Ernest Shackleton

NIMROD VOLUME 6 NOW AVAILABLE

Last Updated: 14 March 2013 - 2:46 pm

This issue of Nimrod features an interview Shackleton gave in 1910 and is an important resource on his early life. He speaks eloquently of his love of poetry, particularly of Browning, a theme which is expanded upon by Regina Daly in her article.

There is a strong Norwegian component to this issue with Geir Kløver's extensive article on Amundsen's and his men's South Pole diaries while Jan Anders Diesen traces the development of cinematography in the race to the pole while Hans Kjell Larsen writes about his grandfather Captain C A Larsen.

The process of publishing a polar book is dealt with by Christopher J. Wilson while Meredith Hooper reminds us of the importance of studying original material in her engaging piece on Raymond Priestley. Laura Farrelly's survey of Ireland's Polar Heritage reminds us of this rich and relatively untapped resource while Emma Jane Wells' article on Tourism in the South Atlantic is a guide to how heritage can be developed as a resource for a community.

Shackleton's small but pivotal role in the Titanic Inquiry is examined by Kevin Kenny while Kevin also writes of the school's newest initiative, the Shackleton Challenge. Stamps make their first appearance in the journal with a extensive survey by Jim McAdam, Robert Burton and Stefan Heitjz on stamps commemorating Shackleton and his exploits.

 Copies of Nimrod can be ordered from Athy Heritage Centre-Museum. For contact details go to the website - www.athyheritagecentre-museum.ie

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SCOTT RADIO PLAY

Last Updated: 5 February 2013 - 9:42 am

Meredith Hooper who lectured to the Shackleton School in 2011 has completed a new work about Captain Scott and his wife Kathleen

The drama, Kathleen and Con, is based entirely on the original sources -  the moving, powerful letters Scott and Kathleen wrote to each other, over five years.

It's on Tuesday 5 February, BBC Radio 4, at 2.15, starring Sam West as Captain
Scott and Emilia Fox as Kathleen his wife.

It's being broadcast in the week - one 100 years later - that the news broke around the world of the deaths of Captain Scott and his party.

 

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PROGRAMME FOR 2012 SHACKLETON SCHOOL

Last Updated: 19 October 2012 - 12:15 pm

 

Friday, 26^th October

 

Wine Reception

7pm

 

Official Opening & Exhibition Launch by the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins

7.45pm in Athy Heritage Centre – Museum.

 

 Exhibitions

 

Daily Exhibition – Athy Heritage Centre - Museum

 

10.00am – 5.00pm - These Rough Notes – Scott's Last Expedition

 

The exhibition tells the story of Captain Robert Falcon's Scott's 1910-1912 Terra Nova expedition to the Antarctic. The exhibition text was developed by the Polar Museum, SPRI and is complemented by objects from the Polar Museum, Discovery Point, Dundee, and material from a number of private collections.

 

 

Antarctic Adventurers – the Antarctic adventurers will recreate a three man sledging party from the early years of Antarctic exploration.

 

Saturday, 27^th October

 

Lecture Series Athy Library

 

10.30am “Endurance at South Georgia”

Robert Burton

Admission €8

 

11.30am COFFEE

 

12.00 “'Scott and Shackleton:Early Days, Rivalry, & Leadership' ”

Jan Piggott

Admission €8

 

1pm LUNCH

 

2.15pm 'Mrs Shackleton and other polar wives'

Kari Herbert

 

Admission €8

 

Book Launch Athy Heritage Centre-Museum

3.10pm Antarctic Days

 

The Erskine Press will be launching its newest facsimile – Antarctic Days – Sketches of the Homely Side of Polar Life by Two of Shackleton’s Men. Written and illustrated by James Murray and George Marston it gives a feeling for the personal side of Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition. Originally published in a small edition in 1913 this is a very rare book and will be a welcome addition to all Polar libraries This edition, with an introduction by Joe O’Farrell, will be limited to 280 numbered copies.

