Who is ernest shackleton

The remaining men from the 'Endurance' were rescued in August Not one member of the expedition died. Shackleton's fourth expedition aimed to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent but on 5 January , Shackleton died of a heart attack off South Georgia. He was buried on the island. Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience.

Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. On August 25, , Shackleton returned to Elephant Island to rescue the remaining crew members.

Astonishingly, not a single member of his men team died during the nearly two years they were stranded. In , Shackleton published South , his detailed account of the journey and its miraculous ending. Shackleton, however, was not through with expeditions. In late he set off on a fourth mission to the South Pole. His goal was to circumnavigate the Antarctic. But on January 5, , Shackleton suffered a heart attack on his ship and died. He was buried in South Georgia. Reverence for Shackleton's heroism and leadership didn't immediately follow.

But over the last half-century, as his story became the subject of more historical research, the account of the Endurance and how Shackleton averted total disaster has elevated his standing and made him a principal figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Physicist Ernest Rutherford was the central figure in the study of radioactivity who led the exploration of nuclear physics. Ernest Everett Just was an African American biologist and educator best known for his pioneering work in the physiology of development, especially in fertilization.

English admiral Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe from , helped defeat the Spanish Armada of and was the most renowned seaman of the Elizabethan era. English explorer Henry Hudson embarked on multiple sailing voyages that provided new information on North American water routes. As both Amundsen and Scott had reached the South Pole and the Americans had reached the North Pole, he saw this as the last great challenge.

Shackleton and his men set sail in August , just as the war was starting in Europe. On 19 January , Endurance became locked in the ice of the Weddell Sea. Over the course of the next nine months, the ship was gradually crushed, finally sinking on 27 October.

It proved impossible for the 28 men to drag their boats and stores across the frozen sea, so Shackleton camped on the ice and drifted with it. When the ice began to break up, the men launched the three boats and in dangerous conditions, managed to reach Elephant Island. This rocky and barren island was still more than miles from the nearest inhabited land with people who could help them. He decided to leave most of the party behind, while he and five others set out on the James Caird to reach South Georgia, the nearest inhabited island, miles away.

He knew that he would find help there, at the Norwegian whaling stations on the north side. After 15 exhausting days at sea, the crew of the James Caird finally sighted South Georgia. No, because they were on the uninhabited side of the island. To get to the whaling stations, they had to cross the unmapped island to the other side.