Sir Ernest Shackleton

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Antarctic explorer during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Known for his strong leadership, he led 27 men to safety during his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914 as well as spearheading two other Antarctic expeditions.

Born in Kilkea, Ireland in 1874, he had a fascination with the sea from a young age. At sixteen he joined the merchant navy and within a decade he gained certification as a master mariner. In 1901, he obtained an appointment as third officer on Robert Falcon Scott’s British National Antarctic Expedition, more commonly known as the Discovery Expedition. He also, under orders from Scott, became a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy Reserve.

Shackleton was a popular officer, coming from a less formal naval background than the Royal Navy procedures Scott insisted on following. Scott and Shackleton also grew closer, and Scott chose him to accompany him on their attempt to reach the South Pole. During the attempt, they reached a new record for Furthest South, but were met with harsh conditions that eventually left Shackleton weakened. When the party returned to Discovery, Scott had Shackleton sent home on a relief ship.

Scott and Shackleton’s relationship soured soon after, and whether out of the urge to explore or to prove himself, Shackleton decided he had to go back to Antarctica. For a time he tried other jobs on land, but felt dissatisfied. He did, however, take this time ashore to marry Emily Dorman, who he had been seeing for several years. But in 1907 he finished arranging a new expedition: the Nimrod expedition.

Upon reaching Antarctica he set out with a small party to make an attempt on the Pole. He reached a new Furthest South, but was forced to turn back. Upon arriving back in England he published a book, The Heart of the Antarctic, and enjoyed a newfound popularity with the public. He did a lecture tour, and tried starting several enterprises—none of which panned out.

In late 1911, polar explorer Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. In 1912, word reached England that Scott had likely been lost on his Terra Nova Expedition. After this, Shackleton concluded there was one last great feat yet to be accomplished in Antarctica: crossing the continent from end to end. He put together two ships, a crew, and significant funding from various sources. He would take one ship, Endurance to the Weddell Sea where he and a shore party would set out to reach McMurdo Sound through the South Pole.

In early 1915, only a few weeks after arriving in the Weddell Sea, Endurance got pinned between ice floes. After months of drifting through the sea, Endurance finally sank and the crew were forced to live on the ice. Shackleton’s strong leadership and focus on morale helped keep the crew’s spirits high. They spent months on the ice until conditions were right that they could use their surviving lifeboats—the James Caird, the Dudley Docker, and the Stancomb Wills (named after the expedition’s primary financial backers)—on a five day journey to Elephant Island at the northern end of the

Elephant Island was uninhabited and inhospitable, but it was the first solid land the crew had set foot on in over a year. But the odds help would ever pass by the island was next to zero. Shackleton decided that they would take one of the boats and try to make it to South Georgia, some 800 miles to the northeast. The James Caird was chosen and upgraded to better handle the journey across the Furious Fifties, one of the most dangerous section of seas in the world.

Shackleton chose five men to go with him: Captain Frank Worsley, Tom Crean, John Vincent, Timothy McCarthy, and Harry McNish. Departing in late April of 1916, the voyage took fifteen days and the vessel almost did not survive. But they reached South Georgia—though they were on the wrong side of the island. South Georgia’s interior was unmapped and considered impassable. However, Shackleton knew he must attempt the crossing or risk the deaths of his entire crew.

Over the next two days, Shackleton, Worsley, and Crean hiked mountains, passed crevasses, and finally reached the whaling station at Grytviken. Shackleton immediately had a boat sent for the three left on the other side of the island. Then he began work on finding a rescue ship to return to Elephant Island. THe first was a whaling ship The Southern Sky, but it had to turn back due to impenetrable ice surrounding the island. Some weeks later, the Uruguayan government offered the services of the trawler Instituto de Pesca No. 1, but the ice remained impassable. A month later, the schooner Emma made another attempt and was once again turned back.

Another month later, Shackleton secured the help of the Chilean tug Yelcho. In late August, they finally reached Elephant Island. The remaining 22 crewmen were all alive. All 28 went to Chile for a time before parting ways.

By this point, World War I was in fully swing. Shackleton was too old to fight, but he spent time in South America, Norway, and Russia to raise Allied morale and convince more groups to join their side. After WWI, Shackleton quickly got involved with the Russian Civil War, advising soldiers on operating in harsh winter conditions. In 1919, Shackleton finally left military service with a rank of major.

Shackleton engaged in a lecture tour and published a book about the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition entitled South. However, he felt unsatisfied with this life and began planning another expedition. Initially intended to explore the Arctic, he eventually settled on returning to Antarctica. He purchased the ship Quest and set out on the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition. He suffered a suspected heart attack on a stop in Rio de Janeiro but declined medical examination. The ship continued south but on January 5, 1922, at 2:50 AM, Sir Ernest Shackleton passed away. His wife Emily Shackleton requested his body be buried in South Georgia, believing it was where he’d want to be.

Shackleton is remembered as a strong though untypical leader. His leadership methods focused on crew morale and camaraderie, and it is this which kept his men alive on the Nimrod and Endurance expeditions. He was survived by his wife and three children, and his family line continues to this day.