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Ernest Shackleton, circa 1920.
Ernest Shackleton, circa 1920. Photograph: ullstein bild/Getty Images
Ernest Shackleton, circa 1920. Photograph: ullstein bild/Getty Images

Sir Ernest Shackleton dies at sea – archive, 1922

This article is more than 2 years old

30 January 1922: After a delay of three weeks, news emerges of the death of the Antarctic explorer at Grytviken, South Georgia

We deeply regret to announce the death of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the famous explorer in the course of his voyage on the Quest. Sir Ernest was in his forty-eighth year. The news is contained in a telegram of yesterday’s date from Reuter’s Montevideo correspondent, who says –

Sir Ernest Shackleton died of angina pectoris on board Quest on the 5th inst when the vessel was off Grytviken.

The body has been brought here on board the Norwegian steamer Professor Gruvel and it will be transferred to another vessel for conveyance to England, where it will be accompanied by Captain Hussey, one of the doctors of the expedition. Commander Frank Wild, the second in command, has taken charge of the expedition and proposes to carry on.

The Quest left Rio de Janeiro for South Georgia on 18 December, and thence she was to proceed direct to the Antarctic. The object of the expedition was to examine various little-known islands in the oceans of the southern hemisphere, and to explore certain parts of the Antarctic continent.

Reuter’s Agency hears that the death of Sir Ernest Shackleton occurred quite suddenly from heart failure, apparently on his arrival in South Georgia. The explorer had been suffering from influenza.

Wireless breakdown delays news

31 January 1922

Captain Hussey has explained that the three weeks’ delay in announcing Sir Ernest Shackleton’s death was due to a series of wireless mishaps. The Quest arrived at South Georgia Island with her main wireless plant out of commission owing to damage received in heavy storms during the voyage, which had otherwise been uneventful.

Editorial: the explorer in the Antarctic

31 January 1922

Sir Ernest Shackleton, whose death is mourned by many countries to-day besides his own, did not fall an immediate victim to the hardships of the polar regions, but it can scarcely be doubted that he sacrificed his life in the cause which he held dearest.

Sir Ernest Shackleton during the Quest expedition, 1921. Photograph: ullstein bild/Getty Images

“The polar regions,” says one of the chief historians of exploration, surveying the toll which it has levied on gallant lives, “are fitted only for the efforts of young men in the zenith of their strength, the only possible exceptions being tough old whalers who have never had time to be softened by so much as a summer at home.” It was one of the marvels of modern times that Shackleton emerged alive from his three expeditions.
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Shackleton’s last voyage: body embarked at Montevideo

16 February 1922

Montevideo
The body of Sir Ernest Shackleton left here to-day for its last resting-place in South Georgia. This morning, after a service in the church, the coffin was placed on a gun-carriage, on which it was taken to the harbour, where it was transferred to the barque Woodville. The coffin was followed by the British Charge d’Affaires, many members of the British colony, and a large number of Uruguayans and foreigners desiring to show their respects.

The explorer will be buried in the graveyard of the little English church at Grytviken at Mount George, a little whaling port looking out on the Antarctic Sea and situated in a bay ringed by towering snow-capped hills.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Endurance will ‘decay out of existence’ unless ship is raised from sea

  • Endurance shipwreck threatened by global heating, says marine archaeologist

  • Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance found – in pictures

  • Endurance: Shackleton's ship found 106 years after sinking in Antarctic – video

  • Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance found off coast of Antarctica

  • How Ernest Shackleton’s icy adventure was frozen in time

  • Search begins for Ernest Shackleton’s wrecked ship off Antarctica

  • South review – startling filmed record of Shackleton’s gruelling Antarctic odyssey

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