Description Of Ernest Shackleton's First South Pole Expedition

Mark Hoppus claimed that “Antarctica is otherworldly, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Stark, cold, beautiful desolation” and everyone who ever visited couldn’t agree more. On the seventh of August 1907, the 300 ton Nimrod left left Great Britain. It traveled across the sea and landed in New Zealand. After a brief stop there, the Nimrod set off to Antarctica, and the rest is history. This expedition was lead by Ernest Shackleton, and the goal was to reach the South Pole. The team works hard and go as far as they can, but in the end, for the sake of his own men, Ernest makes the brave decision to turn back. The first South Pole expedition by Ernest Shackleton re-sparked the curiosity of the people at the time about the Earth and all of its

These men went through hell on Earth to reach their destination. There were crevices and mountains all coated in slick ice. There were three parts to the expedition. The first part was a scaling of Mount Erebus, the first time this had been done. On the way down, one man, named Brocklehurst caught frostbite and had to have part of his foot amputated. The second part of the trip was a small group of men to lead ahead and leave some small depots along the way. While returning, one men in this leading party, named Mawson, fell into a crevasse. The crew was too exhausted to get him out on their own, and they had to wait for the Nimrod to come again to save him. Mawson

On the third part of the expedition, there was a car taken along, which proved to be useless in the snow. They also found the ponies had the same problem. This forced the men to carry the sledge themselves. Many of the ponies collapsed on the journey and had to be shot and used for meals. Some of the meat was stored for later. The men had very little food, and lived on two biscuits a day. The men soon suffered altitude sickness and Shackleton saw what an awful state his men were in. He soon made the decision that it was no use killing his men for the glory. He ordered a retreat. The return was treacherous. The food supply was down to practically nothing, and it was a race to one depot to the next. One depot was filled with contaminated pony meat and many of the men came down with a serious case of dysentery. A man named Marshall eventually collapsed due to the dysentery.

Finally, Shackleton’s journey showed how strong the respect for others could be extremely powerful. Shackleton could have had all the glory, he could have been known throughout history, but he didn’t. He wouldn’t sacrifice his men, or himself, for the glory of being the first. He told his wife “I thought you’d rather have a live donkey than a dead