Details
SIR ERNEST HENRY SHACKLETON (1874-1922)
Autograph letter signed to 'Dear John' [(?)Quiller Rowett], [Rio de Janeiro], 18 December 1921, '110° in the shade, all the work is done and we are going... it has been Hell here with the lid off; fighting for economy and yet having to do vital things: Now I go and the next you will hear will be please God success: Should anything happen in the ice it will have nothing to do with anything wrong with the ship... Give Ellie my love and tell her that "Never for me the lowered banner" "Never the lost endeavour" Your friend Ernest', 2pp. on 2ll., 4to, versos blank, each with 'Quest. R.Y.S.' embossed at head.
One of Shackleton's last letters, written 18 days before his death to (?)John Quiller Rowett, his friend and expedition financier. In this evocative letter Shackleton provides his own epitaph: NEVER FOR ME THE LOWERED BANNER NEVER THE LOST ENDEAVOUR (interestingly Shackleton used almost the same quote in a letter to Mrs.Rowett, dated 18 July 1921, now at the Scott Polar Research Institute: 'Never the lowered hammer Never the lost endeveaour'), almost as if he believed the fortune teller who (before the previous expedition) had foretold his death at the age of 48. The Quest reached South Georgia on the 4th January 1922 after delays caused by engine problems. Shackleton died from a heart attack the following day and was buried at the whaling station at Grytviken.
Autograph letter signed to 'Dear John' [(?)Quiller Rowett], [Rio de Janeiro], 18 December 1921, '110° in the shade, all the work is done and we are going... it has been Hell here with the lid off; fighting for economy and yet having to do vital things: Now I go and the next you will hear will be please God success: Should anything happen in the ice it will have nothing to do with anything wrong with the ship... Give Ellie my love and tell her that "Never for me the lowered banner" "Never the lost endeavour" Your friend Ernest', 2pp. on 2ll., 4to, versos blank, each with 'Quest. R.Y.S.' embossed at head.
One of Shackleton's last letters, written 18 days before his death to (?)John Quiller Rowett, his friend and expedition financier. In this evocative letter Shackleton provides his own epitaph: NEVER FOR ME THE LOWERED BANNER NEVER THE LOST ENDEAVOUR (interestingly Shackleton used almost the same quote in a letter to Mrs.Rowett, dated 18 July 1921, now at the Scott Polar Research Institute: 'Never the lowered hammer Never the lost endeveaour'), almost as if he believed the fortune teller who (before the previous expedition) had foretold his death at the age of 48. The Quest reached South Georgia on the 4th January 1922 after delays caused by engine problems. Shackleton died from a heart attack the following day and was buried at the whaling station at Grytviken.