The Discovery

In the summer of 1901 the ship , The Discovery departed for the Antarctic.

On 30th December 1902 Scott, Shackleton and Wilson reached within 400 miles of the South Pole, the furthest South yet achieved by anybody.

Shackleton was invalided on the return journey and was sent home early. His experience on this expedition then spurred Shackleton on, to have a go at reaching the South Pole himself.

In 1904 after his return he married Emily Dorman, they had three children Raymond, Cecily and Edward.

The Nimrod 1907 - 1909

In March 1907 Shackleton outlined his own trip, which he organised himself with the minimum of official support. The Expedition was to leave New Zealand in 1908. 

The ship chosen was a sealing ship which generally worked from Newfoundland. It was brought down and arrived in London in mid-June 1907. 

The Queen presented Shackleton with a Union Jack to carry on the sledge journey. They ship left for New Zealand on the 7th of August. 

The Commonwealth Government gave Shackleton £5000 and the New Zealand Government gave him £1000 and agreed to pay for half of the cost of towing the ship down to the Antarctic Circle to save coal for the journey that lay ahead. They entered the Ross Sea on January 16th. On the 28th of January the ship froze in the ice.

The next day they lowered the motorcar onto the ice pack, the first automobile on the Antarctic Continent.

The team set up the hut they had brought with them and the men crammed in. The weather began to close in and the sun to set. On the 29th of October 1908 Shackleton, Adams, Marshall and Wild headed for the South Pole, a 1700 mile round trip. The other men had set up many depots for the journey using the motorcar for several of them. The team began to run low on rations shot the ponies for food. On the 9th of January 1909 they reached a new furthest south - just 97 miles from the South Pole. They had to turn around due to lack of food.