Shackleton 100 By Freddie Witts, Dulwich College Archivist
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In the darkening twilight I saw a lone star hover, gem- like above the bay - Shackleton’s last diary entry, 4th January 1922
£10,000,000 in today’s money, and so most of the planning of a trip was devoted to raising the finance. As a smooth-talker and weaver of yarns, Shackleton found great success in convincing wealthy industrialists to dip into their pockets, often with the promise of naming some new feature after a benefactor. The James Caird was named after a Dundee-based jute manufacturer, with the two other lifeboats – the Dudley Docker and Stancomb Wills – named similarly. To raise interest, Shackleton would send a prospectus of his expedition, including his plans and intended crew, as well as words of support from fellow adventurers like Amundsen, Peary, and Nansen. When he ran out of businessmen, he would try to persuade famous friends to lend their support, perhaps through showing what artistic benefits lay in polar travel. The College holds a version of the Aurora Australis – the first book printed in Antarctica – which Shackleton presented to the poet Rudyard Kipling in a final fundraising drive for the Endurance Expedition. The privations of polar exploration, however, took their toll on The Boss. Despite his childhood years in the Band of Hope – a temperance movement – singing outside pubs on the dangers of alcohol, and his teenaged attempts to pledge his merchant navy crewmates to abstinence, by the time he organised his own Antarctic voyage aboard the Nimrod whisky was most definitely on the menu. The stresses he later faced on the Endurance Expedition , somehow saving a shipfull of men from starvation by sailing 800 miles through stormy seas, and crossing an uncharted, mountainous South Georgia, seem to have been too much to bear. In his account of the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition, Frank Worsely noted with worry how The Boss had started drinking champagne in the mornings, and how their chats, never previously nostalgic, now consisted almost entirely of Shackleton’s reminiscences. Shackleton probably knew that he was no longer cut out for polar exploration, yet he needed another adventure to finally secure financial stability, and perhaps to get away from a complicated home life. Certainly, he suspected a problem with his heart. Despite worrying signs on previous journeys, he repeatedly refused medical examinations. During Discovery ’s farthest south sledge journey, Dr “Bill” Wilson noted Shackleton’s periods of breathlessness; on Nimrod , Dr Eric Marshall recorded the same, as well as an irregular pulse; and aboard the Endurance , alongside bouts of sciatica,
Shackleton refused to allow Dr James McIlroy to monitor his heart. In the pictures of Shackleton taken at the Quest’s departure, he looks haggard and unwell, and at least a decade older than his 47 years. It was perhaps no surprise then when he suffered a suspected heart attack during a stop at Rio de Janeiro. Once again, he refused to let the expedition doctor, Alexander Macklin, examine him, and instead ordered that the voyage continue. Less than three weeks later, on a night when he had insisted on taking an extra watch, allowing him more time to look over South Georgia, he called Macklin to his cabin with a whistle. Suffering from nerve pain in his back and face, he struggled to sit up. Upon being advised to take things more easily, Shackleton uttered his final words: You’re always wanting me to give up things, what is it I ought to give up? Almost before Macklin could give his answer – “Chiefly alcohol, Boss, I don’t think it agrees with you” – Shackleton had another, final, heart attack. In the post-mortem, Macklin attributed the death to blocked arteries, compounded by “overstrain during a period of debility”. It is fitting that Dulwich College, the place of his education and custodian of the James Caird , that most obvious memorial to his exploits, also possesses the Quest balaclava belonging to Macklin, the man who was with Shackleton at his death. The Shackleton 100 exhibition is part of a wider programme of events designed to commemorate the great explorer. As well as the exhibition and the short film produced last Spring ( Shackleton and the James Caird – see the “ James Caird ” section of the website), the 3rd February saw an evening of talks on Shackleton from archivist Freddie Witts; the author of the Quest Chronicle blog and grandson of Rowett – Dr Jan Chojecki; and Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) – Camilla Nichol. The evening was also an opportunity to see the exhibition amongst friends. Beyond the College, look out for other events. Jan Piggott – former Keeper of the Archives and Fellow of Dulwich College – has curated an exhibition for the Royal Geographical Society; the South Georgia Museum has an online exhibition to mark the centenary; and the UKAHT are hosting a series of online talks. To find these and many more, search for #Shackleton100.
Shackleton’s diary, which heretofore had been full of gloom and worries about an enforced detour and a cracked furnace, becomes more poetic and contemplative the further south he travelled. Passing through ice, it reflects his troubled heart.
Running from mid-October until the February half-term, items from the College’s archives told the story of Shackleton’s life and legacy. Tracing his journey from Sydenham to South Georgia, (or should that be Athy to Antarctica?), it focuses on his four trips to the bottom of the globe aboard the Discovery, Nimrod , Endurance , and Quest. Thereafter, the legacies of both Shackleton and the James Caird are traced, including letters from his wife, Emily, about how he should best be remembered. Her suggestion of a poetry prize in his honour was apt, as can be seen through a display of Shackleton’s literary works, but the grandly named “Shackleton Memorial” won out with a less than grand design. Not to be forgotten is the role played by Dulwich College in Shackleton’s successes. Whilst it would be revisionist to attribute his education as the reason for his triumphs – particularly since he seems to have spent much of his time bunking off – the connections he made between the ages of 13 and 16 were invaluable to his expeditions. As can be seen through letters, dinner menus, and signatures in the exhibition, Shackleton was in regular contact with a number of OAs, many of whom offered money, provisions, and ideas for his expeditions. Most important of all was his continued friendship with John Quiller Rowett, with whom he had originally swapped homework answers on the walk to school. As Shackleton became a popular explorer, Rowett became vastly wealthy through the rum trade. A generous philanthropist, when Shackleton came calling in 1920, Rowett gave his support to this latest Antarctic adventure. When planned funding from the Canadian government never materialised, Rowett stepped up to finance the lion’s share of what became the Quest or Shackleton-Rowett Expedition. A century later, Rowett’s grandson, Dr Jan Chojecki, has also stepped up, kindly lending items to the exhibition relating to Rowett and this expedition. Shackleton’s reliance on the wealth of others was not restricted to Rowett. Despite his hopes, polar expeditions were expensive affairs, and for Shackleton often cost more than he earned through book deals and lecture circuits on his return. An expedition to Antarctica could easily cost the equivalent of
'and bergs mast high came sailing by as green as emerald'
Ah me: the years that have gone since in the pride of young manhood I first went forth to the fight. I grow old and tired but must always lead on. Two days later, lying off the coast of South Georgia, the diary displays a sentimentality little seen in previous pages. How familiar the coast seemed as we passed down. We saw with full interest the places we struggled over after the boat journey. … A wonderful evening 'In the darkening twilight I saw a lone star hover: gem like above the bay'
By 2:50 the next morning, “The Boss” was dead.
100 years later, Shackleton’s legacy is greater than ever. In a normal year, over 1,500 members of the public visit the James Caird , including 1,200 primary school children learning about his adventures for their curriculum. In 2021, visitors came from as far afield as South Africa, Australia, and America to see his famous lifeboat. A clothing and exploration brand now trades under his name, whilst the Folio Society have produced editions of Shackleton’s literary works based on the College’s collections. Relics relating to the great adventurer are displayed in the National Maritime Museum, the Polar Museum, the Shackleton Museum, the South Georgia Museum, and, of course, Dulwich College. Indeed, Shackleton’s alma mater boasts a collection to rival any museum, and so an exhibition was curated to mark the centenary of the great explorer’s death – Shackleton 100.
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