The night before Ernest Shackleton died a century ago today (Wed Jan 5) in Antarctica, he wrote in his diary of the “lone star” Sirius which was “hovering gem-like above the bay”.
A group of enthusiasts searched for the same star in the sky above Connemara last night (Tues Jan 4) as they marked 100 years since the explorer’s passing with readings, recitations and song.
The group is associated with the Shackleton museum and autumn school in Co Kildare, and they made their midnight rendezvous near Letterfrack, Co Galway. The event was not public, due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Letterfrack is where the ship’s cabin in which “The Boss” drew his final breath has been undergoing restoration, since it was donated by Norwegian owner Ulfe Bakke.
Bakke’s great grandfather retrieved the cabin from Shackleton’s last ship, Quest, which he acquired for an expedition to Antarctica to clear his debts.
Some of Shackleton’s last diary entries, passages drawn from books such as South, and poems often quoted by the explorer were read.
Verse was drawn from the work of Robert Browning, Rudyard Kipling, William Sharp and Gerard Gould, while music included a recording of “The Night Shackleton Died” by meteorologist and expedition banjo player Leonard Hussey.
As Kenny explained, Shackleton’s last days were “ poignantly and poetically” recorded in his diary entries, and these were also quoted last night.
“Rest and calm after the storm,” Shackleton wrote on January 1st, 1922.
“ The year has begun kindly for us. It is curious how a certain date becomes a milestone in one’s life,” he recorded.
“Anxiety has been probing deeply into me for until the end of the year things have gone awry,” he had noted.
“ Engines were liable: furnace cracked. Water short. Heavy gales. All that physically can go wrong but the spirit of all onboard sound and good.”
Shackleton wrote of passing their first iceberg on January 2nd, 1922, and “the old familiar sight aroused in me memories that the strenuous years have deadened”.
“Blue caverns shone with sky glow snatched from heaven itself. Green spurs showed beneath the water,” he wrote, adding
“and bergs mast high
came sailing by
as green as emerald”.
He confessed to be still anxious and unsettled on January 3rd, and “I am so much on the qui vive. I pray that the furnace will hold out”.
On January 4th, the ship Quest anchored at Grytviken, the whaling station in South Georgia where the “old smell of dead whale permeates everything”, and it is “a strange and curious place”.
“A wonderful evening,” he wrote.
“In the darkening twilight I saw
a lone star hover: gem like above the bay..”
A full programme of centenary events will be released by the Shackleton committee on February 15th, Shackleton’s birthday.
