Sir Ernest Shackleton CVO, OBE, FRGS, Polar Explorer and Freemason.
Initiated into Navy Lodge No. 2612 (UGLE) on 9th July, 1901.
After the introductory paragraph which gives a few details of Shackleton's Life and introduction to Freemasonry, you will find a Paper, reproduced courtesy of the United Grand Lodge of England and 'MQ Magazine', entitled 'Brothers in Endurance' by John Jackson, which appeared in the issue two edition of 'MQ' in July, 2002. This article is worth reproducing as it recounts the epic Endurance expedition and highlights the fact that Scott and Amundsen were also Freemasons .
After the introductory paragraph which gives a few details of Shackleton's Life and introduction to Freemasonry, you will find a Paper, reproduced courtesy of the United Grand Lodge of England and 'MQ Magazine', entitled 'Brothers in Endurance' by John Jackson, which appeared in the issue two edition of 'MQ' in July, 2002. This article is worth reproducing as it recounts the epic Endurance expedition and highlights the fact that Scott and Amundsen were also Freemasons .
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
(15th February in 1874- 5th January, 1922)
(15th February in 1874- 5th January, 1922)
Ernest Henry Shackleton was born on the 15th February in 1874 in Kilkea House, County Kildare. The second in a family of ten, his father Henry farmed at Kilkea. His mother Henrietta was descended from the Fitzmaurices, a family which had been in Kerry since the Norman times in the 13th century. Abraham Shackleton(1), was a Quaker from west Yorkshire who came to Ballitore in County Kildare and started a school in 1726. Famous past pupils include Cardinal Paul Cullen, Edmund Burke(2), famous political writer and orator and James Napper Tandy, United Irishman.
In 1880 when Ernest was six his father gave up farming and went to Trinity College Dublin, and qualified to be a doctor. The family lived at 35 Marlborough Road in Dublin and in 1884 they moved to Sydenham in South London where Henry practiced for 30 years.
In 1880 when Ernest was six his father gave up farming and went to Trinity College Dublin, and qualified to be a doctor. The family lived at 35 Marlborough Road in Dublin and in 1884 they moved to Sydenham in South London where Henry practiced for 30 years.
Ernest Shackleton, aged 16,
wearing his White Star Line uniform, 1890. |
After attending school at Dulwich College as a day boy Ernest, aged 16, joined the Merchant Navy at the age of 16, having rejected his father's wish that he become a doctor. He qualified as a Master Mariner in 1898. He travelled widely but was keen to explore the poles.
Shackleton was initiated into Navy Lodge No. 2612 (United Grand Lodge of England) on 9th July, 1901. His advancement was notably slow. Almost immediately after his initiation Shackleton joined Captain Scott’s expedition to Antarctica that aimed to be the first to reach the South Pole. Despite the expedition’s failure Shackleton was inspired to lead his own expedition in 1907 that came within 97 miles of the South Pole. He was subsequently knighted in 1909. |
Despite appearing on many Navy Lodge summonses throughout the period, Shackleton attended the first regular meeting of Guild of Freemen Lodge No. 3525 (United Grand Lodge of England) in 1911 and was passed to the second degree by that lodge on 2nd November, 1911. He was raised to the degree of Master Mason at Guild of Freemen Lodge on 30th May, 1913(3).
Footnotes:-
(1) See 'Edmund Burke - Famous Irish Freemasons'.
(2) Ibid.
(3) The Navy Lodge No. 2612, The First Hundred Years by W Bro Captain D.M. Swain, Royal Navy, 2004.
(1) See 'Edmund Burke - Famous Irish Freemasons'.
(2) Ibid.
(3) The Navy Lodge No. 2612, The First Hundred Years by W Bro Captain D.M. Swain, Royal Navy, 2004.
'Brothers in Endurance' by John Jackson.
Reproduced from the issue two edition of 'MQ' in July, 2002 [see Footnote I] [Whereas the photographs which appear below would be by Frank Hurley, they are not the photographs that actually appear in the article by John Jackson, but are very similar in nature.
Frank Hurley Photograph of Ernest Shackleton's 'Endurance' Expedition to Antarctica, 1915.
Explorers are a breed apart, facing danger as a way of life, and overcoming insuperable odds - or dying heroically in the attempt. Three of the greatest polar explorers had two things in common. First, they were all Freemasons, and second, they each died, in different circumstances, in that merciless and forbidding frozen sub-continent.
From a Masonic viewpoint, Shackleton is unique in a couple of other aspects. He must hold the record (or must be close to it) for the gap between taking his first and second degrees. Because of his polar explorations, after being initiated in Navy Lodge on 9th July, 1901, it was well over ten years before he took his second step in Freemasonry, at an emergency meeting on 2 November 1911, in the Guild of Freemen Lodge No. 3525.
This Lodge, restricted to Freemen of the City of London, also conducted his third degree ceremony, again in an emergency meeting, on 30th May, 1913. He became an honorary member of that Lodge on 28th April, 1914.
