Family prepare to mirror history on October 28th 2008
Sir Ernest Shackleton is canonised in Antarctic exploration history for his 1908-9 Nimrod Expedition. Having led a team of fellow pioneers to within 97 miles of the Pole, the furthest any human had ever ventured at the time, Shackleton ordered his men to turn back in the face of almost certain death.
Now, precisely a century later, six descendents of the original team Shackleton will retrace their ancestors’ steps in a landmark attempt to finish the job.
Under the patronage of the Princess Royal, the modern team – which includes Shackleton’s great-grandson – will conquer the Pole on foot, completing the quest that their forefathers set out to achieve, one hundred years to the day later.
In a faithful re-enactment of the Nimrod Expedition, today’s men will each haul individual sleds piled with kit and use Shackleton’s personal compass to navigate the icy wastelands, scaling a total distance of 900 chilling miles.
However, the new expedition is more than just debt payment to unfinished business. The group is using the venture to launch a £10m Shackleton Foundation, a bursary designed to fund individuals or teams that embody the adventurers’ spirit and hunger for ‘calculated risk’. Leading from the front, the modern Shackleton team plans to kick start the Foundation with donations from their centenary expedition.
The idea was first conceived by Stephen Scott-Fawcett, a polar enthusiast with a long held interest in Shackleton, alongside Will Gow (who is related to Sir Ernest through marriage). While Scott-Fawcett has gone on to assume an integral role on the Foundation’s fundraising committee, Gow has committed himself to the physical expedition. Combining a natural passion for endurance tasks (he has previously competed in the gruelling Marathon des Sables) and an ambition to tackle the Antarctic wilderness, Gow is driven by the desire to unite Shackleton’s descendents at the Pole.
He said “I thought it would be good to celebrate the centenary of one of the greatest journeys known to man, to fulfil the Nimrod trip and leave a legacy embodying Shackleton’s spirit.’
Gow set about reforming the team in 2004, after Scott-Fawcett had initially approached Alexandra Shackleton, Sir Ernest’s granddaughter, who gave her blessing to the project. Through Alexandra, Gow met Patrick Bergel, the great-grandson who will join him in retracing the arduous journey.
The team is a mix of ages and abilities. Accompanying Gow, 35, and Bergel, 36, are MA student Tim Fright, 24, great-great-nephew of Frank Wild, the only explorer to accompany Shackleton on all his missions; David Cornell, 38, a fund manager and great-grandson of Jameson Boyd-Adams; and Henry Adams, 33, a shipping lawyer and also a great-grandson of Boyd-Adams. The group is being led by Lt Col Henry Worsley, who is working to confirm a family link with Frank Worsley, Shackleton’s skipper on the Endurance, the ship used in a following Polar expedition in 1914.
While it may seem impossible to prepare for the -35°C temperatures, 50mph headwinds and draining task of pulling 300lb sledges for 10 hours a day, the team is undertaking intensive ice training in Norway, Baffin Island and Greenland, with fitness programme assistance from the Olympic Medical Institute.
Only three of the group will tackle the full 900 mile trek from the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. Gow, Worsley and Adams have allowed 80 days for the task, scheduled to set out from the Shackleton Hut at Cape Royals at exactly 10.00 on October 28th, just as the original team did a century earlier.
From here they will ascend the Beardmore Glacier, then on to the Polar plateau, a 400 mile marker to the South Pole. Then the long, arduous trawl to the 97 mile mark that defeated their ancestors begins. Instead of turning back, the trio will have their spirits bolstered by the arrival of the remaining team members, who’ll trek in unison to the point that cruelly evaded Shackleton and his men.
With this historic re-enactment, the team hopes to inspire other driven contenders who have the flame of adventure within them. Through the new Shackleton Foundation, ambitions like Sir Ernest’s can become a life-changing reality.
Of the Foundation, Henry Adams said: “People are not encouraged to take responsibility for their own actions. We’re not advocating pointless risks, but you only get out of something what you put in.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
Shackleton Centenary Expedition
The expedition begins on Tuesday 28th October 2008 and is scheduled to take 80 days
The Shackleton Foundation
The Shackleton Foundation is a vehicle through which companies can make charitable donations for distribution to those undertaking bold and pioneering projects
The Shackleton Foundation will fund projects that match the Foundation’s major criteria with one-off or repeat grants of up to £10,000 disbursed on an annual basis. More information can be found at www.shackletonfoundation.org
To make a personal donation, visit www.justgiving.com/shackletonfoundation
