Shackleton: patriotic or misfit?
Many historians think that Sir Ernest Shackleton was a hero and a great patriot of Great Britain; others think that Shakleton’s delusions and ambitions to make a fortune or to win fame brought 28 men to the South Pole in 1914; whereas the majority most likely has never heard anything about Shakleton. However, Shakleton and his attempt to cross the South Pole on foot can be rationalized in many ways.
Shackleton was a patriot.
First, Shackleton risked his life to bring the fame to his country. He decided to be the first who crossed the Antarctic on foot and that way to bring the respect and self confidence to Great Britain back. In the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century Great Britain was number one in the world by the number of attempts and by the amount of money spent to explore the South and the North Poles. In contrast, England appeared to be second best in exploring those Poles. The North Pole was conquered by Americans, Robert Peary and Matthew Henson in 1909 and the South Pole was explored by Norwegian Roald Amundsen in 1911. To stress, Great Britain was very close at reaching the South Pole the first; the expedition under Captain Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole only one month later than Amundsen. According to Alfred Lansing, who wrote about Shackletons incredible voyage in 1959, “the whole nation [Great Britain] was saddened” (10) and Shackleton “played heavily on this matter of the prestige, making it primary argument for such an expedition” (11).
Furthermore, the expedition was important for the scientific issues as well. The glaciologist and geologist were part of the team not only to attract the attention and money of the Scientific and Geographical Societies, but to help Shackleton to bring useful information to his country. As Shackleton informed, even Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill said that “every step will be an advance in geographical science” (viii).
Second, Shakleton was selfless. He did not go to the Antarctic for money. He sold the rights to the book that he promised to write after the return for the South Pole. He also sold the rights to the pictures from the Antarctica and promised to give all profit form the speeches that he would have made after the return from the Antarctic to the sponsoring componies. Furthermore, all the money that was donated to Shackleton’s trip was fully used to offset the outcomes of the journey; any sponsor or official did not promise to award Shackleton in case he succeeded.
Finally, Shackleton was heroic.” Exhibiting or marked by courage and daring; self-sacrificing; determined effort in the face of difficulty; of a kind, that is likely only to be undertaken to safe a life”,-these are the definitions of the word heroic provided by Merriam Webster’s dictionary and which almost literally characterize Shackleton.
First, Shackleton was fearless. He had been in the Antarctic two times before the expedition with “Endurance” and both times scarcely escaped form death. Even though Schakleton knew that he was bringing his men and himself into a great danger, he did not doubt to travel. Moreover, he had courage to change the course, when ice destroyed the “Endurance” (the ship he traveled with). Even though Shackleton was responsible to the financial sponsors of his voyage, he did not doubt to make his prime goal to bring his crew home alive.
Second, Shackleton was self-sacrificing. He scarified his family goodness for the trip. He did not leave any money to his family when he left to the Antarctic. Moreover, when he was facing starvation, cold and death during the trip to the Elephant Island through the Weddell Sea, Shackleton never lost the sense and never stopped caring about his men lives and health. To stress, when the crew reached the Elephant Island, Shackleton and his four men traveled 600 miles across the southern ocean to South Georgia in a small rowing boat without any navigation devices. Then they had to cross the island in order to reach the civilization and so to safe their and the rest of the crew members lives. Shackleton traveled for thirty-six hours without any food, water or sleep.