Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
1874-1922

The Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-1917
The Endurance Expedition
The Transcontinental Party
Shackleton-Rowett Expedition 1921-22
The Voyage of the 'Quest'

'Never for me the lowered banner, never the last endeavour'

Ernest Henry Shackleton was born at Kilkea House, County Kildare, on February 15, 1874. Ernest's birth happened to coincide with the disastrous potato crop failure, so much a part of Irish history. In 1884, the Shackleton's crossed the water and settled in England. It was in 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. Ernest's father, Dr. Henry 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 none 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'.

In the summer of 1897, Shackleton met and became attracted to one of his sisters' friends, Emily Dorman. In London, on April 9, 1904 Ernest Shackleton and Emily Dorman were married at Christchurch, Westminster. On February 2, 1905, Emily gave birth to their first child, a boy.

Earlier, 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. 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'.

On February 11, 1907 Shackleton was in London at the RGS. He was planning on spending the next winter in Antarctica which became known as the 'Nimrod Expedition' of 1907-09. Their farthest south was reached at 9am: 88°23'S, longitude 162° - just 97 miles from the South Pole. Edgeworth David led the Northern Party on a 1,260-mile journey towards the South Magnetic Pole, with Dr. A.F. Mackay (Surgeon) and Douglas Mawson as teammates. They reached it on January 15, 1909.

On January 13, 1914, Shackleton announced preparations for the 'Trans-Antarctic Expedition' sailing on the 'Endurance'. The course was the coastline of South Georgia and then south of South Thule, Sandwich Group.
By the 19th January, 1915 the 'Endurance' was solidly frozen in. Their position was 76°34'S, longitude, 31°30'W. A sounding was taken which found them in 312 fathoms, finding mud, sand and pebbles.
By the 31st, the ship had drifted eight miles to the west. On the February 22nd the 'Endurance' reached the farthest south point of her drift, touching the 77th parallel of latitude in longitude 35°W. The summer was gone. Temperatures fell to -10°F at 2 a.m. on February 22.
Sunday, October 23rd, marked the beginning of the end. Their position was 69°11'S, longitude 51°5'W. At 6:45 p.m. the ship sustained heavy pressure in a dangerous position. Shackleton ordered the boats, gear, provisions and sledges lowered to the floe. The 'Endurance' had been locked in the ice for 281 days.
On November 21, 1915, the 'Endurance' raised its stern and slipped beneath the ice, coming to rest at the bottom of the Weddell Sea.
On April 9th the ice disintegrated to the point where they were forced into the boats - the 'Dudley Docker'; 'James Caird' and the 'Stancomb Wills'. On April 12, Shackleton discovered that instead of making good progress to the west, they had actually drifted 30 miles to the east. Elephant Island, in the South Shetlands, appeared to them in the north-northwest. For the next week, Shackleton planned his dangerous voyage to South Georgia, 800 miles distant. As the question remained concerning their rescue, the whaling station on South Georgia seemed the only answer.
On Easter Monday, April 24, the 'James Caird' was ready for the voyage. Shackleton, along with Worsley, Crean, McNeish, McCarthy and Vincent, began a voyage of a lifetime, leaving behind Frank Wild and 21 other men, on what was to become known as 'Point Wild'.
On May 6, Worsley determined that they were not more than a hundred miles from the northwest corner of South Georgia, two more days of favorable wind would put the island within sight. On the morning of May 8, McCarthy caught a glimpse of the black cliffs of South Georgia, just fourteen days after departing Elephant Island. Unfortunately, the men were 17 miles from the Stromness whaling station: a journey over South Georgia's mountains and glaciers awaited them, an effort no one had ever accomplished.
On May 15, Shackleton, Crean and Worsley set out on their adventure.They reached the Whaling Station to be greeted in amazement by a Mr Sorlie, the Manager. The Boss simply said to him, 'My name is Shackleton'. The next day they picked up the other three men and Shackleton, Worsley and Crean left on the Norwegian whaler 'Southern Sky' for Elephant Island. The Chilean Government now loaned the steamer 'Yelcho' under the command of Captain Luis Pardo, to Shackleton. As the steamer approached Elephant Island, the men on the island were approaching lunchtime. It was August 30 when the 'Yelcho' was spotted. The boat soon approached close enough for Shackleton, who was standing on the bow, to shout to Wild, 'Are you all well?'. Wild replied, 'All safe, all well!' and the Boss replied, 'Thank God!'
Within an hour they were headed north to the world from which no news had been heard since October, 1914; they had survived on Elephant Island for 105 lonely days

.

The crew of the 'Endurance':
Frank Wild; Frank A. Worsley; Frank Hurley; Thomas Crean; Henry McNish; Thomas Orde-Lees; H. Hudson; L. Greenstreet; William Bakewell; Perce Blackborow, T. Green; A. Cheetham; Reginald James; George E. Martsen; L. Rickenson; A. Kerr; J.A. McIlroy; A.H. Macklin; R.S. Clark; L.D.A. Hussey; J.M. Wordie; Timothy McCarthy; Walter How; Thomas McLeod; James Vincent; H. Stephenson; A. Holness.
and Mrs. Chippy; Samson; Solder; Mooch; Split Lip; Sue; Owd Bob; Roger; Nelson; Amundsen; Sally; Nell and The Ikeys...

On September 17, 1921, from St. Katharine's Dock, under Tower Bridge, Shackleton sailed on the 'Quest', for the 'Shackleton-Rowett Expedition' of 1921-22. It was late December and they were being tossed about in the South Atlantic on their way to South Georgia. On board 'Quest', Shackleton was constantly ill. Finally, on January 4, 1922, the 'Quest' came within view of South Georgia. The 'Quest' anchored outside the whaling station of Grytviken; it had been eight years since Shackleton had sailed up the same fjord in 'Endurance' on his way to the Weddell Sea. In the early hours of January 5, 1922, Shackleton was dead.

Shackleton's body was to be sent back to England for burial. With it went Hussey, who had no heart for the expedition now that his leader was dead. When Emily heard what had happened, she decided that her husband should be buried on South Georgia. So from Montevideo, Hussey turned around and brought the body back to South Georgia. There, on March 5, he was laid to rest in the Norwegian cemetery, along with the whalers amongst whom he had felt at home.

Shackleton's grave at Grytviken, South Georgia

Bob Burton - Historian
'Ho-hum, another day at the office!'

Robert 'Bob' Burton is a natural history writer who has been involved with South Georgia for many years. He visited the island for the first time in 1964 and returned in 1971 to study albatrosses and fur seals. From 1995 to 1998, he was director of the museum at Grytviken in South Georgia and started to collect information on the island’s history. This included researching the time that Shacketon spent on South Georgia. Bob now visits annually as a lecturer on cruise ships.

Contact Me!

(if you send me an email from the above link please remove the NOSPAM from the address)

Copyright(c) 2006 Canny Do IT Limited. All rights reserved.