 

3.30pm “Antarctica Today: the Scientific Legacy of the Heroic Age ”

 

Gabrielle Walker

Admission €8

 

4.30pm 'Icebreakers'

A series of short presentations on topics relevant to the Shackleton Autumn School, presented by those with a passion for their subject.

Admission Free

 

Dinner

 

8pm Autumn School Dinner in Clanard Court Hotel, Athy

 

Sunday, 28t^h October Athy Library

 

Lecture Series

 

10.00am “Douglas Mawson and the AAE: Science and Survival "

David Roberts

Admission €8

 

11.00am COFFEE

11.15am “Scott's Irishmen - The exploits of Crean, Forde, Keohane and McCarthy on Terra Nova and after”

Michael Smith

Admission €8

 

12.15pm “Antarctic débâcle: Oberleutnant Wilhelm Filchner's expedition to the Weddell Sea, 1911-1912; differing versions of the allocation of blame ”

William Barr

Admission €8

 

1pm LUNCH

 

Film Athy Library

 

2.30pm “Frank Wild: Antarctica's Forgotten Hero”

The film was first shown on BBC Two in April this year. The hour long documentary tells the story of Frank Wild, one of the unsung greats of polar exploration. The film also follows Frank Wild’s ashes as they’re taken to South Georgia to be laid to rest next to his great friend and companion, Sir Ernest Shackleton.

 

Presented by Paul Greenan

Admission €8

 

4.00pm Open Forum – Chaired by Bob Headland

Cultural Evening Athy Community Arts Centre

 

Photographic Exhibition - Opening

 

7.45pm Faces from the Southern Oceans

Ms. L’Heureux’ photography conveys the sense of intimacy she experienced when she first the wildlife that inhabit the Antarctic continent and was captivated by faces such as those of the Wandering Albatross, the Elephant Seal, the Emperor and Royal Penguins.

 

Music

 

8.30pm “All's Well”

An original composition, the songs were inspired by the journals, letters and biographies of all five men of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's ill fated polar party and are an attempt to capture their thoughts and feelings as they realise their death is inevitable.

Written and performed by Jake Wilson

Admission €10

Monday, 29^th October 2012

 

 

Field Trip Assemble at The Heritage Centre – Museum

 

10.00am Bus tour through Shackleton country. A Visit to Ballitore and the home of Mary Leadbeater, writer and ancestor of Ernest Shackleton, the Quaker Meeting House and the Shaker Store.

Fare €10

 

 

Information on Contributors

 

Robert Burton

Robert Burton is a natural history writer who has been involved with South Georgia for many years. He visited the island for the first time in 1964 and returned in 1971 to study albatrosses and fur seals. From 1995 to 1998, he was director of the museum at Grytviken and started to collect information on the island’s history. This included researching the time that Shacketon spent on South Georgia. Bob now visits annually as a lecturer on cruise ships.

 

Dr Jan Piggott

Dr. Jan Piggott, F.S.A., studied English at Oxford and taught originally at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. More recently he taught at Dulwich College in London for thirty years, as Head of English. When he retired from teaching, he became Keeper of Archives at the College, custodian of the James Caird whaler and the Shackleton Collections. In 2000 he curated the exhibition Shackleton - the Antarctic and Endurance' at Dulwich College. On the committee of the James Caird Society, he founded their Journal, and wrote for it on Frank Wild and a number of other topics.

 

Kari Herbert

The daughter of distinguished polar explorer Sir Wally Herbert, Kari is a travel writer and photographer, contributing regularly to newspapers and magazines. Her book “The Explorers Daughter” an account of the first few years of her life spent living on a remote island in the Arctic with the Polar Inuit of Northwest Greenland was published to much acclaim in 2004. Her new books In Search of the South Pole and Polar Wives: The Remarkable Women behind the World's Most Daring Explorers have just been published.

 

Dr Gabrielle Walker

Gabrielle is Chief Scientist for the climate consultancy Xyntéo and a consultant to New Scientist. She contributes frequently to BBC Radio 4 presenting the Planet Under Threat and Thin Air series and is the author of a number of books including Snowball Earth and An Ocean of Air – A Natural History of the Atmosphere. She presented the The Secret Life of Ice on BBC 4 and her most recent publication is Antarctica.

