northern Party on a 1260-mile journey towards the South Magnetic Pole, with Mackay (aged 30) and Mawson (aged 26) as teammates. The Northern Party had no experience of polar exploration.

They would have to pull sledges and supplies without the help of dogs or ponies. At the start, they used the motor car to establish two depots 10 and 15 miles from the hut on Cape Royds. On September 25 the engine overheated and they actually had to wait in the blistering cold for it to cool down. When the party finally left winter quarters the next day, Mackay's wrist was in a sling after an accident with the car's starter. It seemed a rather ominous beginning to a journey into the unknown with the doctor's arm in a sling! By November 1 they were becoming worried at the rate the rations were diminishing. Appetite consumed them but by November 5 they limited themselves to one plasmon biscuit each for breakfast and dinner, discovering in the process that "we had never before fully realised how very nice those plasmon biscuits were". The three explorers used the traditional method for dividing food: the cook would put three biscuits on the cooker cover, then point to one, asking one of the others with his back turned, "Whose?" By this means there would be no opportunity to create a squabble over who was getting the biggest portion.

In the beginning, no attention was paid to the crumbs; by early November they were breaking their biscuits over their pannikins to make sure they left no precious crumbs. Even their conversation was dominated by food as David wrote, "We could discuss nothing but the different dishes with which we had been regaled in our former lifetime at various famous restaurants and hotels". On December 11, a mile short of the Drygalski Ice Tongue, David fell into a crevasse only 20 feet from their tent. He managed to save himself, catching the edge on either side but needed Mawson's assistance, with an ice ax, to pull him out. The next day it was Mackay's turn. While hunting for emperor penguins he fell through an ice bridge up to his waist in water. On December 20, Mawson had a brush with death. David heard a "slight crash" and noticed that Mawson had disappeared. David and Mackay found him dangling over a deep crevasse, suspended by his harness attached to the sledge rope. Mawson, ever the curious scientist, took the opportunity to inspect the ice crystals on the crevasse wall.

David wrote, "After this episode we were extra cautious in crossing the crevasses, but the ice was simply seamed with them. Twice when our sledge was being dragged up ice-pressure ridges it rolled over sideways with one runner in a crevasse and once the whole sledge all but disappeared into a crevasse...Had it gone down completely it would certainly have dragged the three of us down with it, as it weighed nearly one-third of a ton". On Christmas day, David and Mawson offered Mackay, who was suffering from snow-blindness, some sennegrass--dried Norwegian grass they used to line their boots--as substitute pipe tobacco. It was the only gift they had to offer. The sun and cold temperatures constantly wreaked havoc with the men. Mawson's right cheek and the tip of David's nose were frostbitten while the sun burned David's hands. The cold stripped skin from their lips and Mawson woke each morning with his mouth glued shut from congealed blood. As they neared the magnetic pole, David wrote, "The heavy runners of the sledge rustled gently as they crushed the crystals by the thousand".

On January 15,1909, Mawson's compass was only 15 minutes off the vertical. L to R: Mackay, David, Mawson The men depoted most of the heavy gear and set out on a forced march to the pole. Arriving a short time later, David and Mackay planted a flagpole at the spot. The three men bared their heads, hoisted the Union Jack and posed in front of the camera which David triggered with a string. David said, "I hearby take possession of this area now containing the Magnetic Pole for the British Empire" and then gave three cheers for His Majesty King Edward VII. They were awfully tired but still managed to march back to the depot (24 miles) where they slept soundly knowing that they had indeed accomplished their objective. Now they just had to find a way to stay alive. They calculated that in order to reach the Drygalski depot and signal the NIMROD on time, they would need to average nearly 17 miles a day from January 17 to February 1. On February 5, 1909, they were within one mile of the Drygalski depot.

With the NIMROD nowhere in sight, their attention was turned to the possibility of striking out for Ross Island. About this time two sudden explosions were heard in the distance. Mawson screamed, "A gun from the ship!" and scrambled out of the tent. Mackay and David followed close behind and as they emerged, Mawson was already 300 feet away. Mawson turned and shouted, "Bring something to wave!" David grabbed a rucksack and "as I ran forward this time, what a sight met my gaze. There was the dear old NIMROD, not a quarter of a mile away, steaming straight towards us up the inlet..." Mackay shouted to the ship, "Mawson has fallen down a crevasse, and we got to the Magnetic Pole!" By the afternoon the men were enjoying tea aboard the NIMROD. Later they enjoyed their first bath in over four months, followed by a wonderful dinner. As the men went to bed, David wrote, "None but those whose bed for months has been on snow and ice can realise the luxury of a real bunk, blankets and pillow, in a snug little cabin".

