Sir Ernest Shackleton
December 13, 2009
Irishman, sailor, explorer, leader, and overall badass. Sir Ernest Shackleton led 28 men to explore the south pole, lost his ship in the ice, and survived along with all of his men for nearly two years on an ice floe . After being rescued; what did he do? Went back and tried to do it again.
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Wow, “badass” is right. Love these pictures.
Perfect. Thanks.
You should check out “Scott and Amundsen: The Race to the South Pole” by Roland Huntford. Its a double biography about those two dudes and how they became rivals. You would dig it.
Mike,
Thanks for the tip and the post. I’m definitely going to check this out.
Jamie
When I worked in an elementary school, there was a huge book detailing the photographs from Shackleton’s expedition put out by the Museum of Natural History. Every day, before the end of the day, I spent at least 25 minutes of enraptured slacking every day. Before the end of the year, I was checking out jobs with Raytheon, who provides services for the folks down at McMurdo Ice Station. And obsessing over Werner Hertzog’s “Encounters at the End of the World,” which incorporates some footage of Shackelton and a well place drawing of a chimpanzee riding a goat into the sunset.
The journey of the Endurance is amazing. What’s even more amazing is that they realized no one was coming to get them, and sailed out in the Antarctic Ocean for South Georgia Island in a tiny boat. One of the hardest sailing expeditions of all time, and they made it. Shackelton is buried there.
I’m still trying to find a way to get there.
Alexander – True story, Endurance is amazing. Every time I’m outside in the winter and complaining about being cold, I shut my mouth, and think of Shackleton – another true story. I’m definitely going to check out Hertzog’s stuff, that sounds really good.
Thanks for the post and for checking Standard Edition.
Jamie
I AM A FIRE HORSE, MY GREAT GRAND FATHER FRANCIS WILLIAM SHACKLETON COUSIN OF EARNIST SHACKLETON SOUTH POOL , 1966