60 Fun Facts About Ernest Shackleton

How many British expeditions to the Antarctic did Shackleton lead?

Nimrod, the Imperial Trans-Antarctic and the Shackleton-Rowett; he also sailed under Scott on the Discovery.

In which Irish county was Shackleton born in 1874?

The family moved to Sydenham in south London when he was ten; he called himself 'an Irishman' all his life.

Shackleton's brother Frank was a suspect, later exonerated, in which famous 1907 crime?

The jewels have never been recovered.

Which south London school did Shackleton attend from the age of thirteen?

He was said to be 'bored' by his studies but still finished fifth of thirty-one in his final term.

On which square-rigged ship did the 16-year-old Shackleton begin his apprenticeship?

A Royal Navy cadetship was too expensive and he was over the age limit anyway.

How did Shackleton get his place on Scott's Discovery expedition?

He met Cedric Longstaff on the troopship Tintagel Castle and talked his way to an interview with Longstaff senior.

Which of these was among Shackleton's listed duties on the Discovery expedition?

He was also ward-room caterer, in charge of stores, and 'arranges the entertainments'; he edited the South Polar Times.

What Farthest South record did Scott, Wilson and Shackleton set on the 1902 southern journey?

All 22 dogs died and Shackleton 'broke down' with scurvy on the way back.

On which relief ship did Scott send Shackleton home early from the Discovery expedition in 1903?

Officially on health grounds; some think Scott resented his popularity with the crew.

Which post did Shackleton take up in January 1904 after leaving the Antarctic?

He had tried journalism first and found it unsatisfying; three months later he married Emily Dorman.

For which constituency did Shackleton stand unsuccessfully as a Liberal Unionist in 1906?

He stood in opposition to Irish Home Rule.

Which Clydeside industrialist backed the Nimrod expedition, and had a glacier named after him?

The Beardmore Glacier was the party's route up to the polar plateau.

What promise to Scott was Shackleton forced to break on the Nimrod expedition?

The bay he had promised to use proved unsafe and no anchorage could be found further east.

What did the Nimrod party name the cetacean-filled bay they found in the Great Ice Barrier in January 1908?

Amundsen would later use it as his base for the Pole.

How close to the South Pole did Shackleton's party get on 9 January 1909?

The latitude was 88°23′S, the biggest single advance towards the Pole in exploration history.

Which ailing companion got Shackleton's one daily biscuit on the return from Farthest South?

Wild wrote that 'all the money that was ever minted would not have bought that biscuit'; a biscuit sold at Christie's for £1,250 in 2011.

Which Antarctic volcano did members of the Nimrod expedition make the first ascent of?

Edgeworth David, Douglas Mawson and Alistair Mackay also reached the area of the South Magnetic Pole.

What did Shackleton say to his wife about turning back short of the Pole?

She replied 'Yes darling, as far as I am concerned', and they left it at that.

What was found at the Nimrod hut in 2010, a century after being left behind?

A distiller revived the vintage formula and sold it, with proceeds to the Antarctic Heritage Trust.

Which monarch knighted Shackleton in 1909?

He also received the RGS gold medal, but the expedition left him deeply in debt until a £20,000 government grant.

To which official proceedings did Shackleton give evidence in 1912?

He was regarded as an authority on ice and maritime risk.

What was the goal of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914?

Amundsen had reached the Pole in 1911, so the crossing was 'the one great main object' left.

What is the status of the 'Men wanted for hazardous journey' advert credited to Shackleton?

He received more than 5,000 applications regardless.

What was the name of the second ship of the 1914 expedition, sent to lay depots from the Ross Sea side?

Under Aeneas Mackintosh, the Ross Sea party laid its depots but lost three men, including Mackintosh.

What unusual question did Shackleton put to the physicist Reginald James at interview?

He believed character mattered as much as skill and accepted some men on sight.

Which First Lord of the Admiralty told the Endurance to 'proceed' despite the outbreak of war in 1914?

Shackleton had offered the ship and men to the war effort.

Who captained the Endurance and later navigated the James Caird to South Georgia?

His navigation with a sextant in a tiny boat is regarded as one of the great feats of seamanship.

How did the 19-year-old Perce Blackborow come to be on the Endurance?

Discovered too late to turn back, he was put to work in the galley.

What was the name of the ship's cat on the Endurance?

He was actually male and belonged to the carpenter McNish; he was shot when the ship sank.

On what date did the Endurance become frozen fast in the Weddell Sea ice?

She drifted with the ice for months before the pressure crushed her in the spring.

On what date did the wreck of the Endurance finally sink?

Water had begun pouring in on 24 October and Shackleton had ordered 'She's going down!'

