Fascinating talk on Ernest Shackleton
That was the starting point too for last night's talk in the Town Hall on Shackleton by Kevin, who outlined the highs and lows of Shackleton's career, under the title Get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.
The title is a reference to the advice from another Antarctic explorer, Sir Raymond Priestley, 'For scientific discovery give me Scott; for speed and efficiency of travel give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton'.
The postcard was a marker in a secondhand copy of Treasure Island which Kevin Kenny bought as a teenager. It was addressed to the Jacobs biscuit company, thanking them for supplying biscuits to Shackleton's 1907 Nimrod expedition. After some enquiries, he found the book had belonged to a member of the Shackleton family, and likely the postcard had never been sent.
But the communication brought Shackleton into the speaker's life as a virtual travelling companion, leading him to involvement in the Athy heritage project which established the Shackleton Museum and the now annual Shackleton Autumn School.
His presentation last night, as part of the series for Kilcullen 700, highlighted Shackleton's reputation as an inspirational leader even in the most dire circumstances. "He never achieved the goals of any of his expeditions," Kevin said. "But he never lost anyone he was in charge of, on any of them."
The most famous example of that was the 800-mile journey in a small lifeboat with a few of his crew, including Tom Crean, to organise the rescue of 22 others left behind, stranded on Elephant Island following the loss of their ship Endurance.
Those at the talk last evening could almost feel the bitter cold of the Antarctic, could hear the keening of the icy wind, and had extremities tingle with imagined onset of frostbite. The symptoms of scurvy might even have begun to intrude if things had gone on any longer. The presentation was that interesting.
At the end, Kevin presented the Kilcullen 700 committee's Nessa Dunlea with a copy of Shackleton's Endurance - The story in music and words, a CD commissioned by the Athy Heritage Centre Museum, with music by Brian Hughes and narration by John MacKenna.
The next talk in the Kilcullen 700 series is scheduled for Tuesday 2 July, about the New Abbey estate.
Photographs use Policy — Privacy Policy
