Shackleton's manhaul sledge harness

Details

BRITISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION, 1907-1909 -- Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922)
Shackleton's manhaul sledge harness
traces of initials 'E.H.S.' in pencil on the outside of the belt, with inscription 'RGS/41' in ink on the harness, with further inscription 'SLEDGING HARNESS WORN BY ERNEST SHACKLETON FARTHEST SOUTH 1907-9. PROPERTY OF MISS SHACKLETON 118. CHATSWORTH COURT LONDON W8' on a label tied to the harness
stitched canvas and leather
53in. (134.7cm.) around waist

Provenance

Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922).
Cecily Jane Swinford Shackleton, and thence by descent;
Sale, Christie's London, The Shackleton Collection, 25 Sept. 2001, lot 58, where acquired by the present owner.

Exhibited

Dulwich, Dulwich College, Shackleton, The Antarctic and Endurance, 2000, no. 49 (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue p.76).

Lot Essay

Shackleton's harness from the Southern Journey, that saved his life on countless occasions as his party negotiated the crevasse-seamed Beardmore Glacier on the way to and back from the Polar Plateau: 'Just before we left the Glacier I broke through the soft snow, plunging into a hidden crevasse. My harness jerked up under my heart, and gave me rather a shake up. It seemed as though the glacier were saying: "This is the last touch of you; don't you come up here again."' E.H. Shackleton, The Heart of the Antarctic, London, 1909, I, p.355)

With just four ponies, in lieu of dogs, and with the last surviving pony Socks lost in a crevasse at the beginning of the ascent of the Beardmore Glacier, the majority of Shackleton's 1755 mile march to within 100 miles of the South Pole was achieved by manhauling sledges, on foot rather than ski, with harness and alpine rope.

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