An autograph letter signed ('EH Shackleton') to Miss Pearl Smith, granddaughter of Alexander John Smith (see below)
One page, octavo, on British Antarctic Expedition 1907 letterhead; creases where folded for posting; in fine condition.
It is undated, but it was written in Adelaide in November 1907 when Shackleton was on his way south; it was in reply to a 'kind note. I am interested to read of your connection with a man on Ross' Expedition'. The visit had lasting and significant consequences; a local 25 year-old geologist 'approached him with a view to making the round trip to Antarctica on the "Nimrod". His idea was to see an existing continental ice-cap and to become acquainted with glaciation and its geological consequences'; his application was successful, and thus began Douglas Mawson's long association with the Antarctic ('Australian Dictionary of Biography'). [Alexander John Smith (1812-1872) entered the Navy in 1826; he survived the loss of the 'Thetis' in 1830, and sailed under James Clark Ross with the 'Erebus' and the 'Terror' in 1839-43. This voyage, lasting four years and five months, was 'one of mankind's greatest expeditions of geographical and scientific exploration' (Rosove), being the first to discover a sea route to the Antarctic. The expedition was 'the first to enter what is known today as the Ross Sea, the first to sight the Admiralty Mountains, the first to see Victoria Land, Ross Island, Mounts Erebus and Terror, and the Ross Ice Shelf, amongst other momentous discoveries' (The 'Taurus' Collection). Smith was Mate on the 'Erebus'; he was promoted to Lieutenant in 1841. When the ships overwintered in Hobart in 1840 and 1841, Smith met and became engaged to Sarah Aubrey Read (1821-1900), second daughter of the founder and Governor of the Bank of Van Diemen's Land. After the expedition, he returned to Hobart and married his fiancée in October 1844. For some years he had charge of the Observatory in Hobart, and completed scientific observations commenced during the Antarctic expedition. He resigned his appointment in 1852 and proceeded with his wife and children to Victoria. There he was made Warden of the newly discovered goldfields at Castlemaine; he later became a MLA before retiring to Kyneton. He died in 1872, aged 59].
Item #108440
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