The Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton

by Hugh Robert Mill

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

372 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Hugh Robert Mill FRSE FRGS was a Scottish geographer and meteorologist who was influential in the reform of geography teaching, and in the development of meteorology as a science. He was President of the Royal Meteorological Society for 1907/8, and President of the Geographical Association in 1932.

Reviews

[Russ Sindelar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great explorer of the Antarctic


He was a wide explorer, took chances but never took his fellow crew for granted and treated them with utmost respect. A true man.

[user8364891664 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is long out of print, but you can find a scan on Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/lifeofsir...

This is the first biography of Shackleton, written by his good friend Mill at the request of Emily Shackleton, his wife. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mill did not fail to detail Shackleton’s flaws and weaknesses. Lady Shackleton was a fairly progressive woman, having spoken favorably of women pursuing careers in lieu of marriage, even while her husband was alive. She would not have approved of a hero-worship biography. Actually, I don’t think Shackleton would have either.

Shackleton’s greatness was evident in his actions. I was touched to read about his absolute intolerance of food insecurity. Understandable, given his own experiences with starvation! From his comrade Frank Wild to penniless children in London, widows, the war effort, and random charities, Shackleton did not hesitate to empty his pockets for anyone in need. He would be appalled at the waste and cruelty in today’s so-called civilized societies. As so many of his men wrote, he always put others before himself, even when doing so was detrimental to his and his family’s well-being.

The only thing that would have improved this book would have been more thoughts from the men who worked with Shackleton. However, given the speed with which the book was written and published following his death, it would have been a challenge to source more quotes in a timely manner.

Highly recommended for any Shackleton enthusiast.