Shackleton, Ernest Henry

Born Feb. 15, 1874, in Kilkee; died Jan. 5,1922, on South Georgia Island. British antarctic explorer.

From 1901 to 1903, Shackleton was a member of R. F. Scott’s expedition. In 1908–09 he headed an expedition aboard the Nimrod. The expedition split up into three groups, one of which, led by Shackleton, set off for the south pole. The group never reached the pole, traveling as far as 88°23’ S lat.; en route it discovered the Beardmore Glacier. In the period 1914–17, Shackleton organized and led a transantarctic expedition. The expedition succeeded in exploring only part of the coast of Coats Land (called Caird Coast by Shackleton) because its ship, the Endurance, was trapped in the ice and crushed. In 1921, Shackleton once again set off for antarctic shores, aboard the Quest, but he died en route.

A coast, an ice shelf, and a strait in Antarctica and three mountains (Antarctica, Canada, and eastern Greenland) have been named after Shackleton.