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Earnest
SHACKLETON 1874
- 1922 |
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At the
young age of 16, Shackleton joined the Mercantile Marine as a student.
His love was the sea. Shackleton joined Scott on the Discovery expedition
to Antarctica between 1901 and 1903 - this was his first expedition
in the Antarctic waters. |
On 1 January 1908, he led the British Antarctic Expedition
from Lyttleton to the Antarctic on the "Nimrod". In January
1908, they entered the Ross Ice Shelf, and used the Ross Island as
a base. Using ponies instead of dogs, they transported goods over
the ice. On 27 December 1908, they located the furthest south, and
found a new mountain range of 800 km. Without their knowledge, they
came as close as 97 miles from the South Pole. On 9 January 1909,
they were running low on food supplies, so they decided to set sail
home. |
On 8 August 1914, Shackleton left for his voyage from Plymouth on
the "Endurance". On 19 January 1915, after entering the
Weddell Sea, the ship was iced in. Shackleton and his crew stayed
onboard until 23 October 1915 - the Endurance was starting to get
crushed by moving ice. On 21 November 1915, the ship finally sank.
For almost 6 months, Shackleton and his crew had to survive and continue
their expedition across packed ice. On 9 April 1916, it was possible
for the team to sail in three small boats and reach Elephant Island
in the South Shetlands on 2 April 1916. On 24 April 1916, Shackleton
and five of his crew began their journey across the stormy waters
to South Georgia in one boat. The main reason for this voyage was
to get help from the whalers. After an exhausting journey of 500 miles,
they set foot on land on 10 May 1916. Five days later, Shackleton
and two of his crew approached the whaling station after a 17 mile
journey, leaving three tired men behind at King Haakon Bay. Ten days
after that, they reached Stromness. On 20 May 1916, a whaler saved
the three men at King Haakon Bay, and on 30 August 1916, Shackleton
saved his men on Elephant Island |
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