As previous claims by both Cook (1908) and Peary (1909) to have reached the Pole were disputed, this may well be one of the first genuine visits. He had already become the first to navigate the fabled Northwest Passage, and in 1926 reached the North Pole by airship during a crossing from Spitzbergen to Alaska. That he and his party were the first to the South Pole is well-known. Every single one of Shackleton’s crew survived.Īmundsen, meanwhile, is often, and with ample justification, called the greatest polar explorer ever. Three of the six, including Shackleton, then crossed the fierce mountains of South Georgia to a whaling station to secure rescue for their companions. This is often considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, small-boat voyage in history. Shackleton led a desperate retreat to Elephant Island and then with five crew members set out on an extraordinary voyage in a small boat, crossing 1300km of the Southern Ocean to South Georgia. In 1914 he returned, aiming to cross the Antarctic via the South Pole, but the ship Endurance was crushed by the ice. He had led a previous attempt on the Pole and turned back.
Shackleton’s story is not quite so widely known today. Scott’s party, of course, reached the Pole just a few weeks later, and perished on the return trip it’s a well-known story which has entered British folklore. Amundsen and his Norwegian companions reached the South Pole a little over two decades before, in December 1911. Winter Holiday was published in 1933, and set in the early weeks of 1932. ‘It’s the country on the fells above the tarn.
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