Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922), in 1914, Irish explorer of the Antarctic. Shackleton was born in County Kildare, Ireland, and served as a junior officer on Captain Scott's 1901 National Antarctic Expedition. In 1909 he led his own expedition to Antarctica, nearly reaching the South Pole and climbing Mount Erebus, the world's southernmost active volcano.In 1915 his ship the Endurance was crushed by ice in the Weddell Sea; with five of his crew he rowed 1300km in a lifeboat to the island of South Georgia to bring relief. He came within 745 miles of the South Pole with Robert Scott on the 1901 Discovery expedition, and within 97 miles on his own Nimrod expedition in 1908. Shackleton died on board the Quest during a fourth expedition to Antarctica. He was 47 years old.