They had traveled 1260 miles with no dogs or ponies in the coldest place on earth. Upon completion of the trek, David felt they could have done it in half the time with a team of dogs. "We pioneered a route to the magnetic pole and we hope that the path thus found will prove of use to future observers". As for Shackleton and the South Pole crew, their journey began at 10 am, under a cloudless sky with the wind at their backs, on October 29, 1908. At lunchtime, one of the Manchurian ponies, "Grisi", kicked Adams just below the kneecap and exposed the bone. This was not a good beginning. Even the light played tricks with them. When clouds and mist blocked the sun, they could see no shadows. As a result, ledges, mounds and gullies disappeared into a dead, flat white plain. Crevasses were difficult to spot. Covered only by fragile snowcrust, they were often so deep they could not see the bottom nor hear an echo from an object they dropped into them.

On November 5 Wild, Adams, Marshall and "Grisi" were all rescued from crevasses---Marshall twice. Three days later Marshall and Wild pitched their tent right next to an unseen crevasse. The next day another pony slipped into an abyss and was fortunately saved from the brink of death. As with David and his men, Shackleton's party also experienced deep hunger. Three weeks out Shackleton complained in his diary about the size of their rations...if they were this hungry now, what will it be like "later when we are really hungry?" They shot "Chinaman", the weakest pony, on November 21, ate some of the meat and laid a depot with the rest for when they returned. Adams, unable to sleep for days from a toothache, let Marshall extract it without the use of tooth-pulling equipment. After 29 days, on November 26, they passed the previous "furthest south" record set by Robert Scott in 1902. In early December two more ponies were shot. Shackleton, with his soft heart for animals, believed he heard the last pony, "Socks", whinnying "all night for his lost companions".

They started eating pony maize. Shackleton remained optimistic, reporting on December 11 that, "Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all". Christmas was celebrated at 9500 feet with plum pudding, medical brandy, cocoa, a spoonful of créme de menthe and cigars. They still had 250 miles between themselves and the pole, with only three weeks' biscuits left. "Tomorrow we will throw away everything except the most absolute necessities", Shackleton wrote. "Everytime we reach the top of a ridge we say 'perhaps this is the last', but it never is the last", he wrote. On December 27th they reached the polar plateau at an altitude of 10,200 feet. The weather was severe as a strong headwind chilled them to the bone. On December 30 a blizzard held them to only 4 miles traveling. They were weak from a lack of food and their hands and feet were always on the verge of frostbite. By January 2, 1909, Shackleton was near the breaking point. "I cannot think of failure yet.

I must look at the matter sensibly and consider the lives of those who are with me...man can only do his best..." Two days later he wrote, "The end is in sight. We can only go for three more days at the most, for we are weakening rapidly". They fought through a blizzard on January 4, 5 and 6. On January 7, only 100 miles from the pole, a howling blizzard kept them in their sleeping bags all day. It was the same on January 8. The end of their southern journey began at 4 am on January 9. They left the sledge, tent and food at the camp and took only the Union Jack, a brass cylinder containing stamps and documents to mark their farthest south, camera, glasses and a compass. Their farthest south was reached at 9 am: 88°23'S, longitude 162°--just 97 miles from the South Pole. Farthest South: Janurary 9, 1909 They planted the flag, stayed a few minutes, and then turned round and headed for home. The strong winds which worked against them on their trip south now helped them on their return.

For two weeks they traveled quickly with the sledge rushing, under sail, down ice falls and over crevasses. One day, January 19, they made 29 miles. By the morning of January 26 they had only tea, cocoa and a little pony maize left. That day they traveled 16 miles over "the worst surfaces and most dangerous crevasses we have ever encountered". On February 13 they reached the depot with "Chinaman's" carcass, which "tasted splendid". They found the Bluff depot on February 23. When spotted, Shackleton wrote, "It seemed to be quite close and the flags were waving and dancing as though to say 'Come, here I am, come and feed. After months of want and hunger, we suddenly found ourselves able to have meals fit for the gods, and with appetites the gods might have envied". By this time Marshall was suffering badly from dysentery. On February 27 Shackleton decided to leave Marshall and Adams behind while he and Wild took off for Hut Point.

