Sir Ernest Shackleton The Life And Legacy Of The Legendary British Explorer And His Expeditions To Antarctica Charles River Editors by Charles River Editors instant download after payment.

"For scientific leadership, give me Scott; for swift and efficient
travel, Amundsen; but when you are in a hopeless situation, when there
seems to be no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton."
- Sir Raymond Priestley
Exploration of Earth’s wilderness areas
became an international obsession in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, as economically advantaged nations, in particular European
powers and the United States were well equipped to mount exhaustive
expeditions. From previously inaccessible forests and jungle country to
the world’s great mountain ranges, adventurers sought out the greatest
extremes of climate and terrain in a race to plant the first flag where
humanity struggled to survive.
An earlier wave of explorers led
to the opening of the New World, and early polar expeditions saw ancient
ships of various nations sail along the coastlines of Greenland and
within reach of the Arctic and Antarctic continents. Many 19th century
figures approached the polar region with an eye to traversing it. Most
notable among them was British explorer Sir James Clark Ross, who took
the Erebus and the HMS Terror to the southernmost coastlines of the
planet. Ross is probably the first explorer to realize that Antarctica
was a continent and not just a large chain of islands, and he discovered
the section of the shelf that was to become the Victoria Barrier. Asian
nations also took part in Antarctic exploration when Nobu Shirase of
Japan mounted his 1911 expedition, while Sir Edgeworth David, a
Welsh-Australian, was the first person to successfully reach the summit
of Mt. Erebus. Richard Evelyn Byrd is believed to be the first pilot to
cross the Antarctic continent, and even well past the era of great polar
expeditions, British figures such as Edmund Hillary, conqueror of Mt.
Everest, made several expeditions to the South Pole.
The era was
universally dubbed the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, but its
greatest story did not stem from the actual achievement of reaching the
pole. It was, rather, one of the most profound and heroic rescues ever
witnessed that affirmed the empire’s greatness, embodied by the inspired
insistence and exemplary conduct of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton. This
unlikely figure entered the rich man’s world of polar exploration
through an astonishing persistence and succeeded through the same
quality. In fact, it was with Scott that Shackleton participated in his
first polar expedition.
Shackleton’s place in history is not the
one he set out to make, but his extraordinary deeds have made his
contributions to early exploration of Antarctica indelible. Despite the
victor’s wreath eventually going to another, Shackleton’s name is
essential to any discussion of Antarctic exploration, based on personal
heroism more than logistical triumphs.