Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Download 174.72 Kb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Final expedition and death
World War IShackleton returned to England in May 1917, while Europe was in the midst of World War I. He suffered from a heart condition, most likely made worse by the fatigue of his arduous journeys. He was too old to be conscripted, but nevertheless he volunteered for the army, repeatedly requesting to be sent to the front in France.[104] He was by now drinking heavily.[105][106] In October 1917 he was sent to Buenos Aires to boost British propaganda in South America. Unqualified as a diplomat, he nevertheless tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade Argentina and Chile to enter the war on the side of the Allies.[107] He returned home in April 1918. Shackleton was then briefly involved in a mission to Spitzbergen, the purpose of which was to establish a British presence there, in the guise of a mining operation.[108] On the way there, in Tromsø, he was taken ill, possibly with a heart attack; in any event he was required to return home, as he had been commissioned into the army and appointed to a military expedition to Murmansk, in northern Russia.[108] The Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918, and four months later, in March 1919, Shackleton returned home. He was full of plans, however, for the economic development of Northern Russia, and began seeking capital to this end. These plans foundered as the region fell to the Bolsheviks.[109] Shackleton returned to the lecture circuit, and in December 1919 published South, his own account of the Endurance expedition.[110] For his war effort in North Russia, Shackleton was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).[111] Final expedition and deathMain article: Shackleton–Rowett Expedition 
Quest, passing through Tower Bridge, London. In 1920, tired of the lecture circuit, Shackleton began to consider the possibility of a last expedition. He thought seriously of going to the Beaufort Sea area of the Arctic, a largely unexplored region, and raised some interest in this idea from the Canadian government.[112] With funds supplied by a former schoolfriend John Quiller Rowett he acquired a 125 ton Norwegian sealer, named Foca I which he renamed Quest.[112][113] The plan changed; the destination became the Antarctic, and the project was defined by Shackleton as an "oceanographic and sub-antarctic expedition".[112] The goals of the venture were imprecise, but a circumnavigation of the Antarctic continent and investigation of some "lost" sub-Antarctic islands were mentioned as objectives.[114] Rowett agreed to finance the entire expedition, which became known as the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition, and which left England on 24 September 1921.[114] Although some of his former crew members had not received all of their pay from the Endurance expedition, many of them signed on with their former "Boss".[114] When the party arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Shackleton suffered a suspected heart attack.[115] He refused a proper medical examination and would not seek treatment, so Quest continued south, and on 4 January 1922 arrived at South Georgia.
Sir Ernest Shackleton's grave in Grytviken, South Georgia. In the early hours of the next morning Shackleton summoned the expedition's physician, Alexander Macklin,[116] to his cabin, complaining of back pains and other discomfort. According to Macklin's own account, Macklin told him he had been overdoing things and should try to "lead a more regular life", to which Shackleton answered: "You are always wanting me to give up things, what is it I ought to give up?" "Chiefly alcohol, Boss," replied Macklin. A few moments later, at 2:50 a.m. on 5 January 1922, Shackleton suffered a fatal heart attack.[116] Macklin, who conducted the autopsy, concluded that the cause of death was atheroma of the coronary arteries exacerbated by "overstrain during a period of debility".[117] Leonard Hussey, a veteran of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition, offered to accompany the body back to Britain; however, while he was in Montevideo en route to England, a message was received from Emily Shackleton asking that her husband be buried in South Georgia. Hussey returned to South Georgia with the body on the steamer Woodville, and on 5 March 1922 Shackleton was buried in the Grytviken cemetery, South Georgia, after a short service in the Lutheran church.[118] Macklin wrote in his diary: "I think this is as "the Boss" would have had it himself, standing lonely in an island far from civilisation, surrounded by stormy tempestuous seas, & in the vicinity of one of his greatest exploits." On 27 November 2011, the ashes of Frank Wild were interred on the right-hand side of Shackleton's grave site in Grytviken. The inscription on the rough-hewn granite block set to mark the spot reads "Frank Wild 1873–1939, Shackleton's right-hand man."[119]
Directory: 2011 2011 -> Enterprise Network Management iPost: Implementing Continuous Risk Monitoring at the Department of State 2011 -> Voices of the Old Sea Norman Lewis 2011 -> Malevil Robert Merle 2011 -> The Elephant Keeper’s Children Peter Hoeg 2011 -> January 1: Ecstasy zZz January 2: King of Anything Sara Bareillis 2011 -> Tracks, Mixes, Masters, and More!: Analyzing Preservation Priorities for Multitrack Recordings 2011 -> Department of Electrical Engineering 2011 Annual Report 2011 -> Jv packet •Mars Colonization Affirmative •Mars Colonization Negative 2011 -> Asian Pacific Mathematical Olympiad(apmo) 2011 -> Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) omb no. 1024-0018 Download 174.72 Kb. Share with your friends:
|
