Shackleton's Last Voyage

In 1920, tired of the lecture circuit, Sir Ernest Shackleton began to consider the possibility of a last expedition. He thought seriously of going to the Beaufort Sea area of the Arctic, a largely unexplored region, and raised some interest in this idea from the Canadian government. With funds supplied by former school friend John Quiller Rowett, he acquired a 125-ton Norwegian sealer, named Foca I, which he renamed Quest. Despite his harrowing experience recounted in South, the lure of Antarctica was too strong for Shackleton to resist, so he started his fourth and final trip in the ill-suited Quest in 1921. But when Shackleton died suddenly in South Georgia, Frank Wild took charge of what remained, resulting in this eyewitness account of the famous Arctic explorer’s final expedition.