Sir Ernest Shackleton | The Boss

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A star that shines brighter than ever.

On 5th January 1922, Ernest Shackleton suffered a heart attack and 'entered life eternal' as his gravestone holds. He was just 47 years old.

Shackleton's death marked the end of the 'Heroic Age' of polar exploration - a period dominated by the race to claim poles and name lands for king and country. The names of the age are well known - Scott, Amundsen, Mawson and more, yet somehow Ernest Shackleton's star seems to shine brighter, not dimmer as the years roll on.

What was it about him?

What does he mean to us, to make us care more, not less?

We asked leading Shackleton authorities to answer these questions... but first, our own feelings towards the man himself...

"You either get Sir Ernest Shackleton or you don't."

MARTIN BROOKS - CO-FOUNDER

Or, to be more precise, if you’ve a restless spirit and a yearning for adventure, Sir Ernest Shackleton gets you.

Once you read of his exploits, he takes hold of your imagination. And then he becomes the benchmark by which you measure the goals you set yourself … the way you go about achieving them … and how you treat those who share that journey with you.

That’s certainly how my partner Ian Holdcroft and I feel about Sir Ernest. He was “The Boss” to the men in the Antarctic. He is “The Boss” to us, today.

"It is in our nature to explore, to reach out into the unknown."

SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON

Ian has a passion for endurance sports - he has, amongst other things, run across Chile's Atacama desert and rowed the Atlantic. I have a lifelong love of the sea and long-distance, transoceanic sailing. So we were living in Sir Ernest’s lengthening shadow years before we started this business.

Already in thrall to the man, we decided there was no better way to honour and perpetuate his memory than name our venture for him.

We took as our inspiration Sir Ernest’s conviction that “It is in our nature to explore, to reach out into the unknown”. Then, with The Hon. Alexandra Shackleton on board, we set out to create an enterprise that encouraged and equipped the intrepid few who share that belief.

Like our hero, we hold that your true self is revealed only when you face challenges that test the limits of your endurance. As the man himself said at the end of his most famous expedition: “We had seen God in his splendours, we had heard the text that nature renders. We had reached the naked souls of man.”

At its most fundamental, our challenge mirrors that of Sir Ernest’s greatest feat: to keep alive those who are exposed to the most dangerous and hostile conditions on earth.

You can read about the lengths we go to to create the world’s most effective high-performance, expedition grade apparel here.

But stay with us now to learn more about the man whose name that apparel proudly bears.

"We had reached the naked souls of men."

SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON

"When disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton."

SIR RAYMOND PRIESTLEY

Already in thrall to the man, we decided there was no better way to honour and perpetuate his memory than name our venture for him.

THE NIMROD EXPEDITION

BY MICHAEL SMITH

Polar historian and Shackleton biographer Michael Smith explores and explains the expedition that made Shackleton’s name. Carving a route towards the South Pole that would lay the trail for others to follow years later, only to turn back 97 miles short to prioritise his men’s lives over fame.

After the Nimrod expedition, the man who finally conquered the South Pole, Roald Amundsen said: “Shackleton’s name will always be written in the annals of Antarctic exploration in letters of fire.”

But the thirst for adventure has not been slaked. In 1914 Sir Ernest embarked on his greatest ever challenge: The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition was an audacious plan to be the first in history to trek across the entire Antarctic Continent from coast to coast via the South Pole.

Again, Michael Smith tells the story.

"I do not think I had ever quite so keenly felt the anxiety which belongs to leadership."

SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON

THE IMPERIAL TRANS-ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION

BY MICHAEL SMITH

"We've had some great times together, but this is the greatest of all. This time it really is do or die, as they say in the storybooks."

SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON

With their ship, Endurance, sunk, their stores lost and having drifted 2,000 miles on melting ice flows, death now seemed inevitable for Shackleton and his 28 men.

But then Shackleton set out on his boldest expedition yet: standing resolute at the stern of the tiny open lifeboat, James Caird, he struck out in search of rescue across 800 miles of the most hostile waters on earth.

THE JAMES CAIRD EXPEDITION

BY MICHAEL SMITH

The remarkable journey of James Caird, the small open boat commanded by Ernest Shackleton to sail across the wild Southern Ocean in 1916, is among the greatest sea voyages ever recorded. By polar historian Michael Smith.

"I am doing this for many reasons, some of which I don't fully understand. That there is an inner urge is undeniable."

SIR RANULPH FIENNES

With their ship, Endurance, sunk, their stores lost and having drifted 2,000 miles on melting ice flows, death now seemed inevitable for Shackleton and his 28 men.

That sounds like Sir Ernest, doesn’t it? But it comes from the greatest explorer adventurer of our own age, Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

It is no surprise that Sir Ranulph, who has inspired so many others to face their own challenges, is himself a devotee of Sir Ernest. As you will see here.

Incidentally Sir Ranulph believes “There is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” Which is a fundamental truth we endorse completely!

A TITAN OF POLAR EXPLORATION

BY SIR RANULPH FIENNES

Legendary explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes explains how Ernest Shackleton has been a driving force behind his own ambitions.

The Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration was characterised by countless courageous characters, many whose names are now sadly forgotten.

But Sir Ernest’s memory is as alive today as the morning he staggered into the Stromness Bay whaling station, his “face black from blubber smoke, thick matted hair down to his shoulders, and filthy clothes in rags”.

And not just because of his superhuman resilience, courage and optimism. As Professor Nancy Koehn of Harvard Business School here explains, it is Shackleton the leader who has lessons for us all.

"If you're a leader, a fellow that other fellows look to, you've got to keep going."

SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON

WHY IS ERNEST SHACKLETON STILL RELEVANT TODAY?

BY NANCY KOEHN

Harvard Business School’s Professor Nancy Koehn argues that the world needs leaders like Ernest Shackleton in times of adversity. In ‘Forged in Crisis’ she argues that his team’s only hope was to forget the disasters he and his crew had endured and “face forward” with grit, ingenuity and improvisation. “Crisis leaders get better and better and better.”

"I love the fight and when things are easy, I hate it. I am just good as an explorer, and nothing else."

SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON

Reading Professor Nancy Koehn, you can only conclude that, in a world lacking in leaders we can trust, emulate and rely upon in times of crisis, Ernest Shackleton is more relevant today than he was in his own time.

Indeed, the world needs more people like him - individuals who are ready to test their mettle to the limit and, in the words inscribed on his gravestone:“strive to the uttermost for their life’s set prize”.

This indomitable spirit is, we feel, Sir Ernest’s great legacy. And we want to inspire, prepare and equip others to follow in his daring and determined footsteps. For we believe it is only when, like The Boss, you’ve faced the challenge of the coldest night, the longest trek or the steepest wave that you can say you are truly alive.