The “disastrous and heroic” voyage of the Karluk is one of several themes on the programme for this year’s Autumn Shackleton School in Athy, Co Kildare.
The Karluk was the flagship of the Canadian Arctic expedition of 1913–16 but became trapped in ice in the Arctic in 1913.
Like the Endurance, which Ernest Shackleton had commissioned for his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-16 on the other side of the globe, the Karluk was crushed by the ice.
However, the outcome was less fortunate. After the Karluk sank, almost half of its 25 crew members died.
Historians are said to be divided on the decision by the Karluk expedition leader, Canadian anthropologist Vilhjalmur Stefansson to disembark from the ship when he could, leaving it in charge of its captain Robert Bartlett.
Two members on the Karluk were oceanographer James Murray and physician/biologist Alistair Forbes Mackay, both of whom had been with Shackleton aboard the Nimrod on the British Antarctic Expedition (1907-9).
North American writer and freelance journalist Buddy Levy will share his knowledge of the Karluk expedition, as one of a number of lectures on the programme for the 24th annual Shackleton school held in memory of the Irish adventurer.
Biographers of mountaineer George Mallory, Peter and Leni Gillman, have also been invited to deliver a lecture on “George Mallory and Everest, the Third Pole” .
After the British lost the race to reach the South Pole, and Robert Peary claimed to have reached the North Pole, eyes turned to Everest – referred to by some as the “Third Pole”.
“George Mallory was the only climber who took part in all three Everest expeditions of the 1920s”, the school programme notes, and his “rich and fascinating” life extended beyond exploring and mountaineering.
The Gillmans, who are both writing and life partners and celebrate their 62nd wedding anniversary on November 2nd, are authors of George Mallory, The Wildest Dream, published in 2000.
Their book won that year’s Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature, and at the Shackleton school they will discuss Mallory’s motivations and those of his climbing partners as they bid for the highest summit.
North American-born translator and sailor Sabina Waldron will talk about Frank Worsley, the New Zealand sailor and explorer who was captain of the Endurance on Shackleton’s trans-Antarctic expedition.
Also speaking at the autumn school will be Jan Chojecki, grandson of the businessman and philanthropist John Quiller Rowett, the financer of the Shackleton-Rowett (Quest) Expedition.
Chojecki is author of The Quest Chronicle, published in 2022, the first book in almost a century to cover the events and circumstances of the final expedition of Sir Ernest Shackleton.
A selection of the Wilkins Quest autochrome images will be exhibited during the weekend event.
The 24th Autumn Shackleton School runs from Friday November 8th to Sunday November 10th in the Abbey Hotel, Athy, Co Kildare, and early bird tickets are on sale from the Shackleton museum website
