Yet another centenary and an epic story of survival
Shackleton in 1901, aged 27. Portrait by an unidentified photographer
Visitors
to Fairlynch Museum’s Antarctic exhibition a few years ago were fascinated by
the story of former Budleigh resident Murray Levick and his five companions,
members of Captain Scott’s ill-fated ‘Terra Firma’ expedition. The group succeeded
against all the odds in surviving the six-month polar winter, sheltering for much
of the time in a snow cave.
Antarctic expert Meredith Hooper and me at Fairlynch's 'Survival!' exhibition in 2012
Fairlynch’s exhibition was
praised by, among others, the writer and broadcaster Meredith Hooper. The
Australian-born Antarctic expert was one of the guest authors attending Budleigh
Salterton’s 2012 Literary Festival to talk about her book The Longest Winter: Scott's Other Heroes.
The
Endurance, listing heavily, immediately before being crushed by the ice,
October 1915. Photo by Frank Hurley
A depiction of the James Caird lifeboat landing at South Georgia at the end of its voyage on 10 May 1916
Shackleton’s first experience of the polar regions
was as third officer on Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery Expedition
1901–04. During the second expedition of 1907–1909 he and three companions
established a new record Farthest South latitude at 88°S, only 97 geographical
miles (112 statute miles, 180 km) from the South Pole, the largest advance to
the pole in exploration history. On this occasion, members of his team climbed
Mount Erebus, the most active Antarctic volcano. For these achievements,
Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII on his return home.
After the race to the South Pole ended in December
1911 with Roald Amundsen's conquest and a few months later with Scott’s tragic
death, Shackleton turned his attention to the crossing of Antarctica 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. The crew escaped by camping on the sea ice until it
disintegrated, then by launching the lifeboats to reach Elephant Island and
ultimately the inhabited island of South Georgia, a stormy ocean voyage of 720
nautical miles. It was Shackleton's most famous exploit, and revealed him as a
role model for leadership, distinguished by the way in which he kept his team
together in extreme circumstances.
The exhibition opened to the public on Saturday 21
November 2015, exactly 100 years to the day that the crushed Endurance sank beneath the ice of the Weddell Sea.
The exhibition is free to all and open daily, at
the RGS in Exhibition Road, London, running until 28 February 2016, before
being taken to other UK and international venues.
Photographer Frank Hurley at work next to the Endurance
At the heart of the exhibition are more than 90 newly digitalised
images, taken by Shackleton’s official expedition photographer Frank Hurley,
and saved by him under the most extreme circumstances to provide one of the
greatest ever photographic records of human survival.
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