Ernest Shackleton Memorial to travel 11,000km to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his birth

A memorial to Irish polar explorer Ernest Shackleton will travel more than 11,000 kilometres to Dundee to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his birth this August.

The wooden cross from Shackleton’s Hope Point memorial on South Georgia Island, will be displayed at Discovery Point museum in Dundee this August.

The Discovery Point Museum is where the historic ship Discovery, which first carried Shackleton to Antarctica in 1901, is kept.

Ernest Shackleton was born in Kilkea, Ireland, in February 1874 and died in January 1922, aged 47, after suffering a heart attack on board his expedition ship, the Quest, in South Georgia, a UK overseas territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

After his death, a memorial was erected on the island at Hope Point, near his final resting place in Grytviken Cemetery.

The Hope Cross was constructed by crew members of the Shackleton-Rowett expedition  to commemorate their expedition leader, whom they called The Boss.

Crafted from wood salvaged from a nearby whaling station, the cross stood at Hope Point for nearly 100 years, before the decision was made in 2018 to remove it and replace it with a replica to preserve it.

Earlier this year, the cross – measuring almost three metres tall-  was loaded aboard the RRS Sir David Attenborough, to begin its 11,000 kilometre journey.

The cross is expected to arrive in Dundee in August, where a service is expected to be held to commemorate its arrival at the home of the RRS Discovery.

Bringing the memorial cross to Dundee is a collaboration between the Dundee Heritage Trust (DHT) the South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT), British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI).

The Dundee Heritage Trust is appealing to fundraise £10,000 for the care of the cross at Discovery Point.

Today's news comes exactly 108 years to the day after Shackleton arrived to the island, just 6 years before his death.

After 36-hours of grueling travel, Shackleton, Worsley and Crean successfully arrived at Stromness Whaling Station, South Georgia #OnThisDay in 1916. The men traversed what had been regarded 'inaccessible' country by whalers.#explore #discover #antarctica #OTD #shackleton pic.twitter.com/9m2EzvJA3B

— Antarctic Heritage (@InspireExplore) May 20, 2024

Laura Willis, chief executive of the islands’ government said of the plan to bring the cross to Dundee: “We hope that its display to a wider audience will inspire visitors, enthusiasts and future generations to contemplate and appreciate the enduring legacy of one of the world’s greatest explorers, as well as the indomitable strength of human spirit.”