His second notable act was to announce his last expedition publicly at a Ladies Festival of the Guild of Freemen Lodge, surely something no other explorer has ever done before or since.
Now Shackleton, 80 years after his death, has become something of a cult figure, since Channel 4 screened an epic two-part, four-hour extravaganza with Kenneth Branagh in the star role at the beginning of the year. At £10.5 million, and shot over a four year period, it was Britain's costliest TV drama production, but it faithfully repaid its makers with an audience of 3.6 million viewers on each night - 16 per cent of the TV-watching audience.
As well as several books, a novel also captured the harrowing expedition through the pen of Caroline Alexander, whose Mrs Chippy's Last Expedition was written in the voice of the ship's cat! Shackleton himself wrote two accounts of his journeys for posterity in The Heart of the Atlantic (1909) and South (1919).
There have also been several re-enactments of Shackleton's legendary open boat journey and South Georgia's mountain crossing. And for those of a particularly adventurous spirit, there is now the opportunity to travel in Shackleton's footsteps across South Georgia Island, albeit in conditions of some luxury. |
Shackleton led the British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition aiming to be the first to cross that inhospitable continent. He set sail with a crew of 27 in a ship he renamed Endurance after his family motto, Fortitudine Vincimus - 'by endurance we conquer' - in December 1914 as the guns began their ominous roar at the opening of the First World War.
The crew joined following Shackleton's recruitment notice that read: 'Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.' The objective was to cross Antarctica from Weddell Sea to McMurdo Sound, a distance of 2,000 miles.
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Shackleton was already an acknowledged polar explorer, and had been knighted following his Antarctic (Nimrod) Expedition of 1907-9. [For an actual voice recording of Shackleton from this expedition see Footnote II] He also had a good eye for publicity and ensured the expedition was fully recorded on film and camera.
The photographer, Frank Hurley, whose photographs are reproduced in this article by kind permission of the Royal Geographical Society, had a darkroom aboard the Endurance, and when the ship went down, he had to dive into the watery bottom to retrieve his glass-plate negatives.
As they were unloading their supplies, disaster struck when the wooden ship was trapped in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea, where she remained and drifted for 10 months until finally being crushed.
The Endurance
At first Shackleton and his crew lived on the ship, but as she began to sink, they moved about a mile away and sheltered in the three upturned lifeboats. A month after this move, on 21st November, 1915, the Endurance, the only way home for the team, sank.
For more safety, they moved to a fresh ice flow that they named 'Patience Camp'. The crew lived under those boats for the duration of the six month Arctic night. Short of food, clothing and shelter, finally they drifted to the northern edge of the pack, the sun came up and the ice began to break up. This enabled them, in April 1916, to sail their three small lifeboats to a bleak crag called Elephant Island, a speck of rock at the north end of the Antarctica Peninsula. It was the first time they had set foot on land for 497 days.
But as the island was uninhabited, their chances for survival still looked bleak - and the recruitment advertisement suddenly became very prophetic. But Shackleton was no quitter and he soon brought his sterling powers of leadership to bear on the situation. The epic part of their journey was about to begin.
Shackleton and five other crew members decided to organise a rescue for the crew by sailing one of the lifeboats, the 23-foot whaler James Caird, on what seemed an impossible journey from Elephant Island, 500 miles south of Cape Horn to South Georgia Island, where there was a whaling station.
The launch of the 22-foot James Caird from Elephant Island,
the boat that would carry Shackleton 800 miles on the open sea to South Georgia.
the boat that would carry Shackleton 800 miles on the open sea to South Georgia.
The boat was named after Sir James Key Caird, a wealthy Dundee jute manufacturer and philanthropist, who had given £24,000 to the expedition - a massive sum in those days.
Eight years ago, the James Caird Society was formed as a registered charity to honour the lifeboat and the six men who survived the epic 17-day, 800 mile journey through some of the most treacherous waters in the world.
The James Caird was brought back to England in 1919, and in 1922 was presented to Dulwich School, which Shackleton had attended, by John Quiller Rowett, a school friend of the explorer, and who sponsored his last expedition aboard the Quest.
And when the James Caird finally reached South Georgia Island, the odds were still against them. Unfortunately, because of prevailing winds, they landed at Cape Rosa, an uninhabited part of the island. As a result, they had to cross 26 miles of virtually impassable mountains and glaciers to reach the whaling station on the other side of the island.
Starved, suffering from frostbite and their clothes in tatters, Shackleton and two others made the nightmare journey, covering 22 miles in 36 hours, and in August 1916, some 21 months after setting out for the Antarctic, they finally met civilisation when they reached Stromness Station. Again showing his leadership qualities, Shackleton insisted on returning to Elephant Island to be on hand for the rescue of his colleagues.
Eight years ago, the James Caird Society was formed as a registered charity to honour the lifeboat and the six men who survived the epic 17-day, 800 mile journey through some of the most treacherous waters in the world.
The James Caird was brought back to England in 1919, and in 1922 was presented to Dulwich School, which Shackleton had attended, by John Quiller Rowett, a school friend of the explorer, and who sponsored his last expedition aboard the Quest.
