Sir Ernest Shackleton was a British explorer and naval officer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. Born on February 15, 1874, in Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland, he joined the Royal Navy at age 16 and served in several ships before becoming an explorer. Shackleton's first expedition to Antarctica was as second-in-command of Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery Expedition (1901-1904). He then led his own Nimrod Expedition (1907-1909) which reached a record southern latitude. In 1914, he commanded the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, also known as the Endurance Expedition, which aimed to cross Antarctica from sea to sea. The expedition's ship, Endurance, was trapped and crushed by pack ice in the Weddell Sea, forcing Shackleton and his crew to abandon ship. They survived on the ice for several months before being rescued after a perilous journey to Elephant Island and then South Georgia. Shackleton died on January 5, 1922, at age 47, while leading an expedition to the Antarctic with the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition's surviving crew members.
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