Who was Ernest Shackleton?
Antarctic Explorer.
Date and Place of Birth:
15th February 1874, Kilkea House, Kilkea, near
Athy, County Kildare, Ireland.
Family Background:
Tenth child and second son of Henry, a doctor
and Henrietta Shackleton. Originally from Yorkshire Henry moved
to Dublin to become a farmer after being declared not fit enough
to join the Army.
Education:
Fir Lodge Preparatory School in West Hill, Dulwich.Dulwich
College and then apprenticed in the Merchant Navy.
Chronology/Biography of Sir Ernest Shackleton:
1885: The family
move back to England and live at 12 West Hill in Sydenham, Kent.
1890: Ernest leaves
Dulwich College and becomes a "ship's boy" with the North
Western Shipping Company on the sailing ship "Hoghton Tower"
despite his father urging him to become a doctor.
1894: He passed his
examination for Second Mate and took up a post as a third officer
on a steamer owned by the Welsh Shire Line.
1898: Qualifies as
a Master Mariner aged 16 and joined the Union Castle Line which
ran between Southampton and Cape Town.
1899: During the
Boer War Shackleton transferred to the troopship "Tintagel
Castle".
1900: He met Cedric
Longstaff whose father Llewellyn was the main financial backer of
the National Antarctic Expedition, then being organised in London
and he used his influence to seek an introduction.
1901: Shackleton
joins the National Antarctic Expedition led by Robert
Falcon Scott as Third Officer and departs for the Antarctic
from London in August on the ship "Discovery." This expedition
was organised by Sir Clements Markham, president of the Royal Geographical
Society and friend of Longstaff.
1902: Shackleton
takes part in an experimental balloon flight and edited the expedition's
magazine "The South Polar Times". Scott and Edward WIlson
reach the furthest South then attained and Shackleton returns to
England on the ship "Morning" as he had become ill.
1904: Shackleton
is appointed as the Secretary and Treasurer to the Royal Scottish
Geographical Society after earning money as a journalist. He had
earlier been turned down in his attempts to join the Royal Navy.
1906: Stood for Parliament
in Dundee as a Liberal Unionist but was not elected.
1907: He is now leading
the British Antarctic Expedition and sets off from Torquay for his
second trip aboard the ship "Nimrod". His brother Frank
was implicated but later proven not guilty in the theft of the Irish
Crown Jewels.
1908: Arrives at
the Antarctic and sets off across the snow with team mates, Marshall,
Wild and Adams.
1909: By January
the team has reached the furthest South yet at 97 miles away from
the Pole. He climbs his team climbed Mount Erebus and performs many
scientific experiments. He is Knighted on his return to England
in December at Buckingham Palace.
1911: Roald Amundsen
reaches the South Pole before Robert Falcon
Scott.
1914: Shackleton
sets off from Plymouth in August on his third Antarctic trip aboard
the ship "Endurance". He leads the Imperial Trans-antartcic
Expedition. BY December the ship arrives at South Georgia. After
again sailing south they come up against pack ice.
1915: On January
19th "Endurance" gets trapped in the ice but gets freed.
In February "Endurance" reaches Luitpold Island. In October
The "Endurance" now stuck in Ice again and severely damaged
is abandoned on October 22nd and the crew make a camp on the ice
nicknamed "Ocean Camp". The 27 man crew dump all of their
personal possessions except a banjo and Frank Hurley's scientific
photographs. On November 21st the "Endurance" sinks. Hurley
keeps 120 glass negatives and breaks the rest so he is not tempted
to risk his life going back for them later.
1916: Another camp,
called Patience Camp is set up on the ice after a failed attempt
to escape. On 9th April three ships boats are launched to try and
reach Elephant Island and reach there six days later. After two
more days the team move on to Cape WIld. On April 24th one of the
boats, The "James Caird" sets off with SIr Ernest and
five other crewmen aboard to reach South Georgia where they arrive
five days later. After crossing South Georgia on foot Shackleton
and two others reach Stromness on the North Coast. His attempts
to reach Elephant Island on the ship "Southern Sky", the
"Instituto Pesca No. 1" and the "Emma" all have
to turn back due to pack ice. In August he sets off aboard the ship
"Yelcho" and rescues the twenty two men who remain abandoned
on Elephant Island. In September the "Yelcho" arrives
in Chile and he then goes on to New Zealand. Here he boards the
"Aurora and sails to the assistance of the Ross Sea Party.Not
one member of the Endurance Crew died.
1917: He reaches
Cape Royds and collects the Ross Sea Party. Returns to England.
In October he was sent to Buenos Aires to spread British propaganda
in South America. He tried, unsuccessfully, bring Argentina and
Chile into the war on the side of the Allies.
1918: Shackleton
returns to England. Appointed to a military operation to Murmansk
in Russia.
1919: Returns to
England. Publishes an account of the Endurance Expedition and returned
to lecturing on his experiences. Awarded an OBE fore his war work
in Russia.
1921: In September
he leads his fourth Antarctic mission called the Shackleton-Rowett
Expedition and leaves St Katharine's Dock in London aboard the ship
"Quest".
1922: (January 4th)
He arrives at Grytviken on South Georgia but is very ill and dies
the next day in his cabin.
Marriage:
9th April 1904 to Emily Dorman at Christ Church,
Westminster, London.
Date and Place of Death:
5th January 1922, Grytviken, South Georgia Island,
South Atlantic, of a heart attack in his cabin aboard the ship "Quest".
Age at Death:
48.
Site of Grave:
Whalers Cemetery, South Georgia, South Atlantic.
Places of Interest:
LONDON:
St Katherine's Dock near Tower Bridge.
Dulwich College
Statue outside the headquarters of the Royal Geographical
Society
