Sir Ernest Shackleton,

his Polar Medal and a brief history of his famous expeditions

Who was Sir Ernest Shackleton?

An Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who attempted to reach the South Pole. Ernest was born February 15, 1874, in Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland and died January 5, 1922, in Grytviken, South Georgia.

Shackleton entered the mercantile marine service in 1890 and became a sublieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve in 1901. He joined Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s British National Antarctic (Discovery) Expedition in 1901–04 as third lieutenant and took part, with Scott and Edward Wilson, in the sledge journey over the Ross Ice Shelf when latitude 82°16′33″ S was reached. His health suffered, and he was removed from duty and sent home on the supply ship Morning in March 1903.

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton

In January 1908 he returned to Antarctica as leader of the British Antarctic (Nimrod) Expedition (1907–09). The expedition, prevented by ice from reaching the intended base site in Edward VII Peninsula, wintered on Ross Island, McMurdo Sound. A sledging party, led by Shackleton, reached within 97 nautical miles (112 statute miles or 180 km) of the South Pole, and another, under T.W. Edgeworth David, reached the area of the south magnetic pole.

Victoria Land plateau was claimed for the British crown, and the expedition was responsible for the first ascent of Mount Erebus. The sledging party returned to the base camp in late February 1909, but they discovered that the Nimrod had set sail some two days earlier. Shackleton and his party set fire to the camp to signal the ship, which received the signal and returned to the camp a few days later, successfully retrieving them. On his return to England, Shackleton was knighted and was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.

THE GREAT ANTARCTICA EXPEDITION

In August 1914 the British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–16) left England under Shackleton’s leadership. He planned to cross Antarctica from a base on the Weddell Sea to McMurdo Sound, via the South Pole, but the expedition ship Endurance was trapped in ice off the Caird coast and drifted for 10 months before being crushed in the pack ice.

The members of the expedition then drifted on ice floes for another five months and finally escaped in boats to Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands, where they subsisted on seal meat, penguins, and their dogs. Shackleton and five others sailed 800 miles (1,300 km) to South Georgia in a whale boat, a 16-day journey across a stretch of dangerous ocean, before landing on the southern side of South Georgia.

Shackleton and his small crew then made the first crossing of the island to seek aid. Four months later, after leading four separate relief expeditions, Shackleton succeeded in rescuing his crew from Elephant Island.

Throughout the ordeal, not one of Shackleton’s crew of the Endurance died. A supporting party, the Ross Sea party led by A.E. Mackintosh, sailed in the Aurora and laid depots as far as latitude 83°30′ S for the use of the Trans-Antarctic party; three of this party died on the return journey.

Nimrod Expedition South Pole Party (left to right): Frank Wild, Ernest Shackleton, Eric Marshall and Jameson Adams, 1909

Nimrod Expedition South Pole Party (left to right): Frank Wild, Ernest Shackleton, Eric Marshall and Jameson Adams, 1909

Shackleton served in the British army during World War I and served as a military advisor in the multinational North Russia Expeditionary Force during the Russian Civil War.

He attempted a fourth Antarctic expedition, called the Shackleton-Rowett Antarctic Expedition, aboard the Quest in 1921, which had the goal of circumnavigating the continent. Shackleton died at Grytviken, South Georgia, however, at the outset of the journey. His exertions in raising funds to finance his expeditions and the immense strain of the expeditions themselves were believed to have worn out his strength.

THE POLAR MEDAL

The Polar Medal was awarded to Shackleton in recognition of his three polar expeditions (1902–04, 1907–09, 1914–16), the latter two of which he led. It is the most important of the UK medals awarded to him, given it is the only medal to recognise all three of his expeditions. It is also the last of Shackleton’s medals still in the UK.

Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay has placed an export bar on Antarctic Explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Polar Medal.

The medal, valued at £1,760,000 (plus VAT of £44,000), is at risk of leaving the UK unless a domestic buyer can be found to save it for the nation.

The Arctic Medal was instituted in 1857 and renamed the Polar Medal in 1904. It is given to individuals for outstanding service to the field of polar research. It was first awarded to the participants in Captain Robert F. Scott’s successful first expedition to the Antarctic, and then to reward future expedition members and leaders.