Details
SIR ERNEST HENRY SHACKLETON (1874-1922)
Autograph letter signed to 'Dear Mr Hislop', off the Pack Ice, Ross Sea, Antarctica, 25th January 1917. "The search is over and three of my men will never come home again. Thank God that seven are safe. I have brought you a curio from the South which you may like though it has no beauty like your present to me", 1p., 8vo, verso blank, with printed 'The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. S.Y.Aurora' heading to paper. Provenance: H.S.Hislop, Wellington, New Zealand; by descent.
An evocative letter, written on the day of Shackleton's final departure from the Antarctic circle: he had arrived in Wellington on 2 December 1916 hoping to lead the relief expedition aboard the Aurora to pick up the ten men marooned at the Ross Sea huts since May 1915. In the event the Aurora set sail on the 20 December under the command of Captain Davis, with Shackleton as a supernumerary fourth officer. On the 10 January 1917 figures were seen approaching the ship across the pack ice from Cape Evans. Shackleton and two others disembarked and went to meet them. It was an occasion for mixed emotions: joy at finding his men, shock at their poor physical and mental condition and sorrow upon learning that three of the ten were probably dead. The present letter was written on the day the Aurora's departure for New Zealand, and Shackleton's final day within reach of the Antarctic mainland. According to family history, Shackleton stayed with H.S.Hislop in Wellington, Hislop's wife Mabel gave Shackleton a jade Tiki and Shackleton reciprocated by presenting them with an inkwell incorporating a ball-bearing from one of the expedition's sled-runners. (2)
Autograph letter signed to 'Dear Mr Hislop', off the Pack Ice, Ross Sea, Antarctica, 25th January 1917. "The search is over and three of my men will never come home again. Thank God that seven are safe. I have brought you a curio from the South which you may like though it has no beauty like your present to me", 1p., 8vo, verso blank, with printed 'The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. S.Y.Aurora' heading to paper. Provenance: H.S.Hislop, Wellington, New Zealand; by descent.
An evocative letter, written on the day of Shackleton's final departure from the Antarctic circle: he had arrived in Wellington on 2 December 1916 hoping to lead the relief expedition aboard the Aurora to pick up the ten men marooned at the Ross Sea huts since May 1915. In the event the Aurora set sail on the 20 December under the command of Captain Davis, with Shackleton as a supernumerary fourth officer. On the 10 January 1917 figures were seen approaching the ship across the pack ice from Cape Evans. Shackleton and two others disembarked and went to meet them. It was an occasion for mixed emotions: joy at finding his men, shock at their poor physical and mental condition and sorrow upon learning that three of the ten were probably dead. The present letter was written on the day the Aurora's departure for New Zealand, and Shackleton's final day within reach of the Antarctic mainland. According to family history, Shackleton stayed with H.S.Hislop in Wellington, Hislop's wife Mabel gave Shackleton a jade Tiki and Shackleton reciprocated by presenting them with an inkwell incorporating a ball-bearing from one of the expedition's sled-runners. (2)