[Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922)] , [Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922)]

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ANTARCTICA (Lots 29 - 250) 'I have often been asked, what can one see in the cold, inhospitable regions of the Antarctic? And, confronted by a bold question such as that, it is hard to find an answer. The mere fact that one can not answer in a terse sentence, and that one feels what Keats called "The dearth of human words, the roughness of mortal speech", shows that there must be an intangible something that draws one back to the wild wastes of the Antarctic. And it is there, if those of us that knew it could only set it down in so many words. Ever since we were last there we have thought and dreamed of the wild stretches of snow and ice, the silence of those places where men never trod before, the wonder of the unknown as it rolled into our ken. Those are the memories that remain, and not the bitter cold, the hard work, the rough and often scanty food, and the constant effort to do just a little more than one should expect.' from 'Go I must' -- The Call of the Antarctic by Sir Ernest Shackleton, The Daily Mail, 31 December 1913 THE SHACKLETON COLLECTION (Lots 29 - 128) 'SHACKLETONIANA' R.K. Headland, Curator, Scott Polar Research Institute Ernest Henry Shackleton, born in Kilkea House, County Kildare in Ireland, on 15 February 1874, was the son of a physician. His ancestry was mixed, from Ireland and northern England; both sides had significant colonial traditions. This may account for the mingling of caution, perseverance, reckless courage, and strong idealism which were his leading characteristics. After education in Ireland he was sent to Dulwich College in London and thence to sea in the mercantile marine aboard the sailing vessel Hoghton Tower. Desire for adventure, not unmixed with hope of fame, led him to apply successfully for a post with the British National Antarctic Expedition led by Captain Robert Scott aboard Discovery, a vessel specially built for the purpose. He distinguished himself during the first part of the expedition and was a member of the exploratory party which reached a farthest south position of 82.17°S on 30 December 1902. Incipient scurvy, however, led to his return after one Antarctic winter. He was awarded the 'Polar Medal' in silver with a bar for Antarctic service 1902-04. His later expeditions resulted in two more bars (for 1907-09 and 1914-16). The Discovery expedition gave him a passion for Antarctica. After a period as Secretary of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and an attempt at entering politics, he announced plans for leading an Antarctic expedition. In August he sailed aboard a converted whaler Nimrod for the Ross Sea where, after attempts to find a site elsewhere, he deployed a winter hut on Ross Island. This expedition was productive in much exploration and research: the position of the South Magnetic Pole was reached, the live volcano of Mount Erebus climbed, and numerous scientific programmes undertaken. Shackleton led a journey intending to reach the South Pole. The party of four men discovered and climbed the Beardmore Glacier and set out across the polar plateau. A farthest south was reached on 9 January 1909 at 88.23°S (only 180km from the South Pole). Here Shackleton determined that the South Pole could be reached but that food and fuel were insufficient to enable the party to return; thus he retreated. His calculations were proven correct; the party barely managed to survive the journey. On his return to Britain he was knighted and received several other awards. Captain Scott continued this route, which he started and Shackleton extended, to reach the South Pole on 17 January 1912. Scott and the rest of the pole party perished during the return journey. Shackleton then began to plan an even more ambitious expedition; the crossing of Antarctica. This was to involve two parties aboard two vessels: Endurance in the Weddell Sea which he led, and Aurora in the Ross Sea led by Aeneas Mackintosh. The expedition left London in August 1914. Both vessels got into severe difficulties in 1915, a year with exceptionally severe pack-ice around Antarctica. Endurance reached South Georgia, which Shackleton referred to as the 'Gateway to the Antarctic', thence continued into the Weddell Sea where she became beset and was ultimately crushed by the ice. Her complement eventually reached the isolated and inhospitable Elephant Island whence Shackleton began to organise an amazing rescue. James Caird, an 8.3m long modified whale-boat, was used to reach South Georgia almost 1500km across the tempestuous Southern Ocean. A trek across the glaciated central range was then made before Shackleton made contact with the outside world. The first of five rescue attempts was organised from the island. It was unable to penetrate the pack-ice so Shackleton sailed to the Falkland Islands to make another attempt, and then to Punta Arenas from where the rescue was successful. All the men returned alive. The Aurora party was less successful, their vessel was blown out during a blizzard, caught drifting in the pack-ice, eventually reaching New Zealand in poor condition. The stranded land party, with minimal supplies, laid depots for the expected, but nonexistent, crossing party. Three of them died and the survivors were not rescued until 1917. It was not until 1958 that a traverse over Antarctica, such as planned by Shackleton, was successful. Shackleton was involved in various Arctic operations during the First World War, particularly in Murmansk. This, with his polar interests and the need for a survey of part of the Canadian Arctic, led to him making arrangements for a northern expedition aboard Quest, a Norwegian sailing vessel. At a late stage there was a change of government in Canada which led to the cancellation of the Arctic survey. This left Shackleton