05 January 2022
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The British Antarctic Territory, Falkland Islands and South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands have joined together to commemorate the centenary of the death of the great polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922).
Shackleton rose to fame in 1915 when his vessel, the Endurance, became trapped in pack ice and sank. Against all the odds, Shackleton succeeded in getting all his men back to safety, a tale of resolve and selfless leadership that is celebrated as one of the greatest stories of human endeavour.
A century after his death his fame continues, yet his popularity is a relatively modern phenomenon. From the 1980s onwards various biographies and historic accounts of the polar expeditions saw Shackleton catapulted to stardom, something that was fleeting in his lifetime.
Each of the territories have issued four stamps, reflecting different moments in the explorer’s eventful life, including the Nimrod expedition and the Shackleton-Rowett expedition.
Perhaps most poignant are the three stamps showing Shackleton’s Cairn in Grytviken, South Georgia, where he was buried in January 1922.
Issue date: 5 January 2022