When they arrived, they found a letter telling them that the NIMROD had picked up the magnetic pole party and would shelter near the glacier tongue until February 26. It was now February 28. After a bad night, they burned the magnetic hut and shortly thereafter the NIMROD appeared. By 11 am they were on board and three hours later Shackleton led a rescue party for Marshall and Adams. At 1 am on March 4, all were safe on board the NIMROD; they had walked 1700 miles. The winter season was approaching. McMurdo Sound was already white and choked with the freezing sea. As Mackay put it, "So the end of the business is that (we are) homeward bound, bumping our way through this season's ice, which is the form of pantiles, some three or four inches thick. I have left a great many things behind that I am very sorry to lose". As the NIMROD sailed past Cape Royds, Shackleton wrote that, "we all turned out to give three cheers and to take a last look at the place where we had spent so many happy days.

The hut was not exactly a palatial residence...but, on the other hand it had been our home for a year that would always live in our memories...We watched the little hut fade away in the distance with feelings almost of sadness, and there were few men aboard who did not cherish a hope that some day they would once more live strenuous days under the shadow of mighty Erebus". Shackleton's Hut at Cape Royds CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE Sir Ernest Shackleton | Explore Royal Museums Greenwich Sir Ernest Shackleton Share Sir Ernest Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer, who made three expeditions to the continent, most famously in 1914 on the Endurance. Who was Ernest Shackleton? He was born in southern Ireland, but grew up in London. He joined the merchant navy when he was 16 and worked on many different ships. Shackleton was a romantic adventurer, who became interested in exploration and joined the Royal Geographical Society while still at sea. In 1901 he got a place on Captain Robert Falcon Scott's first Antarctic expedition. This ignited his passion for Antarctic exploration. When did Shackleton lead his first expedition to Antarctica?

In 1907, he led his own Antarctic expedition in the Nimrod. Other members of the expedition climbed Mount Erebus and reached the south magnetic pole. Shackleton himself led a party, which reached 97 miles short of the South Pole. He received a hero's welcome when he returned to England and was knighted. What was the purpose of Shackleton’s 1914 Antarctic expedition? In 1914, in command of a party on the ship Endurance, Shackleton set off to cross the Antarctic from one side to the other, from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. As both Amundsen and Scott had reached the South Pole and the Americans had reached the North Pole, he saw this as the last great challenge. What happened during this expedition? Shackleton and his men set sail in August 1914, just as war was starting in Europe. On 19 January 1915, Endurance became locked in the ice of the Weddell Sea. Over the course of the next nine months the ship was gradually crushed, finally sinking on 27 October.

It proved impossible for the 28 men to drag their boats and stores across the frozen sea, so Shackleton camped on the ice and drifted with it. When the ice began to break up, the men launched the three boats and in dangerous conditions, managed to reach Elephant Island. This rocky and barren island was still more than 800 miles from the nearest inhabited land with people who could help them. What did Shackleton decide to do? He decided to leave most of the party behind, while he and five others set out on the James Caird to reach South Georgia, the nearest inhabited island, 800 miles away. He knew that he would find help there, at the Norwegian whaling stations on the north side. After 15 exhausting days at sea, the crew of the James Caird finally sighted South Georgia. Did they find the help they needed? No, because they were on the uninhabited side of the island. To get to the whaling stations, they had to cross the unmapped island to the other side. Shackleton led, taking Tom Crean and Frank Worsley, the expert navigator on the James Caird, who also had mountaineering experience.

The journey involved a climb of nearly 3000 feet (914 metres). Apart from short breaks they marched continuously for 36 hours, covering some 40 miles over mountainous and icy terrain, until they finally reached the Stromness whaling station. What happened to the other crewmen? They were all rescued. Those on Elephant Island had to wait longer, until 30 August 1916, but were eventually picked up by Shackleton on a Chilean navy tug. All the men believed that their survival was due largely to his tremendous leadership. What happened to Shackleton? He died of a heart attack, on 5 January 1922. He was on his way to the Antarctic again, on board another ship the Quest, at Grytviken, South Georgia.

Question: Name the ship on the voyage in 1907 in which Ernest Shackleton located the magnetic South Pole?
Answer: NIMROD