with an almost complete polar expedition and nowhere to go. The situation was rescued by a private contributor, thus the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition departed from London for the Antarctic in September 1921. The objects were various, including investigation of several peri-Antarctic islands. Quest made a slow journey south owing to problems with her engines, South Georgia was reached on 4 January 1922. Early in the morning of 5 January Shackleton died of a heart attack. The second in command, Frank Wild, decided that Shackleton's order in these circumstances would have been to proceed; thus, in as far as practicable, the expedition continued its scientific programme. Shackleton's body was conveyed to Montevideo from where cable networks transmitted the news to the rest of the world. His widow was of the opinion that it was most appropriate that he be buried in the Antarctic, the scene of his greatest achievements and aspirations. Accordingly his body was returned to South Georgia, with full military honours, to be interred in the whalers' and sealers' cemetery at King Edward Cove. In 1928 a granite monument was erected over it which bore the words I hold that a man should strive to his uttermost for his life's set prize. On Shackleton's death his papers, journals, books, photographs, artefacts, and other possessions from his Antarctic expeditions in particular and life in general, were inherited by his widow, Emily Mary Shackleton, who died in 1936. The memorabilia then passed to Shackleton's three children the second of whom, Miss Cecily Shackleton, took charge of some of them until her death in 1957. Subsequently these 'Shackletoniana' passed to Mrs Rena Dodds, distant cousin as well as a friend and companion of Cecily. Mrs Dodds died in 1999 and the 'Shackletoniana' went into the custody of her executors. Thus, after the memorabilia from Sir Ernest Shackleton came to be held by these three children (the last of whom died in 1994), they devolved to a daughter-in-law, a grandson, a granddaughter, and the estate of a companion of a daughter. During the years after Shackleton's death many items were given to the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge. He considered this a most appropriate repository for, on 20 December 1920 when the Institute was being organised, he spoke in its support at a meeting in the Royal Geographical Society... I fully uphold the starting of a Polar Institute. ...Anything that I can give to the Institute in the way of records, equipments, or experiments I shall be very glad to hand over... (Geographical Journal. 57; 202). There have been three major biographies of Shackleton (Mill, 1923; Fisher, 1958; and Huntford, 1985) as well as many works about his four expeditions to the Antarctic. Marjery and James Fisher, who wrote the second biography, were granted access to the 'Shackletoniana' held by Miss Cecily Shackleton. Although typescripts were made of much of this, it became unavailable to scholars after their biography was published. The 'Shackletoniana', which came to belong to Mrs Rena Dodds, formed part of the property of her estate. In sympathy with Shackleton's statement in 1920 that these materials should eventually be given to the Scott Polar Research Institute, Mrs Dodds' executors and beneficiaries, in consultation with members of Shackleton's family, have developed a plan whereby the diaries, with other major items, should be passed to the Institute for safe-keeping, preservation, and where they will become available to scholars. The Institute already has copies of some of the items (Aurora Australis, the first book published in Antarctica, is one example). These, with other selected items, are to be sold for Mrs Dodds' estate. Some of the 'Shackletoniana' has recently been shown in special exhibitions arranged at the Scott Polar Research Institute and Dulwich College. The documents, photographs, and related materials which are to reach the Scott Polar Research Institute will make a vast contribution to improving the knowledge of Sir Ernest Shackleton; not only his Antarctic activities but character and life in general are well covered. The consideration shown to the Institute is profound, and generosity to scholars and others in making these items accessible is greatly appreciated. It is most gratifying to report that Shackleton's fundamental wishes as to what should be their destiny have come to pass. Sir Ernest Shackleton's major place in the history of Antarctic exploration is assured not only by these records but also by the memorial on South Georgia, his statue in London (outside the Royal Geographical Society), the new British Antarctic Survey ship Ernest Shackleton, the new 'Shackleton Memorial Library' in the Scott Polar Research Institute, many Antarctic place-names, the preserved James Caird and active James Caird Society, plaques, and a vast amount of maps and literature which perpetuate his memory.

[Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922)]

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[Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922)]
A Shackleton portrait gallery: a folio of forty-three photographs of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton spanning his career from early school days to the Quest expedition, including early school and studio portraits (at Fir Lodge Preparatory School, c.1885, carte-de-visite portraits in the uniform of the White Star Line, aged 16, as Third Officer of Carisbrooke Castle, 1901, in the uniform of the RNR, and wearing his Polar medal, 1904, a studio portrait in evening coat by Moffat, Edinburgh (c.1905) and a large studio portrait by Speaight, London dedicated 'To Edward/from/Father/July 1914', 11¼ x 8in. (28.6 x 20.3cm.) and smaller

PROVENANCE:
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922), and thence by descent.
43 (43)

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