Ernest Shackleton - Antarctic Explorer

Early life and education

Ernest Henry Shackleton was born on 15 February 1874 in County Kildare, Ireland. The family moved to Sydenham, London where Shackleton was educated at Dulwich College. Seemingly "bored" as a scholar, he was allowed to leave school at 16 and join the merchant navy. During the following years at sea, Shackleton learned his trade, visiting the far corners of the earth and forming acquaintances with a variety of people from many walks of life. In August 1894, he passed his examination for second mate and accepted a post as third officer on a tramp steamer of the Welsh Shire Line. Two years later, he had obtained his first mate's ticket, and in 1898, he was certified as a master mariner, qualifying him to command a British ship anywhere in the world.

Early life and education

AKG6428485 Portrait of E. H. Shackleton', c1905, (1909). Artist: George Charles Beresford.

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Discovery expedition 1901 - 1904

Expedition with Scott

In 1901, Shackleton was chosen to join the Antarctic expedition led by British naval officer Robert Falcon Scott on the ship Discovery. Shackleton and Scott, along with another crew member Edward Wilson, set off from their base in November 1902 to journey towards the South Pole. Despite extremely difficult conditions - losing all 22 of their dogs, and the three men battling frostbite, snow-blindness and, eventually scurvy, the party reached a record Farthest South latitude of 82° 17', getting closer to the Pole than anyone had come before. Shackleton became seriously ill on the return journey to the ship and had to return home to England, but had gained valuable experience.

AKG5797106 Ernest Henry Shackleton

©akg-images / De Agostini / Biblioteca Ambrosiana

Nimrod Expedition 1907 - 1909

AKG6428571 Marshall Outside a Tent, at the Camp', c1908.

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Second expedition - Nimrod

On 1 January 1908, the Nimrod set off from Lyttelton Harbour, New Zealand. Shackleton had planned to use the old Discovery base in McMurdo Sound to launch his attempts on the South Pole and South Magnetic Pole, but before leaving, he had been pressured to assure Capt Scott that he would not base himself in the McMurdo area, which Scott was claiming as his own field of work. Despite Shackleton's efforts to establish a base at Barrier Inlet and King Edward VII Land, unstable ice and unsuitable conditions forced him break his agreement with Scott, which would lead to a souring of relations between the two men, and Nimrod headed for McMurdo Sound, stopping 16 km short of the Discovery's old base due to ice.

Shackleton and three companions - Frank Wild, Eric Marshall and Jameson Adams set off on 29 October 1908 in an attempt to reach the South Pole. On 9 January 1909, they reached a new Farthest South latitude of 88° 23' S, missing their destination by only 180 km. Their return journey to McMurdo Sound was a race against starvation. At one point, Shackleton gave his one biscuit rationed for the day to the ailing Frank Wild, who wrote in his diary: "All the money that was ever minted would not have bought that biscuit and the remembrance of that sacrifice will never leave me". They arrived back at their base just in time to catch the ship.

The expedition's other main accomplishments included the first ascent of Mount Erebus, and the discovery of the approximate location of the South Magnetic Pole by Douglas Mawson, Edgeworth David and Alistair Mackay. Shackleton returned to the United Kingdom as a hero and received many honours for his efforts, including a knighthood.

AKG6428498 The Nimrod Pushing Her Way Through More Open Pack', c1908,

©Heritage Images / The Print Collector / akg-images

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914 - 1917

In 1914, Shackleton made his third trip to the Antarctic with the ship Endurance, planning a sea-to-sea crossing of Antarctica via the South Pole. In January, 1915, disaster stuck when Endurance became trapped in an ice floe, and realising that she would be stuck until the following spring, Shackleton ordered her conversion to a winter station. Over the next ten months the moving ice would slowly crush her until Endurance disintegrated and sank in November. For almost two months Shackleton and his party camped on a large, flat floe, hoping that it would drift towards Paulet Island, approximately 402 km away, where it was known that provisions were available. After failed attempts to march across the ice to this island, Shackleton decided to set up another more permanent camp on another floe in the hope they would drift towards a safe landing. By 17 March their ice camp was within 97 km of Paulet Island. However, separated by impassable ice, they were unable to reach it. On 9 April, their ice floe broke into two and Shackleton ordered the crew into the lifeboats and to head for the nearest land.

After five harrowing days at sea the exhausted men landed their three lifeboats at Elephant Island, 557 km from where Endurance sank. This was the first time they had stood on solid ground for 497 days. Taking five crew members, Shackleton went to find help, refusing to pack supplies for more than four weeks, knowing that if they did not reach South Georgia within that time the boat and its crew would be lost. In a small boat, the six men spent 16 days crossing 1,300 km of ocean to reach South Georgia and then trekked across the island to a whaling station. The remaining men from the Endurance were rescued in August 1916. Not one member of the expedition died.

AKG5465528 Shackleton's Endurance Trapped in Pack Ice, 1915

©akg-images / Science Source

Third expedition - Endurance

AKG8441492 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition Castaways, 1915

©akg-images / Science Source

Shackleton-Rowett expedition 1921

In 1920, Shackleton began to consider the possibility of a last expedition. With funds supplied by former schoolfriend John Quiller Rowett, he acquired a 125-ton Norwegian sealer, named Foca I, which he renamed Quest. The destination was, again, the Antarctic, and the project was defined somewhat vaguely by Shackleton as an "oceanographic and sub-antarctic expedition"

Rowett agreed to finance the entire expedition, which became known as the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition, leaving England on 24 September 1921.

When the party arrived in Rio de Janeiro, en route to South Georgia, Shackleton suffered a suspected heart attack. He refused a proper medical examination, so Quest continued south.

On 4 January 1922, Quest arrived at South Georgia. In the early hours of the next morning, Shackleton summoned the expedition's physician to his cabin, complaining of back pains and other discomfort. Minutes later, he suffered a fatal heart attack.

Leonard Hussey, a veteran of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition, offered to accompany the body back to England but, en route, a message was received from Emily Shackleton asking that her husband be buried in South Georgia. Hussey turned back and on 5 March 1922, Shackleton was buried in the Grytviken cemetery, South Georgia.

Upon his death, Shackleton was lauded in the press but then largely forgotten, while the heroic reputation of his rival Scott endured for many decades. Later in the 20th century, Shackleton was "rediscovered" and became a role model for leadership in extreme circumstances.

Fourth and final expedition

AKG4598768 Grave of British Antarctic explorer Ernest Henry Shackleton at Grytviken, South Georgia, 1930s.

©akg-images/ mauritius images / Mauritius