Ernest Shackleton

On the evening of 1st February 1910, Sir Ernest Shackleton stepped onto the platform in the Kinnaird Hall, Dundee, and prepared to deliver a talk about his recent expedition to the Antarctic.

 

The Dundee Advertiser reported that, commodious as it was, the hall was scarcely big enough to contain the enormous crowd of people who had gathered to hear the story of Shackleton’s daring southern journey.  Shackleton had actually returned to Britain the previous summer, and he had already given talks for RSGS in Glasgow and Edinburgh;  but such was his popularity in Dundee that special preparations had been made, and the newspapers were hailing his ‘long looked-for visit’.  Just down the road in the Victoria Art Galleries, a sumptuous after-party awaited him, to which 500 selected guests had been invited. 

 

The lecturer was introduced by the Chairman, Mr R B Don, who reminded the audience of Shackleton’s strong links with Dundee.  It was in this city, after all, that the RRS Discovery had been built, in which Shackleton had first sailed to the Antarctic on Captain Scott’s expedition of 1901;  and then, in the general election of 1906, Shackleton had fought a strenuous contest as a Liberal Unionist candidate in the Dundee hustings.  He had, said Mr Don, made many friends during that time and demonstrated the qualities of geniality, determination and good comradeship, all of which were necessary in a leader of men.

RSGS Shackleton Lectures 

Standing up amid rapturous applause, Shackleton playfully reminded his audience that four years ago, some of Dundee’s citizens had been rather less enthusiastic about his character and his ambitions.  It was on this very platform, he explained, that he’d taken part in a lively political debate:  having acquitted himself quite well, as he thought, for twenty minutes, he was then heckled for forty.  (The hecklers in Dundee were notorious for their wit, but in fact Shackleton gave as good as he got.)   ‘I know there will be no heckling at the end of this,’ added Shackleton, amid much laughter, ’but if there is, perhaps I will be able to reply to it better than I did then!’

 

Certainly no one interrupted the lecture that followed.  ‘It was a story of enthralling interest,’ reported the Dundee Advertiser, ‘modestly told, and brightened by many flashes of humour.’  Shackleton admitted that, at the outset, his plans were constrained by insufficient financial support, and he had had to content himself with a smaller ship than he’d originally desired.  However, the Nimrod had carried him and his crew safely to the Antarctic, and they had got within 97 miles of the South Pole before being forced to turn back.  

  

Photographs of the expedition, taken by expedition member Dr Eric Marshall and displayed as lantern slides, were viewed by the audience with fascination and awe.  Shackleton, as always, paid tribute to his comrades and their untiring work;  and then, after a vote of thanks, it was over.  

Southern Party 

The duties of the newspaper reporters were, however, far from finished.  In the Victoria Art Galleries, which had been lavishly decorated with palm trees and bowls of daffodils, tulips and lilies, two correspondents named Helen and Marjorie had been tasked with describing the outfit of every woman who was fortunate enough to attend.  (The men, although smartly turned out, weren’t mentioned at all.)  Each guest was formally presented to Sir Ernest Shackleton, who by now, according to Helen and Marjorie, was feeling self-conscious and asking for cigarettes;  and then they all mingled and chatted to the musical accompaniment of Mr H Everitt Loseby’s orchestra from Her Majesty’s Theatre in Dundee.

Cutting from The Courier about Shackleton

 

Overall, it was declared to be ‘a most brilliant function.’   The gathering, said the Dundee Courier, was ‘one of the most interesting that has ever been held there.’   Shackleton, bedecked with freshly-bestowed medals and decorations, could have been forgiven for resting a while on his laurels and enjoying the adulation.  But of course, he didn’t.      

 

In February 1905, almost a year before his failure to get elected to Parliament, he had written to his friend, H R Mill:  ‘I want to get on in any line I take up… no honest endeavour can be without its result.  With life before me, and strength and hope, all these things which time will whittle down, I may achieve something before the period at which life grows stale and strength wanes and hope flies.’ 

 

There would be another ship, another band of valiant men, and another grand adventure in the Antarctic.  

 

On 5th December, Dundee will once again pay tribute to Sir Ernest Shackleton with a festival at the Caird Hall, hosted jointly by RSGS and the Dundee Heritage Trust.  Get tickets now. 

 

 

Quotes:

 

Dundee Advertiser, 2nd February 1910

Dundee Courier, 2nd February 1910

Letter to H R Mill, 22nd February 1905 via Shackleton, Roland Huntford

 

 

Images:

 

1  Sir Ernest Shackleton

2  The Nimrod

3  The ‘Southern Party’ of the Nimrod expedition who trekked to within 97 miles of the Pole.  L to R:  Frank Wild, Ernest Shackleton, Eric Marshall and Jameson Adams

4  Newspaper cutting:  The Dundee Courier, 2nd February 1910 (RSGS Collections)

5  Programme of RSGS-hosted lectures by Sir Ernest Shackleton, 1909-1910 (RSGS Collections)