Book Description

Ernest Shackleton was obsessed by the Antarctic. He had written to his sister saying 'You can't think what it is like to walk over places where no man has walked before.' He was disappointed at his showing during Scott's Discovery Expedition-he had collapsed and spent much of the time as a passenger - and possibly felt that Scott had to a degree blamed him for the ultimate failure of the expedition.He wanted to be first to the South Pole, partly for the glory but also because he felt he had to redeem himself after Scott sent him back on the relief ship in 1903, because of his "ill health". Raising the money for another expedition was fraught with difficulties but in 1907 he finally set sail, aboard the Nimrod. Here, gathered together for the first time, are 156 letters and telegrams exploring the inner thoughts of an heroic man with far-reaching dreams. His emotions are revealed through personal correspondence with Scott, Dr. Edward Wilson, Sir Clements Markham and many others. They give an insight not only into the mind and character of this great explorer but into the internal politics of the time. The author details the history leading up to the expedition, through the trials of the year on the ice and the various journeys and then the return to England and the reception they received from the public, the press and such as the Royal Geographic Society. Correspondence covering the dismissal of Captain England, Shackleton's 'bequests' in the event of his non-return from his attempt to reach the Pole and his worries about the financial situation are included and the last section of the book reproduces Shackleton's intimate letters to his wife, Emily, and to Elspeth Beardmore, for whom he had a deep affection.