Editing Ernest Shackleton (section)

{{Short description|Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer (1874–1922)}}
{{Redirect|Shackleton}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[Sir]]
| name                = Ernest Shackleton
| honorific-suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CVO|OBE|FRGS|FRSGS}}
| image               = Ernest Shackleton before 1909.jpg
| caption             = Shackleton in 1904
| image_upright       =
| office              = Secretary of the {{nowrap|[[Royal Scottish Geographical Society]]}}
| term                = {{start and end dates|1904|01|11|1905|11|10|df=y}}
| predecessor         = [[Frederick Marshman Bailey]]
| successor           = William Lachlan Forbes
| birth_name          = Ernest Henry Shackleton
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1874|02|15|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Kilkea]], County Kildare<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance -->, Ireland<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance -->
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1922|01|05|1874|02|15|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Grytviken]], South Georgia<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance -->, Falkland Islands Dependencies<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance -->
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Emily Dorman]]|1904|}}
| children            = {{Hlist|Raymond|Cecily|[[Edward Shackleton|Edward]]}}
| relatives           = [[Kathleen Shackleton]] (sister)
| education           = [[Dulwich College]]
| signature           = Ernest Shackleton Signature.svg
| awards              = {{ubl|
[[Knight Bachelor]] (1909)|
[[Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]] (1909;<br/>Member 4th Class: 1907)|
[[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (1918)|
[[Polar Medal|Polar Medal with three clasps]]}}
| allegiance          = {{flagcountry|UKGBI}}
| branch_label        = Branch
| branch              = {{navy|UKGBI}}<br/>{{army|UKGBI}}
| serviceyears_label  = Service&nbsp;years
| serviceyears        = 1901–1904, 1917–1919
| rank                = {{Plainlist|
* [[Sub-lieutenant]] ([[Royal Naval Reserve|RNR]])
* [[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]]
}}
| battles_label       = Wars
| battles             = {{Tree list}}
* [[World War I]]
* [[Russian Civil War]]
{{Tree list/end}}
}}

'''Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton''' (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an [[Anglo-Irish]] [[Antarctic explorer]] who led three British expeditions to the [[Antarctic]]. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the [[Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration]].

Born in [[Kilkea]], County Kildare<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance -->, Ireland<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance -->, Shackleton and his Anglo-Irish family<ref>{{cite web | work = BBC History | title = Historical figures: Ernest Shackleton (1874–1922) | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/shackleton_ernest.shtml | access-date = 28 November 2022 |url-status=live |archive-date=27 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427204956/https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/shackleton_ernest.shtml}}</ref> moved to [[Sydenham, London|Sydenham]] in suburban south London when he was ten. Shackleton's first experience of the polar regions was as third officer on Captain [[Robert Falcon Scott]]'s [[Discovery Expedition|''Discovery'' Expedition]] of 1901–1904, from which he was sent home early on health grounds, after he and his companions Scott and [[Edward Adrian Wilson]] set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82°S. During the [[Nimrod Expedition|''Nimrod'' Expedition]] of 1907–1909, he and three companions established a new record [[Farthest South]] latitude of 88°23′ S, only 97&nbsp;[[geographical mile]]s (112&nbsp;[[statute mile]]s or 180&nbsp;kilometres) from the [[South Pole]], the largest advance to the pole in exploration history. Also, members of his team climbed [[Mount Erebus]], the most active Antarctic volcano. On returning home, Shackleton was knighted for his achievements by [[King Edward VII]].

After the race to the South Pole ended in December 1911, with [[Roald Amundsen]]'s conquest, Shackleton turned his attention to the crossing of Antarctica from sea to sea, via the pole. To this end, he made preparations for what became the [[Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition]] of 1914–1917. The expedition was struck by disaster when its ship, {{ship||Endurance|1912 ship|2}}, became trapped in [[pack ice]] and finally sank in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica on 21&nbsp;November 1915. The crew escaped by camping on the sea ice until it disintegrated, then by launching the lifeboats to reach [[Elephant Island]] and ultimately the South Atlantic island of [[South Georgia]], enduring a stormy ocean voyage of {{convert|720|nmi}} in Shackleton's most famous exploit. He returned to the Antarctic with the [[Shackleton–Rowett Expedition]] in 1921 but died of a heart attack while his ship was moored in South Georgia. At his wife's request, he remained on the island and was buried in [[Grytviken]] cemetery. The wreck of ''Endurance'' was discovered just over a century after Shackleton's death.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 March 2022 |title=Endurance: Shackleton's lost ship is found in Antarctic |first=Jonathan |last=Amos |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60662541 |access-date=18 March 2022 |url-status=live |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331231551/https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60662541}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Fountain |first1=Henry |title=At the Bottom of an Icy Sea, One of History's Great Wrecks Is Found |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/climate/endurance-wreck-found-shackleton.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=19 December 2022 |date=9 March 2022 |url-status=live |archive-date=11 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311131525/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/climate/endurance-wreck-found-shackleton.html}}</ref>

Away from his expeditions, Shackleton's life was generally restless and unfulfilled. In his search for rapid pathways to wealth and security, he launched business ventures which failed to prosper, and he died heavily in debt. Upon his death, he was lauded in the press but was thereafter largely forgotten, while the heroic reputation of his rival Scott was sustained for many decades. Later in the 20th century, Shackleton was "rediscovered",{{sfn|Jones|2003|p=289}} and he became a role model for leadership in extreme circumstances.{{sfn|Barczewski|2007|p=295}} In his 1956 address to the [[British Science Association]], one of Shackleton's contemporaries, Sir [[Raymond Priestley]], said: "Scott for scientific method, Amundsen for speed and efficiency[,] but[,] when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton", paraphrasing what [[Apsley Cherry-Garrard]] had written in a preface to his 1922 memoir ''[[The Worst Journey in the World]]''. In 2002, Shackleton was voted eleventh in a BBC poll of the [[100 Greatest Britons]].