Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874 – 1922) was a polar explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic, and one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Here is a collection of haunting photographs of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew’s struggle to survive against the odds in the big freeze of the Antarctic. Shackleton and his 28-man crew were left stranded on the thick ice, battered by extreme weather conditions and with none of today’s technologies to protect them.
Setting out: Crew of the Endurance poses for a group portrait in 1915, early in their expedition to Antarctica to cross the continent on foot
Desperate: The crew, hauling the James Caird behind them, after their ship the Endurance was broken up. Shackleton and five of his men made the 800-mile open boat journey to South Georgia Island in the tiny James Caird
Eerie: More than 90 images have been digitised for the first time from the fragile glass plate and celluloid negatives stored at the RGS for more than 80 years
Devastation: A photograph taken by the expedition photographer Frank Hurley shows the Endurance after it was crushed by the ice
Grounded: The crew set out from London in August 1914, and sailed to the southern continent via Buenos Aires and South Georgia island
Day-to-day: Never-before-seen images in the exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society reveal the daily struggles of the crew members
Grounded: The crew set out from London in August 1914, and sailed to the southern continent via Buenos Aires and South Georgia island
Frozen in time: Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew sailed to the Antarctic on the Endurance, but the ship became trapped in the thick ice
