By John Silverton 
Blue Plaque, 14 Milnthorpe Road, Eastbourne.
The first Blue Plaque to be erected in Eastbourne was at 14 Milnthorpe Road, Hampden Park, from 1916 – 1919 the home of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874 – 1922). A second Blue Plaque is at his London home, 12 Westwood Hill, Sydenham. Shackleton was one of the great trio of heroic Antarctic explorers along with Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen.
All three explorers were in a race to be first to the South Pole, achieved by Amundsen in 1911. Scott reached the Pole but it cost him and his colleagues their lives from cold and hunger on the return. Shackleton was bitterly disappointed at Amundsen’s success. His wife, Emily, when interviewed said, “The only comment he made to me about not reaching the Pole was ‘a live donkey is better than a dead lion, isn’t it?’ (a reference to Scott). And I said ‘Yes, darling, as far as I’m concerned,’ and we left it at that.”
Sir Ernest Shackleton
Shackleton led three expeditions to Antarctica and made important scientific discoveries including the location of the South Magnetic Pole. After the race to the geographical South Pole ended in 1911, Shackleton turned his attention to crossing Antarctica from sea to sea via the Pole. However the expedition was struck by disaster when its ship, Endurance, became trapped and crushed by pack ice, eventually sinking in the Weddell Sea. The crew escaped by camping on the sea ice, but were stranded without hope of rescue. Shackleton decided to try to reach the nearest land, Elephant Island. In open lifeboats in appalling cold and stormy conditions they rowed and sailed for five harrowing days, 346 miles from where Endurance had sunk. They then trekked across the uncharted mountains of South Georgia to a whaling station, subsisting on meagre rations, seal meat and penguins. His leadership undoubtedly saved the lives of his crew.
One of Shackleton’s contemporaries, Sir Raymond Priestly, in his address to the British Science Association, 1956, in comparing the three eminent explorers said: “Scott for scientific method, Amundsen for speed and efficiency, [but] when disaster strikes and all hope is gone get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.”
In 1921, Shackleton returned to South Georgia but suffered a heart attack. At the request of his wife he was buried on the island at Grytviken Cemetery.
Shackleton’s grave, Grytviken Cemetery, South Georgia.
Question for readers: Why don’t polar bears eat penguins?