What was the name of the ice encampment where the crew waited for the floe to drift them towards land?

By 17 March they were within 60 miles of Paulet Island but impassable ice kept them from its stores.

How many days had the men gone without setting foot on solid ground when they landed on Elephant Island?

Shackleton gave his mittens to the photographer on the boat journey and got frostbitten fingers.

After whom was the lifeboat James Caird named?

Sir James Caird gave £24,000; the boat was 20 feet long.

How long, in nautical miles, was the open-boat journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia?

It took fifteen days; McNish had raised the sides and sealed the deck with oil paint and seal blood.

How many men made the James Caird voyage with Shackleton?

Worsley, Crean, Vincent, McCarthy and the carpenter McNish, who had earlier clashed with him.

How much food did Shackleton pack for the James Caird journey?

If they missed South Georgia in that time, the boat would be lost anyway.

How did the men adapt their boots for the crossing of South Georgia's mountains?

Their other equipment was a carpenter's adze and 50 feet of rope.

Which South Georgia whaling station did Shackleton, Worsley and Crean reach on 20 May 1916?

They had covered 32 miles of mountains that no one had crossed by that route before.

Which country's navy provided the tug Yelcho that finally rescued the men on Elephant Island?

Captain Luis Pardo reached them on 30 August 1916 after three failed attempts; all 22 were saved.

How many men had been left on Elephant Island, and how many were rescued?

They had been isolated for four and a half months under his second-in-command.

On which wartime mission was Shackleton sent to Buenos Aires in October 1917?

He failed to bring Argentina or Chile into the war and was drinking heavily.

In which conflict did Shackleton serve as a temporary major advising on arctic equipment in 1918–19?

He served under General Ironside in North Russia and was appointed OBE.

What was the title of Shackleton's 1919 book about the Endurance expedition?

The Heart of the Antarctic covered Nimrod; Cherry-Garrard wrote The Worst Journey.

What was the name of Shackleton's last ship, a converted Norwegian sealer?

Financed by his old schoolfriend John Quiller Rowett; her wreck was found off Newfoundland in 2024.

When Shackleton asked his doctor what he ought to give up, hours before he died, what was the reply?

He suffered a fatal heart attack at 2:50 a.m. on 5 January 1922, aboard Quest at South Georgia.

Where is Shackleton buried?

His body was on its way home when his wife asked that he be buried on the island; his right-hand man's ashes joined him in 2011.

How much was Shackleton's estate worth when he died heavily in debt?

His debts ran to some £40,000; a memorial fund helped educate his children.

Complete Raymond Priestley's remark: 'Scott for scientific method, Amundsen for speed... but when disaster strikes...'?

He was paraphrasing Cherry-Garrard's preface to The Worst Journey in the World.

Where did Shackleton rank in the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons?

Scott came 54th, a reversal of their standing for most of the 20th century.

Which 1959 book by Alfred Lansing began the modern revival of the explorer's reputation?

Roland Huntford's 1979 Scott and Amundsen did the reverse for Scott.

Which actor took the title role in the Emmy-winning 2002 Channel 4 serial about the Endurance expedition?

David Schofield had played him in the BBC's 1983 miniseries.

Which expedition photographer's images of the Endurance made him independently famous?

His silent film In the Grip of the Polar Pack Ice was released in 1919.

When Shackleton was six, his father gave up life as a landowner to study medicine at which university?

Four years later the family moved to Sydenham in south London, but Shackleton kept a lifelong pride in being, as he put it, 'an Irishman'.

How many of the dogs survived the 1902 southern journey with Scott, Wilson and Shackleton?

Their food had gone bad and every one of the 22 dogs died on the march; the men themselves suffered snow blindness, frostbite and scurvy.

Which trio reached the approximate location of the South Magnetic Pole on 16 January 1909 during the Nimrod expedition?

Shackleton later published his own account of the expedition under the title The Heart of the Antarctic.

How much did the British government contribute to the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition?

Private money did most of the work: jute magnate James Caird gave £24,000, Frank Dudley Docker £10,000 and tobacco heiress Janet Stancomb-Wills a 'generous' undisclosed sum.

Roughly how many applications did Shackleton receive to join the Endurance expedition?

He judged temperament as much as skill, famously asking one physicist whether he could sing.

How many members of the Ross Sea party died while laying depots for the crossing that never came?

Party commander Aeneas Mackintosh was among the dead; the Aurora had been blown out to sea, stranding the men at Cape Evans for months.

In June 2024, the wreck of Shackleton's final ship, the Quest, was found off the coast of where?

A team led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society found her intact at a depth of 390 metres.