“Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised.” Apsley Cherry GarrardSomewhere in the hidden recesses of my DNA is an attraction to the stories of adventurers and explorers. Discoverers, pioneers or all stripes fill my imagination, but at the pinnacle are the tales of Scott, Amundsen, and Shackleton, Cherry-Garrard the men who first explored the Antarctic.
The Centenary of Robert Falcon Scott's unsuccessful attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole is next year. In preparation for the anniversary goings-on, Buckingham Palace has staged an exhibit of photos from the Royal Collection taken during Scott's journey by Herbert George Ponting, and of Shackelton's Endurance Expedition by Frank Hurling, the expeditions official photographers. That any glass plate negatives survived is a miracle. That any survived Shackleton's expedition boggles the mind.
If you are unlikely to find yourself in the UK before mid April 2012, many of the photos and artifacts may be found here.
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