On 4 January 1922, Ernest Shackleton\u2019s ship, the Quest<\/em>, finally reached South Georgia, an ice-capped island in the South Atlantic Ocean. At 47 years old, Shackleton was on his fourth journey to Antarctica, and the third he had led. He had been plagued by health issues and seemed to be a shadow of his former self, but returning to the freezing south infused him with the vigour of his youth.<\/p>\n

In his diary that evening, he wrote: \u201cThe old familiar smell of dead whale permeates everything. It is a strange and curious place\u2026 A wonderful evening.\u201d He retired to his cabin, and, in the early hours of 5 January, breathed his last. One of the greatest explorers from the \u2018Heroic Age\u2019 of Antarctic exploration was gone.<\/p>\n

Ernest Shackleton: a biography<\/h4>\n
Born:<\/strong>\u00a015 February 1874 in County Kildare, Ireland<\/p>\n
Died:<\/strong>\u00a05 January 1922, onboard a ship at Grytviken, South Georgia, aged 47<\/p>\n
Spouse:<\/strong>\u00a0Emily Shackleton\u00a0<\/p>\n
Children:<\/strong>\u00a03 \u2013 Raymond, Cecily, and Edward<\/p>\n
Famous for:<\/strong>\u00a0Travelling to Antarctica aboard the Discovery<\/em>, the Nimrod<\/em> and the Endurance<\/em>, and attempting to set the record for being the first to travel to the South Pole and the first to cross the entire Antarctic continent<\/p>\n
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Shackleton\u2019s early years<\/h2>\n
From a young age, Shackleton had been desperate for a life of adventure. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, polar explorer and author of a new biography on Shackleton, says his determination to be a hero \u201cgoes back to his school days, and definitely he wanted the ocean\u201d. But Shackleton\u2019s father wanted his son to pursue a career in medicine, not on the high seas, so he shrewdly decided to put the young Shackleton on the roughest Merchant Navy ship he could find.<\/p>\n
The plan backfired. At one point in Shackleton\u2019s three-year stint on the Hoghton Tower<\/em>, \u201cone of the men kicked him slightly, so he lay on the floor and bit the man\u2019s ankle,\u201d says Fiennes. \u201cAfter a bit, the crew realised he had a tough side.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Shackleton was not content with just a life at sea. His sights were set on exploring a dangerous, uncharted frontier: the great, icy expanse of Antarctica. In 1901, he climbed aboard the Discovery<\/em> as third officer, on Robert Falcon Scott\u2019s expedition to the frozen continent.<\/p>\n
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