The Shackleton Autumn School
Ernest Shackleton was a member of Scott’s Discovery expedition and an Antarctic explorer in his own right. Each of his four expeditions to Antarctica could, to some degree, be considered failures in terms of what he set out to achieve but the man failed with style.
Shackleton joined Captain Scott’s Discovery expedition (1901 – 1904) and although he and Scott reached the furthest point south at that time, Shackleton was suffering from scurvy and Scott sent him home on the relief ship.
Shackleton went on to lead three of his own expeditions to the Antarctic. His Nimrod expedition took him within 180 km of the South Pole but he had to turn back. The Endurance expedition (1914 – 1916) was an attempt to cross Antarctica but the expedition never managed to set foot on the continent as their ship became stuck in ice and was eventually crushed leading to one of the great epics of human survival.
He died in 1922, at South Georgia, on his fourth expedition to the Antarctic, before he even reached the continent, and was buried on South Georgia island.
However, he advanced scientific knowledge and exploration of Antarctica and was renowned as a leader of men. In 2002, Shackleton was voted eleventh in a BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.
In the preface to his 1922 book The Worst Journey in the World, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, one of Scott’s team on the Terra Nova Expedition, wrote: “For a joint scientific and geographical piece of organisation, give me Scott; for a Winter Journey, Wilson; for a dash to the Pole and nothing else, Amundsen: and if I am in the devil of a hole and want to get out of it, give me Shackleton every time”.
To commemorate Shackleton’s life, every year in October, the Shackleton Autumn school takes place at the Shackleton Museum in the Irish town of Athy, not far from his birthplace. It has been running for 18 years.
His fans come from as far afield as America, New Zealand, Europe and even India has been represented at the event. Members of Shackleton’s family also attend.
Activities at the Autumn School include lectures relating to Antarctica and Shackleton’s life, master classes related to Shackleton and the showing of films, documentaries and even plays.
I think this 4-day event at the Shackleton Museum would be very interesting
Click here to find out more http://shackletonmuseum.com/