 

Dr William Barr

A Senior Research Assoicate at the Arctic Insitute of North America, University of Calgary, William is also Professor Emeritus of Geography at the Univeristy of Saskatchewan. He has published widely on Arctic subjects and has been prominent in promoting the study of the Russian role in polar exploration.His most recent publications include Arctic Hellship: The Voyage of HMS Enterprise 1850-1855 and Arctic Scientist, Gulag Survivor: The biography of Mikhail Mikhailovich Ermolaev, 1901-1991.

Michael Smith

Michael Smith is an author and journalist who specialises in the history of Polar exploration.Michael began writing books in the late 1990s after more than 30 years as an award-winning journalist covering business and political issues for paper such as the Observer. His first book, An Unsung Hero – Tom Crean Antarctic Survivor (2000) has never been out of print. His other books include I Am Just Going Outside – Captain Oates; Sir James Wordie – Polar Crusader; Captain Francis Crozier – Last Man Standing? andTom Crean – An Illustrated Life. He has also written two books for children: Shackleton – The Boss and Tom Crean – Iceman which is on the curriculum for primary schools in Ireland

 

David Roberts

David Roberts is a mountaineer and author of books and articles about climbing. He is particularly noted for his books The Mountain of My Fear and Deborah: A Wilderness Narrative. He also published books on polar themes including Four Against the Arctic: Shipwrecked for Six Years at the Top of the World and the forthcoming book about Douglas Mawson, titled Alone on the Ice. which will be published in January 2013.

Paul Greenan

Paul Greenan is a producer/director with BBC Television. He’s been with the BBC for 22 years and has a background in journalism and current affairs.  Paul’s worked on a variety of programmes for the BBC including natural history programmes for BBC TWO and documentaries for BBC FOUR. “Frank Wild: Antarctica’s Forgotten Hero” was his first polar film. He currently works for the BBC current affairs series Inside Out. 

 

Jake Wilson

Jake Wilson is a folk-rock guitarist and songwriter in the Richard Thompson mould. As well as performing his own material, Jake currently plays with ex-Fairport Convention folk fiddle legend, Dave Swarbrick, who has described him as “one of the best guitarists and songwriters around today”.

 

Bob Headland

Bob is a senior research associate of the Scott Polar Research Institute of the University of Cambridge. He specialises in the history and geography of both polar regions. His work with the Antarctic Heritage Trust involves the preservation of the historical huts and other aspects associated with the exploration of the discovery of the Antarctic. His most recent publication is A Chronology of Antarctic Exploration.

 

J J L'Heureux

J.J is a painter, photographer, adventure and naturalist. She has made numerous trips to Antarctica and has published two books, the Good Day Book and Faces from the Southern Oceans. She has exhibited extensively in galleries and museums throughout the world most recently at the University of Iowa and the G2 Gallery in Venice, California.

 

Antarctic Adventurers

The Antarctic Adventures are a group of British re-enactors who specialise in recreating the world of Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen. They perform regularly for museums and English Heritage. They recreate a three man sledging party of the 1901 – 1913 period with clothing, sledges and equipment of the time used by Scott and Shackleton.

 

 

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FRANK WILD FILM FOR SHACKLETON SCHOOL

Last Updated: 3 September 2012 - 3:39 pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Frank Wild: Antarctica's Forgotten Hero”

The film was first shown on BBC Two in April this year. The hour long documentary tells the story of Frank Wild, one of the unsung greats of polar exploration.

The film also follows Frank Wild’s ashes as they’re taken to South Georgia to be laid to rest next to his great friend and companion, Sir Ernest Shackleton.

The film will be presented by Paul Greenan producer/director with BBC Television.  Paul’s worked on a variety of programmes for the BBC including natural history programmes for BBC2 and documentaries for BBC4.

“Frank Wild: Antarctica’s Forgotten Hero” was his first polar film. He currently works for the BBC current affairs series Inside Out. 

