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NEWSLETTER NO. 16 - OCTOBER 2010
BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED UPDATE ON ALL THINGS SHACKLETON
Newsletter Number 16, in full colour and handsomely illustrated throughout, continues the tradition of the James Caird Society in producing publications that are immaculately produced, beautifully laid out and full of interesting information on matters relating to Shackleton and the Polar regions.
One of the most immediately striking features is on Volume Number 16's front page. Entitled 'Scotch on the Rocks'...
it explains how in 2010 a single crate was retrieved from a number of frozen crates of whisky, which were first spotted nestling in Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds in 2006. It was taken to the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, and it is intended that a sample be analysed by professional whisky blenders (Mackinlay's, the makers, have since been taken over by Whyte & Mackay).
As the trove of crates reminds us, whisky was an important and popular part of life at the Cape Royds Hut: one celebration menu shows it being consumed with the (turtle) soup dish, the main course (reindeer) and the dessert or sweet (plum pudding)!
In the meantime, all are agog to see if a faithful replica of the original whisky can be produced - so that all may sample it.
Nick Smith, former editor, interviews Alexandra Shackleton about her grandfather's literary interests ('a man of action and yet a man of books') and includes by way of close-up illustration a poem written by Sir Ernest. (Nick's new book, Travels in the World of Books, is available from Amazon.) Patrick Fagan, our Society's former Chairman, remembers Malcolm Burley (1927-2010), who led the 1964-5 South Georgia expedition of which Patrick himself was a valued member.
Events from the diary of Hon. Alexandra Shackleton's activities in honouring her grandfather's name are listed, including an interview with Italian Radio-Television (RAI) in Cambridge and - intriguingly - a visit with JCS Journal Editor Stephen Scott-Fawcett to East Court, the Ramsgate home of Dame Janet Stancomb-Wills, a member of the Wills tobacco family, and redoubtable sponsor of the Endurance expedition.
A full survey of plans for Tim Jarvis's forthcoming Shackleton Epic Expedition, with photographs and details of the building of the replica to be named 'Alexandra Shackleton', forms a key part of this informative Newsletter. While allowing for a full pine deck and replicating the original's Baltic pine with Scottish larch, it shows just how much trouble has been gone to to match not only the dimensions of the original James Caird, but also other aspects of the construction.
Here you see the completed boat, the 'Alexandra Shackleton' in all her glory: a beautiful piece of craftsmanship and the work of an outstanding team of boat constructors. Thanks are due to many people, not least Simon Stevens of the National Maritime Museum, who curates the restoration and transportation of the original James Caird, and Nat Wilson of the International Boatbuilding College.
The suitably cheerful and lively celebration of the centenary of Shackleton's visit to Dublin, organised by our many Irish friends and fellow Shackleton enthusiasts, and staged in what is now the National Concert Hall (the same building in which Sir Ernest Shackleton gave his original lecture on Tuesday, December 14th 1909), is also recorded: hopefully a rousing time was enjoyed by all! The occasion included readings from original reports of the lecture, a presentation about the Nimrod Expedition by Jonathan Shackleton, readings of Antarctic-themed poetry, and most arresting of all, recordings of Sir Ernest himself.
In addition, the splendidly planned Shackleton Autumn School, held annually at Athy near Shackleton's birthplace, Kilkea House, in County Kildare, has reached its tenth year. To mark the occasion, a highly significant event took place: on 23 October 2010, Alexandra Shackleton unveiled a plaque at Athy to celebrate her grandfather, Sir Ernest - the first time this eminent son of Ireland has been thus honoured in the county of his birth.
Also alluded to are the travels (to Milan and Paris) of the replica Burberry Antarctic Suit, donated to Dulwich College in 2002 and originally fashioned for the Kenneth Branagh Shackleton film. It was based on the original fabric - a glazed cotton gaberdine (known as 'wind clothing') consisting of one-piece jacket, peaked hood, leather-palmed mittens and cargo style trousers.
The Newsletter's new editor, Dorothy Wright, in an article entitled 'Full Circle', recalls vivid memories of her own childhood at Port Stanley, in the Falkland Islands, and gives an indication of how fascinated she became with exploration and the Polar regions, meeting eminent figures such as Sir Vivian Fuchs when they visited the islands and were entertained by her parents.
