![Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) Autograph letter signed ('your loving brother Ernest') to his sister Eleanor, 'At Sea' [Hoghton Tower, Indian Ocean], 24 April [1893], 3½ pages, 12mo (worn at folds, the lower half of f.2 detached); with an envelope inscribed by Emily Shackleton 'a very precious letter given me years ago by Eleanor Shackleton'.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2003/CSK/2003_CSK_09694_0333_000(062639).jpg?w=1)
Details
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) Autograph letter signed ('your loving brother Ernest') to his sister Eleanor, 'At Sea' [Hoghton Tower, Indian Ocean], 24 April [1893], 3½ pages, 12mo (worn at folds, the lower half of f.2 detached); with an envelope inscribed by Emily Shackleton 'a very precious letter given me years ago by Eleanor Shackleton'.
Provenance:
Eleanor Shackleton. Lady Shackleton, and thence by descent.
One of the earliest known letters by Shackleton, written as a nineteen year-old during his apprenticeship as a merchant seaman. 'How would you like to be in Mauritius where you can buy a whole big juicy watermelon for 6d?'. The letter describes some of the wildlife of Mauritius - 'there are not monkeys here like there were in India' - and the curious 'crackling sound' to be heard issuing from an isolated house, which turns out to be a Chinese temple where 'the Chinese [are] letting off crackers in honour of their God'; the letter ends with a promise to bring Eleanor a present 'better than the one I sent in Chittagory'. Shackleton served his entire probation and apprenticeship from June 1890 to July 1894 aboard the Hoghton Tower, carrying cargo between Liverpool, South America and the Far East. The ship had deposited a cargo of rice at Mauritius, where the crew was hit by fever, Shackleton particularly badly - a subject on which he is characteristically reticent. A few days after the present letter the Hoghton Tower arrived in Newcastle, New South Wales. Eleanor Hope was the fourth of Shackleton's eight sisters; she became a nurse, inspired, according to her own account, by her older brother's independence of spirit.
Provenance:
Eleanor Shackleton. Lady Shackleton, and thence by descent.
One of the earliest known letters by Shackleton, written as a nineteen year-old during his apprenticeship as a merchant seaman. 'How would you like to be in Mauritius where you can buy a whole big juicy watermelon for 6d?'. The letter describes some of the wildlife of Mauritius - 'there are not monkeys here like there were in India' - and the curious 'crackling sound' to be heard issuing from an isolated house, which turns out to be a Chinese temple where 'the Chinese [are] letting off crackers in honour of their God'; the letter ends with a promise to bring Eleanor a present 'better than the one I sent in Chittagory'. Shackleton served his entire probation and apprenticeship from June 1890 to July 1894 aboard the Hoghton Tower, carrying cargo between Liverpool, South America and the Far East. The ship had deposited a cargo of rice at Mauritius, where the crew was hit by fever, Shackleton particularly badly - a subject on which he is characteristically reticent. A few days after the present letter the Hoghton Tower arrived in Newcastle, New South Wales. Eleanor Hope was the fourth of Shackleton's eight sisters; she became a nurse, inspired, according to her own account, by her older brother's independence of spirit.
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