Sir Ernest Shackleton outlines plans for new Antarctic voyage
London, 30 December 1913 - Irish-born explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton, has outlined an ambitious plan for an expedition that will take him across the entire Antarctic continent from sea to sea by way of the South Pole.
The expedition is set to commence from Buenos Aires next October and will make use of much of the latest scientific equipment, including two aeroplane sledges (sledges driven by propellers of the aeroplane type) and an aeroplane with ‘clipped wings’ which is intended to be used to ‘taxi’ over the ice. The transantartic journey will be attempted by a party of six men and 120 dogs. Second in the command to Shackleton will be Mr Frank Wild, a renowned Polar explorer, who travelled with Robert Falcon Scott in 1901-04 and with Shackleton in 1907-09.
Like Mr Wild, this will be Ernest Shackleton’s third trip to the Antarctic. He was part of Captain Scott’s 1901 mission to the South Pole and in 1908 he returned as leader of his own expedition on the ship, Nimrod. Shackleton won widespread admiration and fame for that expedition, leading as it did to many key scientific discoveries. He was knighted on his return.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
