An archive belonging to the captain of Sir Ernest Shackleton ’s ill-fated Antarctica expedition has emerged for sale, more than a century later.
Frank Worsley commanded the Endurance during the explorer’s voyage when the crew became stranded for 18 months in freezing conditions. Items up for auction contain details that have never been seen before, including a personal copy of Shackleton’s book recounting the disastrous trip from 1912 to 1915.
There is also a postcard with a picture of Endurance in pack ice, a watercolour by Worsley thought to depict the doomed craft and an order of service for Shackleton’s funeral in 1922.
Experts have said the set of around 100 items, tipped to fetch £7,000, is the largest single collection of original Endurance memorabilia ever to come to auction.
The possessions were left to Worsley’s wife, Jean. Pat Bamford, who lived with the couple in Claygate, Surrey, acquired the items after Jean died in 1978.
They go up for grabs at Bonhams in London on March 2, 100 years to the day since Shackleton’s funeral.
The auction house’s specialist Matthew Hayley said: “We are over a century on now from the expedition, so there is not a lot of fresh material that can still emerge. To find a new collection is unusual. Finding one of this size has never happened before.
“Manuscripts of Worsley’s books and essays are most interesting because they were never published. This is the first time they have been seen.
“It is fitting that they come to sale exactly 100 years since Shackleton’s funeral.”
Endurance was lost in the Weddell sea in November 1915. Worsley, affectionately known as “Wuzzles”, led the 28 crew in lifeboats to uninhabited Elephant Island after the vessel broke up and sank.
Shackleton made an epic 800-mile boat journey to South Georgia to organise the rescue. He died of a heart attack five years later during an expedition on the Quest. The items up for sale include an unseen essay by Worsley, who was also on the ship, describing his grief.
He wrote: “I lost a true friend and England lost a great adventurous man.”
A voyage was launched two weeks ago in a bid to recover Endurance.
