Happy Birthday, Sir Ernest Shackleton!

What an amazing legacy you left behind. Your example of conquering overwhelming obstacles with grace, with fortitude, and with courage lives on as an enduring inspiration.

Here's a riff from photographer Frank Hurley's expedition journal...

February 14, 1915

Land seen faintly to S.E., about 40 miles off. A decisive effort was made to free the ship, all hands continuing till midnight, and everyone, like a Trojan would, wielded a pick, ice chisel, or any other implement. The ship itself was commissioned as a battering ram. At midnight, we had cocoa and wished Sir Ernest many happy returns of his 41st birthday, and all to bunk very tired.