The Nimrod Passing HMS PowerfulIn Lyttelton Harbour

The Nimrod Passing H.M.S. Powerful, Flagship of the Australasian Squadron, in Lyttelton Harbour', New Zealand, 1 January 1908, (1909). Anglo-Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) made three expeditions to the Antarctic. During the second expedition, 1907-1909, he and three companions established a new record, Farthest South latitude at 88°S, only 97 geographical miles (112 statute miles, or 180 km) from the South Pole, the largest advance to the pole in exploration history. Members of his team also climbed Mount Erebus, the most active volcano in the Antarctic. Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII for these achievements. He died during his third and last 'oceanographic and sub-antarctic' expedition, aged 47. Illustration from The Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, by E. H. Shackleton, C.V.O. [William Heinemann, London, 1909]. Artist Unknown. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)