 

 

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2012 SHACKLETON AUTUMN SCHOOL

Last Updated: 27 August 2012 - 10:19 am

 

The Shackleton School is pleased to announce that the following lectures have been confirmed for the 2012 school

Michael Smith - Scott's Irishmen - The exploits of Crean, Forde, Keohane and McCarthy on Terra Nova and after

Kari Herbert - 'Mrs Shackleton and other polar wives'

Dr William Barr - "Antarctic débâcle: Oberleutnant Wilhelm Filchner's expedition to the Weddell Sea, 1911-1912 -- ; differing versions of the allocation of blame."

Dr Jan Piggott - 'Scott & Shackleton: Early days, Rivalry, & Leadership's

David Roberts - 'Douglas Mawson & the Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Told'.

Bob Burton - 'Endurance at South Georgia'

Dr Gabrielle Walker - 'Antarctica Today: the Scientific Legacy of the Heroic Age'

Details of  the full programme will be available soon

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NEW MUSIC FOR ATHY

Last Updated: 8 August 2012 - 9:42 am

 

This year the school will feature a performance by Jake Wilson of his original composition 'All's Well'. The songs were inspired by the journals, letters and biographies of all five men of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's ill fated polar party and are an attempt to capture their thoughts and feeelings as they realise their death is inevitable.

 Jake Wilson is a folk-rock guitarist and songwriter in the Richard Thompson mould. As well as performing his own material, Jake currently plays with ex-Fairport Convention folk fiddle legend, Dave Swarbrick, who has described him as “one of the best guitarists and songwriters around today”.

For further details of Jake and his work - www.jakewilsonmusic.com

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2012 SHACKLETON AUTUMN SCHOOL

Last Updated: 7 August 2012 - 2:01 pm

 

THE PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME FOR THE 2012 SHACKLETON SCHOOL WILL BE AVAILABLE ONLINE FROM MONDAY THE 13TH AUGUST.

SHACKLETON COMMITTEE

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IRISH POLAR EXPLORER TO BE HONOURED

Last Updated: 13 July 2012 - 12:07 pm

I thought that fellow Antarcticans might be interested to know that a memorial is to be erected in memory of Patrick Keohane, a member of Scott’s last expedition. He was one of three Irish petty officers with Scott (Crean, Forde and Keohane) and the only one whose exploits have never been formally recognised in Ireland.

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CAPTAIN OATES AND KILDARE

Last Updated: 15 March 2012 - 3:35 pm

 

One hundred years ago, in January 1912, Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole. With him werefour others – Dr Edward Wilson, Henry Bowers, Edgar Evans and Capt Laurence Oates.
Since starting the previous November, the work of hauling tons of supplies on their sledges while enduring temperatures so cold that boiling water thrown into the air would instantly freeze was backbreaking. But this was more than a exploring new lands. Somewhere out there in the frozen vastness, a Norwegian team under Raold Amundsen was vying for the honours of first to the South Pole.

Laurence Oates was 31 years old. He was every bit the cavalry officer, schooled at Eton and with a natural love of the horse and all that went with it – hunting, polo and racing. In 1900 he was commissioned into the Inniskilling Dragoons and despatched to regimental headquarters on the Curragh. Months later he was on the way to the Boer war.
Soon after arriving in South Africa, Oates found himself in action. With a detachment of men, he was pinned down in a gulley by opposing forces. The enemy retreated, but not before a sniper shot shattered Oates' thigh. His injury meant emergency surgery and a ship back to England.

As Scott's party approached their destination, they saw a dark object in the distance. With each slogging footstep, it became clearer – it was a Norwegian flag. The footsteps around it and a message told them what they feared most; Amundsen had reached the Pole six weeks earlier. Scott and his party were dejected, something plainly visible in their blistered faces as they posed for a pathetic photograph. Scott scribbled in his diary 'Great God, this is an awful place....'.
And now, they faced a return journey of 800 miles.

Why Scott selected Oates for his polar party remains a mystery. Picking a man with one leg shorter than the other to haul a sledge to the South Pole and back would appear an error of judgement. On the other hand, Oates was brave and tough, and Scott may have felt it politically advantageous to have an Army officer in his team, to join the other Naval members. Either way, it was a fatal decision.

