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Auction: 15037 - Autographs, Historical Documents, Ephemera and Postal History
Lot: 54

(x) Documents
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
1913 (5 August) A.L.S. by Ernest Shackleton on letterhead from 4, New Burlington Street, Regent Street with the telegraphic address "antexpedi, london", written to a friend, Fell.



"The gist of my long letter is that I want to be guaranteed £5000 for one year and I pay the interest to the Bank and deposit with the guarantors the securities I referred to so that there will be little risk and I can have and clear mind to go ahead ... Ernest Shackleton". Central and other folds plus small paper split at top.



An early fund-raising letter from The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–17), also known as the Endurance Expedition, which is considered to be the last major expedition of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. Photo


Shackleton estimated that he would need £50,000 for this expedition. He did not believe in appeals to the public which he felt caused needless book-keeping worries. He chose to raise funds by soliciting contributions from wealthy backers, beginning this process early in 1913. The first significant encouragement came in December 1913, when the Government offered him £10,000, provided he could raise an equivalent amount from private sources. The Royal Geographical Society, from which he had expected nothing, gave him £1,000, Lord Rosebery, who had previously expressed his lack of interest in polar expeditions, gave £50. In February 1914 The New York Times reported that playwright J. M. Barrie – a close friend of Captain Scott – had confidentially donated $50,000. With time running out, contributions were eventually secured during the spring and early summer of 1914. Dudley Docker of the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) gave £10,000, wealthy tobacco heiress Janet Stancomb-Wills gave a "generous" sum (the amount was not revealed), and, in June, Scottish industrialist Sir James Caird donated £24,000. Shackleton informed the Morning Post that "this magnificent gift relieves me of all anxiety"

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£1,700