#Shackleton - As Shackleton's cabin arrives in Connemara for restoration, an intrepid young Irish woman is setting out to retrace the pioneering explorer's Antarctic footsteps.
According to The Irish Times, the 'sea bedroom' where Ernest Shackleton died of a heart attack in 1922 has been relocated to Conservation Letterfrack by its Norwegian owner for an array of restoration works before its transfer to the Athy Heritage-Centre Museum, in the explorer's county of birth, in the new year.
Originally part of the Norwegian steamship Quest, purchased by Shackleton for his final Antarctic voyage, the cabin was removed from the vessel at some point before the ship sank during a seal hunt in 1962, and wound up at a farm in Norway’s Nordland region, where present owner Ulfe Bakke played in it in his childhood.
Bakke has now donated the cabin to join a permanent exhibition in tribute to Shackleton's endeavours, including an original ice sledge and writings from his missions.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Shackleton's final resting place on South Georgia Island can be visited virtually via Google Street View.
Meanwhile, Irish Army Lieutenant Sinéad Hunt is entering her last fortnight of training before she embarks on a two-week trek across the Antarctic to mark the centenary of Shackleton's 1915 expedition, as TheJournal.ie reports.
The Dubliner will join New Zealand adventurers Tom McTavish and James Blake on the trip that will take them from the Falklands to South Georgia, following the arduous journey made by Shackleton, Tom Crean and four others after they abandoned the Endurance in pack ice.
To prepare for the challenge, the experienced climber and Alpine skier has been training in the Wicklow Mountains – but the severe storms and blizzards at the end of the world might prove a different prospect.
