Why ernest shackleton went to antarctica

The remaining men from the 'Endurance' were rescued in August Not one member of the expedition died. Shackleton's fourth expedition aimed to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent but on 5 January , Shackleton died of a heart attack off South Georgia.

He was buried on the island. Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience.

Adventure and sometimes misadventure followed Shackleton throughout his voyages. As a member of the Discovery crew, he participated in an experimental balloon flight and the initial sledge trip to McMurdo Sound. Yet, he also dealt with snow-blindness, frostbite and scurvy.

Forced to turn back by these maladies, Shackelton was sent home, unable to follow Scott to the end of his expedition. After which the young man was infuriated but not deterred. He presented his plans to the Royal Geographical Society, along with various other government institutions in February Receiving lackluster responses and no financial backing, Shackleton relied on what private loans and individual contributions he was able to secure within his few months of preparation.

So, with little backing and no contingency plan, Shackleton departed New Zealand aboard the ship Nimrod on the first day of But more significantly, the team made an attempt for the South Pole. Even though they came up 97 miles short, they discovered the approximate location of the South Magnetic Pole.

For this, Shackleton returned home to Britain a public hero. Download Your Destination Guide. Five years later, Shackleton was restless. Deeply in debt from the Nimrod expedition, he made most of his income from public appearances. Then fortunate knocked. Scottish explorer William Speirs Bruce abandoned his expedition to cross the seventh continent via the South Pole. Already privately funded, Shackleton gladly replaced him and took the lead on his second lengthy expedition, the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Shackleton's plan was to sail two ships, the Aurora and the Endurance into the Weddell Sea. While the Aurora would sail to McMurdo Sound to lay supply depots of food and fuel, the Endurance would cross the trans-atlantic to the Antarctic. After landing at Vahsel Bay, Shackleton and five of his men would then cross the continent to reach the South Pole.

The Endurance, a solid three-masted barquentine built in Sandefjord, Norway. The Endurance departed South Georgia on December 5 and by mid-February, the ship became trapped in ice.

It soon became clear that the ship would be stuck until spring. Shackleton postponed his plans to advance and converted the ship to a winter station with the hope that spring would release them from the ice. On 7 August , with the backing of various sponsors, including Clydebank shipbuilder William Beardmore, later Lord Invernairn, Shackleton's ship Nimrod set sail for the Antarctic. Nimrod was an old Arctic vessel in poor condition.

Onboard were a mixed crew of scientists, sailors, civilians and even a paying guest. For transport on the ice, ponies, dogs and a motorcar were taken. This proved controversial, as Scott had claimed 'territorial rights' to this area and Shackleton had agreed not to land there. Explorer Frank Wild - looking at the wreckage of the Endurance, Ernest Shackleton never did reach the South Pole or cross Antarctica. He launched one more expedition to the Antarctic, but the Endurance veterans who rejoined him noticed he appeared weaker, more diffident, drained of the spirit that had kept them alive.

On January 5 , with the ship at South Georgia, he had a heart attack in his bunk, and died. He was just With his death, Wild took the ship to Antarctica; but it proved unequal to the task, and after a month spent futilely attempting to penetrate the pack, he set a course for Elephant Island.

From the safety of the deck, he and his comrades peered through binoculars at the beach where so many of them had lived in fear and hope.

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