Ernest Shackleton | Orison Swett Marden

Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922)

Ernest Shackleton even as a child was a voracious reader, which sparked a passion for
adventure. He was schooled by a governess until the age of 11. The young Shackleton did not distinguish himself as a scholar, and was reputedly said to be "bored" by his studies. He was quoted later as saying: "I never learned much geography at school..."

Shackleton's restlessness at school led him to leave at the age of 16 and go to sea. e chose an apprenticeship "before the mast" on a sailing vessel. His father was able to secure him a berth with the North Western Shipping Company, aboard the square-rigged sailing ship Hoghton Tower.

During the following four 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, learning to be at home with all kinds of men. He was very popular and mixed well.

in 1898 he was certified as a Master Mariner, which qualified him to command a British ship anywhere in the world.

With the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899, Shackleton transferred to the troopship Tintagel Castle. And in March 1900, he met the main financial backer of the National
Antarctic Expedition, then being organised in London. Shackleton waned a place on that expedition. On 17 February 1901 his appointment as third officer to the expedition's
ship 'Discovery' was confirmed.

This first experience of the polar regions on Captain Scott’s Discovery Expedition, between1901–04, ended with him being sent home early on health grounds.

After a period of convalescence in New Zealand, Shackleton returned to England via San Francisco and New York. As the first significant person to return from the Antarctic he found that he was in demand. The Admiralty in particular wanted him.

Shackleton by this time, however, was making no secret of his ambition to return to Antarctica at the head of his own expedition.

He returned to Antarctica in 1907 as leader of the Nimrod Expedition.

In January 1909 he and three companions made a southern march which established a record Farthest South latitude at 88°23'S, 97 geographical miles (114 statute miles, 190 km) from the South Pole, by far the closest convergence on either Pole in exploration history up to that time. And for this, Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII on his return home.

The race to the South Pole ended in 1912 with Roald Amundsen's conquest. By then, Shackleton had turned his attention to what he said was the one remaining great object of Antarctic journeying—the crossing of the continent from sea to sea, via the pole.

To this end he made preparations for what became the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–17.

Despite the outbreak of the First World War on 3 August 1914, the ship 'Endurance' was directed by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, to "proceed", and left British waters on 8 August.

Shackleton delayed his own departure until 27 September, meeting the ship in Buenos Aires.

Disaster struck this expedition when the Endurance, was trapped in pack ice and slowly crushed, before the shore parties could be landed. There followed a sequence of exploits, and an ultimate escape with no lives lost, that would eventually assure Shackleton's heroic status.

Shackleton embarked on an extensive lecture tour in which he talked not only about his
own polar journeys but also those of Scott and Amundsen.

In 1921 he went back to the Antarctic with the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition, intending to carry out a programme of scientific and survey activities. Before the expedition could begin this work Shackleton died of a heart attack while his ship, Quest, was moored in South Georgia. At his wife's request he was buried there.

Away from his expeditions, Shackleton's life was generally restless and unfulfilled.
In his search for rapid pathways to wealth and security he launched many business ventures and other money-making schemes, none of which prospered. His financial affairs were generally muddled; when he died, he owed over £40,000 (more than $2.5 million in today's value).

On his death he was lauded in the press, but was thereafter largely forgotten, while the heroic reputation of his rival Scott was sustained for many decades. At the end of the 20th century Shackleton was "rediscovered", and rapidly became a cult figure, a role model for leadership as one who, in extreme circumstances, kept his team together to accomplish a survival story which polar historian Stephanie Barczewski describes as "incredible".

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