The late Sir Edmund Hillary (1919–2008) recounted an eerie tale of Antarctica, the southern continent that has intrigued adventurers for the past 150 years. The mysterious encounter occurred at Cape Royds, Ross Island, in the hut that had been used by polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874–1922), who led the Nimrod expedition bound for the South Pole in 1908.
Throwing back the hut’s door, Hillary glimpsed something that would stay with him for ever. “I’m not one to see things,” he said, “but when I opened the door I distinctly saw Shackleton walking towards me and welcoming me. Shackleton has always been my hero. I admire enormously his courage and skill in moments of danger.”
Ultimately, it was the exploits of Shackleton that inspired the young Hillary to challenge himself beyond personal boundaries and to go in search of places where others never dared tread.
Admiration for Shackleton is shared by a raft of explorers and adventurers for whom the pull of the southern continent has proved too great to ignore. From Peter Hillary (son of Sir Edmund Hillary) to adventurer Sir Peter Blake, many have looked upon Shackleton with fondness.
Now, 100 years after Shackleton and his party set off on their sledges up the Beardmore Glacier and onto the South Polar Plateau, their descendants will attempt to finish what they started.
Travelling on skis across the Ross Ice Shelf and hauling their supplies on sledges, the 2008 Matrix Shackleton Centenary expedition intends to reach the point where the original party turned back exactly a century ago, and to continue, completing “unfinished business”.
SHACKLETON’S STORY
Born in Ireland in the late 19th century, Shackleton was one of 10 children. He proved to have a spirit of adventure from an early age, leaving school at 16 to join the merchant navy. He attempted to trek to the South Pole three times – once with Antarctic explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868–1912), who eventually became his bitter rival.
Shackleton’s second attempt to reach the Pole was in 1908, on what is known as the Nimrod expedition. With three companions – Frank Wild, Jameson Boyd Adams and Eric Marshall – Shackleton came to within 156km of his target, but he and his party were beaten back by the horrors of the cold and starvation.
“Three years before [Roald] Amundsen and [Robert Falcon] Scott finally made it to the Pole, Shackleton had glory staring him in the face,” says Henry Worsley, leader of this year’s centenary expedition, “but he decided to turn around and go home because he didn’t want to risk the lives of his men. He turned down immense glory, but he always put the safety of his men first, and they loved him for it.”
Shackleton is perhaps one of the most successful failures in history: he turned even the most astounding failures into stories of triumph. After his unsuccessful attempt to reach the South Pole in 1908, he returned to Britain, only to be hailed a hero and knighted for his achievements.
KIWI CONNECTIONS
Shackleton’s legend looms large in the New Zealand psyche: his expeditions always departed from Aotearoa’s shores; Frank Worsley, captain of several of his expeditions, was born in New Zealand; and two of his crew are buried in Wellington’s Karori cemetery. The New Zealand government also donated funds and a shipload of sheep to the Nimrod expedition.
A distant relative of Frank Worsley and a member of the 2008 expedition, Henry Worsley believes Shackleton can be deemed a hero for his ability to turn disaster into success. A veteran of 25 years in the British army, Worsley is quick to recognise Shackleton’s leadership skills: “There is a lot of what Shackleton stood for in a military career, particularly an absolute belief that your men come first. That, to him, was the most important thing. Whatever else, his men came first.”
It is in these heroic footsteps that the 2008 Matrix Shackleton Centenary expedition will tread. Along with Worsley, the 2008 team includes Henry Adams (great-grandson of Jameson Boyd Adams) and Will Gow (an adventurer related to Shackleton through marriage). Patrick Bergel, Shackleton’s great-grandson, will join the journey to trace the last 156km, as will Tim Fright, whose great-great-uncle was Frank Wild.
With their unique ties to the original adventure, Worsley hopes the New Zealand public will be as enthusiastic about this year’s expedition as they were 100 years ago. However, support has been slow, and red tape has meant their adventure must now be launched from Chile.
“I tried to start the expedition from New Zealand, but it’s been very difficult. We want New Zealanders to be as involved as possible in this expedition because they played such a big part in the original adventure,” Worsley says.
POSITIVE THINKING
The 2008 team has undergone a rigorous training regimen for the trip. According to Worsley, they are as prepared as they can be: “I think that as long as you’ve put yourself through a number of scenarios that have really stretched you during your training, you can put those in your memory bank. As long as you’ve got through them, you can draw on them for strength.
“As part of our training we went in a race, pulling a sledge for 514km in Yukon, northwest Canada, that had to be completed in seven days. It involved walking for 20 hours a day in -25C.
“It was fine to start with, but I started hallucinating after six days. I got through it by imagining that I was pulling my eight-year-old daughter in my sledge and that she was critically ill. That kept me going.
I simply had to get to the finish line.
“I’ve also learnt to laugh at personal hardship. Having fun and keeping a positive frame of mind is tremendously powerful. You can get through so much hardship by having a laugh. And our team gets on terribly well. I think Shackleton always worked hard to keep the morale of his men high. There must be no room for negative thought. The power of a positive attitude is incredibly strong.”
The 80-day trek will take the team through some of the most hostile yet ruggedly beautiful scenery on Earth. Along with facing their inner demons, the members of the team will inevitably experience setbacks presented by the climate and terrain.
According to experts, the explorers’ bodies will begin to deteriorate from the first day of the expedition and they will struggle to replace the calories they lose as they haul their sledges south.
Nutritionists agree that each team member will require about 7000 calories a day, though they will be able to consume no more than 6500 calories a day.
ANTARCTIC ADVENTURE
The team setting off on October 29 is not just travelling for its own glory. Its main mission is to raise awareness of the newly formed Shackleton Foundation. “We want to find people who have Shackleton’s leadership qualities, so we are looking for individuals who have those and who have their own ‘Antarctic’ they want to cross. By ‘Antarctic’, I mean a project they want to complete. We’re looking for people who show a relentless pursuit to see a project through,” Worsley says.
The Matrix Shackleton Centenary expedition has another mission: to study how fast the ice is melting in the South Pole. “It would be wrong of us not to do anything scientific on the journey, because we will be going to areas that have not been visited since 1985. We’re doing some work for the UK’s Hull University, collecting blue ice samples from the Beardmore Glacier and taking some moraine samples. These will be used for analysis back in the UK. Scientists will use the samples to study the speed of the glacier and the effects of global warming on the ice pack. It will be a great utility to help understand the effects of the climate on the Antarctic,” Worsley says.
SHACKLETON’S LEGACY
According to Worsley, adventures like this come along only once in a lifetime. “Shackleton’s grand-daughter is lending me his compass for the journey – the compass he took to that [156km] point. Romantically, to carry that to the South Pole would be something Shackleton would be thrilled about. I think that any part of him making it back to the Pole would be a very fitting way of celebrating the 100th year of that expedition. I think it will be a very special 80 days.”
To follow the journey of the Matrix Shackleton Centenary expedition, visit shackletoncentenary.org for a daily log.
DID YOU KNOW?
CARBON NEUTRAL
Apart from the fuel used
on flights and for daily cooking,
the Matrix Shackleton Centenary expedition will be powered by solar energy.
WEIGHTY ISSUE
Despite their intake of
a high-calorie diet, each
team member will lose approximately 9.5kg on
the 80-day trek, say experts.
TOUGH TRAINING
The centenary team has been through intense training and fitness programs with the Olympic Medical Institute in London.
SHACKLETON FOUNDATION
Established in 2007, the Shackleton Foundation funds bold and innovative projects with grants of up to $25,000.
