Nimrod Expedition - Aftermath

Aftermath

On 23 March 1909, Shackleton landed in New Zealand and cabled a 2,500-word report to the London Daily Mail, with which he had an exclusive contract. Amid the acclamation and unstinting praise that Shackleton received from the exploring community, including Nansen and Amundsen, the response of the Royal Geographical Society was more guarded. Its former president, Sir Clements Markham, privately expressed his disbelief of Shackleton's claimed latitude. However, on 14 June, Shackleton was met at London's Charing Cross Station by a very large crowd, which included RGS president Leonard Darwin and a rather reluctant Captain Scott.

As to the latitude claimed, the reason for doubting its accuracy was that after 3 January all computations of position were based on dead reckoning; that is, on course, speed and elapsed time. The last observation, on 3 January had calculated the latitude as 87° 22′. Shackleton's table of distances show that over the next three days they covered just over 40 nautical miles (74 km; 46 mi), to reach an estimated 88° 7′ on 6 January. They were then held up for two days by a blizzard. On 9 January 1909 the table shows that the party travelled from their last camp a further 16 nautical miles (30 km; 18 mi) to reach their farthest south, and the same distance back to camp. This distance in a single day far exceeded those for any other stage of the journey. Shackleton explained that this was a dash, "half running, half walking", unencumbered by the sledge or other equipment. Each of the four men independently confirmed his belief in the latitude achieved, and none gave any subsequent cause for his word to be doubted.

Official recognition soon came to Shackleton in the form of the rank of Commander of the Royal Victorian Order bestowed by the King, who later conferred a knighthood. The RGS presented him with a gold medal, although apparently with reservations—"We do not propose to make the Medal so large as that which was awarded to Captain Scott", recorded an official. Although in the eyes of the public he was a hero, the riches that Shackleton had anticipated failed to materialise. The soaring costs of the expedition and the need to meet loan guarantees meant that he was saved from financial embarrassment only by a belated government grant of £20,000.

The farthest south record of the Nimrod Expedition stood for less than three years, until Amundsen reached the South Pole on 15 December 1911. For his trail-breaking achievements Shackleton received a fulsome tribute from Amundsen: "What Nansen is to the North, Shackleton is to the South". Thereafter Shackleton's Antarctic ambitions were fixed on a transcontinental crossing, which he attempted, unsuccessfully, with the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–17. His status as a leading figure of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was assured, however. Other members of the Nimrod Expedition also achieved fame and standing in future years. Edgeworth David, Adams, Mawson and Priestley all eventually received knighthoods, the latter two continuing their polar work on further expeditions, though neither went south again with Shackleton. Mawson led the 1911–13 Australian Antarctic Expedition, and Priestley was part of the Terra Nova expedition's scientific team. Frank Wild was second-in-command to the "Boss" on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition and on the short Quest expedition where he took over command after Shackleton's death in South Georgia in 1922. Ten years after its return from the Antarctic, Nimrod was battered to pieces in the North Sea, after running aground on the Barber Sands off the Norfolk (UK) coast on 31 January 1919. Only two of her 12-person crew survived.

Several mostly intact cases of whisky and brandy left behind in 1909 were recovered in 2010, for analysis by a distilling company. A revival of the vintage (and since lost) formula for the particular brands found has been offered for sale with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust which discovered the lost spirits.