115
800Years IrishPolitical, Literary&MilitaryHistory - 15thApril2014
317
SHACKLETON, SirErnest.
A polar inspiredwatercolour folded card (17.3 x 11cm), also showing a lighthouse
and stormy seas, with a quotation fromPsalmLXXVII, “ThyWay is in the Sea…”.
Signed by Ernest Shackleton and two others, Robert Harold and Spurnnay Blight,
April 1902. With a sketch of Shackleton from ‘Everyman’, January 9, 1914. 18 x
22cm. Framed. Fine. (2)
Shackleton’s epic journey across treacherous seas to summon help, after the ‘En-
durance’ hadbeen crushed and sunkbyhuge ice-floes,was trulyoneof thegreatest
feats of human endurance of the twentieth century. TomCrean, later of The South
Pole Inn,Annascaul, accompaniedhis fellowcountrymanon this expedition.Their
shipwas 200miles from thenearest land, and1,000miles fromhuman assistance.
Itwas thebeginningof oneof themost astonishingvoyages inmaritimehistory. In
a 22 foot longwhaling boat they faced roaring seas and shrieking gales, their skin
was flayed at every joint with sea blisters, their hands chafed and bleeding, their
throats sorewith thirst. For two longweeks theywere continuallybailingand chip-
pingaway ice formedby spray. But theygot through,moreover, Shackletonand two
others followed theirmiraculous sea journeywith an astonishing feat ofmountain-
eering.OnSouthGeorgia, indarkness ofmists,without guides ormaps, theymade
the first ever crossingof a snow-cladmountain range, sliding and staggeringdown
the far side to reach theNorwegianwhaling station and safety.
‘South’ is Shackleton’s monumental record of an adventure story crammed with
humandrama and endurance.
€600 - 700
318 ASETOFTENEDWARDIANMAHOGANYFRAMED
TUBBACKCHAIRS,
formerlypart of the interior furnishings of theR.M.S. Celtic, 1901, eachwith scroll
back crest rail carvedwith foliatepanels, with channelleddown scrolling armrests,
drop-inupholstered seats and cast iron triformbase.
€3000 - 5000
