Wednesday 5 January 2011

On this day - January 5 1922: Ernest Shackleton died

On January 5 1922, Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer and legendary survivor, died on the island of South Georgia. He was leading the Shackleton-Rowett expedition, his fourth, which aimed to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent. Setting sail from London in Quest on September 21 1921, the ship arrived in South Georgia on January 4 1922. However, Shackleton suffered a heart attack, possibly due to the immense physical strain of previous expeditions and the stress of raising finance for them. He died the next day at Grytviken, where he was eventually buried in the whalers' graveyard overlooking the bay.

George Marston, the official artist on Shackleton's Nimrod and Endurance expeditions, wrote the following piece for the Manchester Guardian.

(click to enlarge)
More expedition pictures can be seen here. Thanks to DeadExplorers.

1 comment:

  1. I was in Liverpool in December and there was a Shackleton exhibition at the Maritime Museum. It was humbling to look at the photos and appreciate how hard these explorers were, undertaking a long voyage to find Elephant Island.

    Also the voyage to South Georgia combined with crossing the mountains to the whaling station. I imagine few others would be capable of crossing a range of previously unexplored mountains and surviving, even if they hadn't just made two long voyages in Arctic seas in something little bigger than a rowing boat.

    Ian.

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