Stars Celebrate Shackleton Centenary
Explorers Rebecca Stephens, MBE and Michael Palin, CBE will be on board as Silversea Expeditions celebrates the centenary of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance expedition to the Antarctica.
Silversea Expeditions and the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers or IBG) are also partnering for the centenary celebrations.
The story of how Shackleton led his men in the Weddell Sea party over ice and ocean to safety is one of the greatest survival tales in human history. In November 1915, Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, could no longer navigate the frozen waters of Antarctica and his expedition team were faced with the daunting task of surviving both the unforgiving climate and environment while waiting for the ice to break up again.
In November 2015, marking 100 years since the stricken expedition team managed to endure 138 days in one of the most inhospitable places on earth, the first in a series of unique Silversea expedition voyages will depart Ushuaia, Argentina, to retrace Shackleton’s journey to Antarctica. Explorer and journalist Rebecca Stephens MBE, who was the first British woman to climb Everest and the Seven Summits, will be on Silver Explorer as part of the exclusive onboard enrichment program providing an insight into her experiences while trekking in some of the most remote regions on the planet.
Continuing the centenary celebrations during November, Silversea, in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), will host a unique Shackleton experience at the RGS headquarters for one evening in central London with the renowned travel writer, broadcaster and actor Michael Palin CBE as guest of honor.
The evening will mark the opening of a major exhibition “The Enduring Eye: the Antarctic Legacy of Sir Ernest Shackleton and Frank Hurley,” which will be held at the RGS from the end of November 2015 to the end of February 2016.
And passengers booking one of the Antarctica 18-day voyages in November 2015, January, February, and December 2016, will hear from distinguished historians on board and visit iconic areas of the Antarctic including Elephant Island, South Shetland Islands, where Shackleton and his crew were stranded for 105 days.
The Antarctica voyages will call at South Georgia, where Shackleton and five of his crew first touched land after crossing 878 miles (1,413 kilometers) of ocean. Guests will also be able to visit Shackleton’s burial site in Grytviken.
For more, go to http://www.silversea.com/expeditions/royal-geographical-society/shackletons-centenary/ .
