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Shackleton (SIR ERNEST HEN- RY a British)

SIR ERNEST HEN- RY, a British Antarctic explorer, born in 1874, at Kilkee, Ireland. He served for a time in the commercial marine and as an officer of the Royal Naval Reserve, serving as a lieutenant under Captain R. F. Scott, on the British National Antarctic expedition, from 1901 to 1904. In 1907 he organized and commanded an expedition during which he made valuable explorations, reaching the south magnetic pole for the first time.

He personally led a party which reached the latitude of 88° 27', within 97 miles of the pole. This passed all previous records by 366 geographical miles. He discovered the pole and an enormous glacier, and mountain ranges. The journey cre ended in a vast polar plateau, about 11,000 feet above sea-level. He was engaged, in 1914-16, in an attempt to cross the continent of Antarctica from Coats Land to McMurdoo Sound. The expedition ended by the destruction of its ship, the "Endurance." The crew, after many dangerous adventures, reached Elephant Island, and Shackleton, leaving 23 men on the island, made a voyage with five SHACKLETON SHAFTER others in a whale boat, to South Georgia, they are grown for the market in Florida 800 miles distant. After three failures, he finally succeeded in reaching the survivors of the party. Three, however, had perished. During this expedition new land, named Kaird Coast, was discovered.

Shackleton was knighted in 1909. He wrote "The Heart of the Antarctic," and "The Diary of a Troopship."