Shackleton's Past Experiences:

Sir Ernest Shackleton of Britain had been on two previous expeditions to the Antarctic. The first one had commenced in 1901, when Captain R. Scott sailed the Discovery with two other men and had set out to reach the South Pole. It had been poorly planned, and it failed disastrously. They suffered from starvation and scurvy; all their dogs dropped dead along the way. Shackleton almost died. He returned home a hero and built on his lesson from the Discovery and tried again with a different expedition, this one led by him. He had decided not to let himself be put under the command of anyone else again. He sailed the Nimrod to the Antarctic with ten Manchurian ponies and nine dogs, even though ponies had been shown to be totally inadequate. He hadn't learned to ski, and he did not have enough equipment. Surprisingly, they got far closer to the pole than the Discovery expedition, within 100 miles before deciding to turn back. He and four other men made a mad dash to the campsite where the rest of their men were supposed to be waiting. Instead, it was deserted. The sailors had left, and later returned to winter over and search for their bodies. When he returned, he was deemed a national hero and knighted.