Julie
Summers, Roland Huntford, David Rowley - The Shackleton
voyages
A pictorial anthology of the polar explorer and Edwardian
hero
De achterflap:
This pictorial anthology celebrates the life of Ernest
Shackleton, a major protagonist in the heroic age of Antarctic
exploration at the beginning of the twentieth century. He
is best known for his legendary third expedition Endurance,
but Shackleton also undertook three other expeditions, each
enthralling in its own way but none achieving the goal it
set out to reach. Charm, charismatic leadership and dogged
determination ensured Shackleton became a hero in his own
lifetime.
Each chapter explores a period of Shackleton's life and
is introduced by Roland Huntford's illuminating text and
accompanied by a host of photographs, drawings and diary
extracts, many hitherto unpublished. Shackleton's restless,
independent spirit surfaced early and his wit and courage
captivated and inspired financial backers as well as his
'men' during their bleakest of moments. When he lost the
race to the South Pole, first to the Norwegian explorer
Roald Amundsen in 1911 and then to his arch rival Captain
Scott in 1912, he set his sights on crossing Antarctica.
Once again he failed, but he turned disaster into success
by returning with all the men under his command alive. After
a couple of years of slavish lecturing and writing to pay
off his debts in the downbeat post-war years, he raised
the funds and enthusiasm for a final expedition - Quest.
A romantic to the end, as Quest reached South Georgia,
he died of a heart attack, aged only forty-seven.
However, his death lacked the glory of Scott's death; only
recently has Shackleton's reputation emerged from Scott's
shadow. Shackleton never forgave Scott for invaliding him
home after their attempt to reach the South Pole in 1902-3;
in part this anger was the driving force behind Shackleton's
repeated expeditions to Antarctica. Shackleton proved he
could endure severe climates and wild, inhospitable terrain,
but above all he displayed an exceptional talent for leadership
and fanatical determination which led him, as he put it,
'to go on going till one day I shall not come back'.
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