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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1-7 November, 1921
The Quest is now en route to Rio. The weather has become very warm and and conditions below deck are uncomfortable so the crew spend time whenever possible under shade on deck. Friday 4 November, 1921 At midday, Eriksen lands a 7ft 7” (2.3m) male dolphin. The ship is stopped for 10 minutes to bring…
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26-31 October, 1921 – Cape Verde Islands
Wednesday 26 October, 1921 In the afternoon, Quest arrives at St Vincent, Cape Verde Islands and sets about coaling. Wilkins writes to his mother: “Owing to the ship being so much out of repair there is so much to do that it leaves us very little time for letter writing. We called at Madeira last…
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20-25 October, 1921
Thursday 20 October, 1921 Quest’s engines are knocking badly again. There is much debate as to what to do. Friday 21 October, 1921 8 am: Quest is passed by the Royal Mail ship RMSP Araguaya, a few hundred miles south of Madeira Wilkins writes in his diary: “The Boss came along and said that he…