The Quest Chronicle blog and its origins
In early 2021, it was suggested that I set up a blog to document the “100-years-ago” story of the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition as an unfolding diary. The blog launched in March 2021 and ran though the year up to January 4 2022, the eve of the centenary of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s death at South Georgia. By this time, I had decided that the story should be presented in a book and so transferred efforts to that cause – resulting in The Quest Chronicle being published in September 2022. This part of our website contains just some of the posts from the original blog.
Blog posts are listed below in reverse chronological order.
Jan Chojecki
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16-18 December 1921 – Rio & South Georgia
Friday 16 December, 1921 Gerald Lysaght, “the General” to the Quest crew, is back in England after leaving the expedition at St Vincent in the Cape Verde Islands on 28 October. Today he arrives at Ely Place to spend the weekend with the Rowetts. In Rio de Janeiro, Shackleton swelters as final repairs are done…
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8-15 December 1921, Rio & South Georgia
Thursday 8 December, 1921 The Woodville, carrying Douglas and Wilkins reaches South Georgia and docks at Port Olav Harbour, the Lever Bros whaling station, with assistance from Captain Lars Andersen (“catch” manager). Once on shore they meet Mr B R Bostock (chemist and factory manager), Mr Evans (accountant and store manager) and Dr Matheson of…
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4-7 December 1921, Rio
Sunday 4 December, 1921 Sir Alfred Yarrow, the shipbuilding magnate, invites Shackleton to lunch at the Club Central this coming Wednesday, 7 December. Sir Alfred has only very recently arrived from England on RMSP Avon, which departed Southampton on 11 November. Yarrow has in the past built and supplied torpedo boats for the Brazilian Navy.…