SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON
Sir Shackleton was an explorer, a leader of men, and an extraordinary seaman. He was a man who heroically saved the life of every member of the crew of his ill-fated attempt to cross the continent of Antarctica.
After the race to the South Pole ended in December 1911 with Roald Amundsen's conquest, Shackleton 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. Disaster struck this expedition when its ship, Endurance, became trapped in pack ice and was slowly crushed before the shore parties could be landed. There followed a sequence of exploits, and an ultimate escape with no loss of human life, that would eventually assure Shackleton's heroic status, although this was not immediately evident.
Icebound in the Weddell Sea.
The Endurance, crushed by the ice.
Hauling the small boat to the open sea.
The rescue came ten months after the Endurance was lost.
In 1921, he returned to the Antarctic with the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition, intending to carry out a programme of scientific and survey activities. On January 5, 1922, 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.
Sir Shakelton's final resting place in South Georgia. There is a simple headstone with a nine-pointed star.
Italics from Wiki
