Shackleton's brown pure wool blanket from his cabin on the "Quest"

Shackleton died of heart failure in the early hours of the morning of 5 January 1922 in his cabin onboard Quest. His last diary entries, as the ship approached South Georgia, convey the sense of an explorer's homecoming: '2 January At one pm we passed our first berg. The old familiar sight aroused in me memories that the strenuous years had deadened. Blue caverns shone with sky glow snatched from heaven itself. ... Ah me: the years that have gone since in the pride of young manhood I first went forth to the fight. I grow old and tied but must always lead on. 4 January At last after 16 days of turmoil and anxiety; on a peaceful sunshiny day we came to an anchor in Grytviken. How familiar the coast seemed as we passed down: we saw with full interest the places we struggled over after the boat journey. ... A wonderful evening In the darkening twilight I saw a lone star hover: gem like above the bay' (Shackleton's diary of the Quest Expedition, SPRI). Shackleton was laid to rest in the cemetary at Grytviken, in the words of Macklin, 'standing lonely in an island far from civilisation, surrounded by stormy tempestuous seas, & in the vicinity of one of his greatest exploits'.