And when the James Caird finally reached South Georgia Island, the odds were still against them. Unfortunately, because of prevailing winds, they landed at Cape Rosa, an uninhabited part of the island. As a result, they had to cross 26 miles of virtually impassable mountains and glaciers to reach the whaling station on the other side of the island.
Starved, suffering from frostbite and their clothes in tatters, Shackleton and two others made the nightmare journey, covering 22 miles in 36 hours, and in August 1916, some 21 months after setting out for the Antarctic, they finally met civilisation when they reached Stromness Station. Again showing his leadership qualities, Shackleton insisted on returning to Elephant Island to be on hand for the rescue of his colleagues.
The Endurance crew.
But once again, it was not a smooth path. Dense pack ice blocked the first three rescue attempts. Then, with the help of the Chilean authorities, Shackleton made a fourth attempt in the trawler Yelcho, and this time they penetrated the pack ice to rescue the 22 crew on Elephant Island. Miraculously, despite the hardship and privation, not a single member of the 28 member crew was lost during this 22-month period that had tested men to the utmost.
Shackleton with Frank Worsley on the left
and Tom Crean, from Kerry on his right. |
Sir Raymond Priestley, who accompanied Shackleton on his Antarctic expeditions between 1907 and 1913, later commented: 'For scientific leadership, give me Scott; for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen; but when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems to be no way out, get on your knees and pray for Shackleton.' |
On his last expedition, to Enderby Land in Antarctica, Shackleton died aboard ship and is buried on South Georgia Island.
Shackleton's Grave in Grytviken, South Georgia Island.
The polar exploration of the Masonic trio are inevitably interlinked in their rivalry as intrepid explorers. It was after Shackleton's 1907-9 failure to reach the South Pole - falling just 97 miles short - that Amundsen studied his rival's attempt and prepared for his own assault on this daunting task.
In 1911 Scott and Amundsen were rivals to reach the South Pole. Amundsen was successful; the Scott's expedition ended in tragedy. Amundsen put his success down to his carefully selected sled dogs, whereas Scott had used Siberian ponies rather than dogs.
On 18th October, 1911, the Norwegian, known as 'the last of the Vikings' set off on his final drive to his destination from the Bay of Whales, on Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf. The weather was in their favour. Scott set off three weeks later. On 14th December, 1911, Amundsen raised the Norwegian flag at the South Pole, returning to their base camp on 25th January, 1912, 99 days and 1,860 miles after their departure.
Scott's expedition spent five days confined to their tents because of the blizzards, reaching the South Pole on 17th January, 1912. They headed back for a journey they would never complete, for on 29th March, 1912, with temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, Scott and two surviving companions crawled into a tent. Eight months later their frozen corpses were found, only 11 miles from a food and supply depot they had left on their outward trek.
In 1911 Scott and Amundsen were rivals to reach the South Pole. Amundsen was successful; the Scott's expedition ended in tragedy. Amundsen put his success down to his carefully selected sled dogs, whereas Scott had used Siberian ponies rather than dogs.
On 18th October, 1911, the Norwegian, known as 'the last of the Vikings' set off on his final drive to his destination from the Bay of Whales, on Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf. The weather was in their favour. Scott set off three weeks later. On 14th December, 1911, Amundsen raised the Norwegian flag at the South Pole, returning to their base camp on 25th January, 1912, 99 days and 1,860 miles after their departure.
Scott's expedition spent five days confined to their tents because of the blizzards, reaching the South Pole on 17th January, 1912. They headed back for a journey they would never complete, for on 29th March, 1912, with temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, Scott and two surviving companions crawled into a tent. Eight months later their frozen corpses were found, only 11 miles from a food and supply depot they had left on their outward trek.
Three great polar explorers - a trio of famous Freemasons - have given their lives in the cause of human endeavour. Their inspiration of indomitable spirit lives on. As the Freemasons' Chronicle said in an obituary to Shackleton on 4th February, 1922: 'The whole of the Masonic Craft shares regret at the untimely death of the great scientist Sir Ernest Shackleton. He was a member of our Order, and at a Ladies Festival (of which Lodge he was an honorary member), announced to the public his last Antarctic Expedition via New Zealand.'
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
(1874-1922)
(1874-1922)
It is encouraging to know that his name and achievements are still so much alive today.
Footnote I:-
'MQ' Magazine was a magazine published by the United Grand Lodge of England until 2007. You can view Issues 1-22 online by the following Link ~ MQ Magazine. This magazine was replaced by 'Freemasonry Today', the online edition of which can be accessed by the following Link ~ Freemasonry Today.
Footnote II:-
An actual voice recording of Shackleton from this expedition can be accessed through the following link ~
'MQ' Magazine was a magazine published by the United Grand Lodge of England until 2007. You can view Issues 1-22 online by the following Link ~ MQ Magazine. This magazine was replaced by 'Freemasonry Today', the online edition of which can be accessed by the following Link ~ Freemasonry Today.
Footnote II:-
An actual voice recording of Shackleton from this expedition can be accessed through the following link ~
.