Oates' expertise with horses had been hugely important to the Scott's expedition. He had ensured the animals were in peak condition in the frozen South and had nursed them along the Polar route until they could go no further. Oates had honed his equine ability in a recognised home of the horse – the Curragh of Kildare.

In November 1902, having recuperated from his thigh wound, Oates arrived back to Ponsonby Barracks on the Curragh. For the next three and a half years he indulged his passion for equine pursuits, building a reputation as an accomplished horseman.
In 1904 he attended the spring Punchestown festival, where he rode his horse 'Titus' to third in the Grand Military Cup. Edward V11 and Queen Alexandra stirred the cream of local and National society by attending the meeting. Oates wrote of the experience "I do not think I have enjoyed two days better for a long time than I did in Punchestown".

February 1905 saw him as best man when his friend, and fellow Inniskilling, Richard Morton-Wood married Miss Marguerite Mansfield of Morristown-Lattin. Snowdrops from the estate added the finishing touches to a scene which could have been lifted from Downton Abbey.

The 1905 Punchestown meeting again saw Oates in action. On the opening day he rode 'Titus' in the Irish Military Steeplechase, finishing down the field. 'Blucher', also owned by Oates and ridden by Morton-Wood, was placed.
The weather improved for the second day and the running of the Grand Military Cup. Oates' entry 'Angel Gabriel' had already chalked up some notable victories and started at 8/1 with Morton-Wood aboard. The Kildare Observer reported that "Gabriel was always in the leading division and fenced flippantly" to win by four lengths. The onlooking Oates was so overcome that "my eyes got so full of tears I could not see the horses and had to keep asking the man next to me how my horse was going".

Seven years later, Oates, already suffering from frostbite and the beginnings of gangerine, faced an 800 mile slog for his life.

Insufficient food and the effort of man-hauling the sledge (Amundsen had used dogs) began to take their toll on Scott and his four companions. Evans began to fall behind. On 18th February, they found him on his hands and knees, unable to walk. Later, he died.

By early March, still with 300 miles to go, Oates was spent. His legs were black and raw from gangerene. His old thigh wound had resurfaced. His physical problems were obvious, his moral one hidden as he knew he was slowing down progress and reducing the other's chance of survival.
On 17th March, his 32nd birthday, he did the only thing he could do. It was blowing a blizzard with temperatures around -40F. Oates painfully rose to his feet, said "I am just going outside and I may be some time" before stumbling out of the tent and into oblivion. His body was never found.

Days later, Scott, Bowers and Wilson were pinned down by atrocious weather. They died in that spot, eleven miles from the next food depot.

This Saint Patrick's day marks the centenary of Oates' death, and that of an unlikely link between the short-grass county and the frozen wastes of Antarctica.

 

 

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NIMROD VOL 5 NOW AVAILABLE

Last Updated: 9 February 2012 - 11:26 am

 

 

This issue of Nimrod features, for the first time, a piece penned by Shackleton himself, a fascinating insight into the character of the great man. The little known Japanese Antarctic Expedition of 1911 is rightly rescued from obscurity by Chet Ross while Mike Tarver recalls the ships fundamental to polar exploration. Ships are also the centrepiece of Joe O'Farrell's article on the Franklin expedition while David Thomas lauds the role of the ship RV Polarstern in modern scientific work on the polar pack ice.

The research process is humourously dealt with by John F Mann as he reflects on his work on the men of Shackleton's Endurance expedition and Kevin Kenny mines the little known archive of Shackleton material in the Athy Heritage Centre-Museum collection. With the kind permission of the Falkland Islands Journal we reprint two fine articles by the distinguished polar historian A.G.E Jones and Jim McAdam teases out Shackletonnia from the pages of the Falkland Islands Journal.

Copies of Nimrod can be purchased directly from the Athy Heritage Centre-Museum. For it's contact details go to www.athyheritagecentre-museum.ie

Back issues are also available for Vols 1-4.

 

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