The Antarctic .. From the Circle to the Pole. One article looks at the intriguing work of American photographer Stuart Klipper, who has visited Antarctica six times in the past two decades to take some of the most fabulous and striking still photographs of the icy continent.
The article pays fitting tribute to Klipper's astounding body of work, austere and lovely to look upon, which provides a majestic sweeping look at this magical and beguiling continent. Using a 110-degree Technorama camera, and here shooting in wide panoramic format, Klipper produces eerily beautiful photographs that seem to carry the viewer way over the horizon.
As the Newsletter observes in this telling review article, the 110 photos in the book cover the full range of mountains, oceans and ice: glowing blue icebergs, vistas of endeless snow, a variety of ice and ice formations, severe snow-blasted landscapes, the unique bleached light of the region and the grandeur of the entire landscape. All this certainly whets the appetite to get hold of a copy of the book.
Volume 16 follows the impressively produced Issue 15 of the Newsletter, edited by Nick Smith, which included an overview of the (then) most recent Christies Exploration and Travel Sale, a glimpse of the National Maritime Museum's exhibition 'North West Passage: an Arctic Obsession', a description by Alexandra Shackleton of her journey to visit Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds ('it was as if the fifteen men had just gone out'), plus an extended review/overview of Bob Headland's book A Chronology of Antarctic Exploration - a masterpiece of insights and detailed analysis on polar history - and details of the guided visit to the National Maritime Museum's Caird Library's special collections. Among the other books noted was Nimrod Illustrated, by D.M.Wilson, full of photos, paintings and expedition ephemera.
It also details the journey of Shackleton's original compass, which travelled to Antarctica with Henry Worsley and his two colleagues of the Shackleton Centenary Expedition, and was an inspiration to them in approaching the arduous task of making their way up the Beardmore Glacier to the Pole, thus completing Shackleton's expedition of 1909, which terminated at 'Furthest South'.
THE JAMES CAIRD SOCIETY NEWSLETTER - PAST EDITIONS
The James Caird Society Annual Newsletter, circulated free of charge to all members, keeps them in touch with activities and developments.
Items featured in more recent Newsletters include extensive information the planned 2008 Shackleton Centenary Expedition, reconstructing the journey south from the Nimrod in 1908-9; a welcome to Admiral Sir James Perowne as the Society's Chairman and a farewell to Major-General Patrick Fagan; the arrival of Captain Bob Tarrant as commander of the Polar vessel HMS Endurance; a report on the visit of the James Caird to the National Maritime Museum, Cornwall's 'Ships and the Sea' exhibition in Falmouth; sundry reports on the repair and preservation of Shackleton's and other huts on the Ross Sea Island; reports from the annual Shackleton School at the Athy Heritage Centre; and Dr. Hussey's famous banjo from the Endurance
Earlier editions included the Pole2pole expedition, a journey by sledge wheelchair and on foot to the Pole in aid of Muscular Dystrophy, by a sufferer who had already made it to the North Pole; the James Caird's years at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; 'The American on Endurance', an overview of William Bakewell; the opening of the acclaimed IMAX film Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure and the film Shackleton, starring Kenneth Branagh; a review of Williams Mills's groundbreaking Historical Encylopedia Exploring Polar Frontiers; the South Georgia Museum; William Speirs Bruce and the voyage of the Scotia (Scottish Antarctic Expedition); the widely acclaimed Shackleton, the Antarctic and Endurance Exhibition at Dulwich College; the Hon. Alexandra Shackleton's visit to Chile; the Endurance exhibitions in New York and Washington; David Mearns' proposals for locating and retrieving the sunken Endurance; action in support of Albatrosses; the opening by Alexandra Shackleton of the Shackleton Library at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge; the Irish South Aris expedition; Borge Ousland's solo crossing of Antarctica and the Society's celebration of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 125th anniversary.
The James Caird Society Newsletter was edited until 2007 by Margaret Slythe, the former Dulwich College Archivist and a JCS Committee Member. The Society very much welcomes material relating to all things Shackletonian, for possible inclusion in future issues.
It is hoped that back copies of the Society's Newsletter will be in due course appearing on the website in .PDF format. The current Newsletter is available to Society Members only.
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 286 221.jpg "Bob Headland was on cracking form at the Epic Expedition auction, as Peter Pepper's photo shows!")
