Shackleton family descendant visits South Pole with Deep Freeze

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JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR HICKAM, Hawaii --  A Navy Reservist and descendant of the family of famous Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton reached the South Pole Feb. 9 - a milestone that his distant relative did not achieve despite three heroic attempts.

Cmdr. Scott Shackleton, a Reservist assigned to Military Sealift Command, traveled briefly to the South Pole Feb. 9-10.

Commander Shackleton was at the Antarctic scientific research post McMurdo Station playing a vital role in the U.S. Department of Defense's annual delivery of the fuel, equipment and supplies that sustain the scientists and support personnel conducting vital research across the continent.

"I've always felt a kinship with Sir Ernest," Commander Shackleton said. "It's been an honor for me to have this tie to him and the name Shackleton."

The commander is one of two highly experienced cargo officers who spent time at McMurdo Station over the past month overseeing the offload of two MSC ships - tanker USNS Paul Buck and the MSC-chartered dry cargo ship MV American Tern.

American Tern arrived Feb. 1 and offloaded 734,907 cubic feet of cargo - including frozen and dry food stores, building supplies, vehicles, and electronic equipment and parts. Paul Buck was at the ice pier unloading diesel, gas and jet fuel from Jan. 22-27.

This delivery of supplies by ship to McMurdo Station's ice pier is part of Operation Deep Freeze, which is directed by the 13th Air Force-led Joint Task Force Support Forces Antarctica, headquartered here.

Commander Shackleton's specific role at McMurdo is to serve as a liaison between American Tern's crew of U.S. merchant mariners, the Navy sailors offloading the equipment, and the scientific personnel receiving the equipment. He also tracks safety issues, troubleshoots any weather-related or other changes to the ship's schedule, and handles specialty cargo requirements.

During the mission, Commander Shackleton also visited a hut that Sir Ernest twice called home - first as part of explorer Robert Scott's 1902-1903 Discovery expedition and again during Sir Ernest's own 1907-1909 Nimrod Expedition.

"It is an awesome experience to walk into Scott's Discovery Hut and see this historical structure just as it was left by these early explorers over 100 years ago," the commander said. "You can't help but feel that the spirit of these great explorers is still present in this amazing place."

Sir Ernest is most remembered for his famous Endurance Expedition of 1914-1916. During that unsuccessful attempt to the South Pole, he and his crew of 27 were stranded on the ice for nearly 15 months. Remarkably, all of the Endurance crew survived. Sir Ernest died of a heart attack in 1922 during his third lead expedition to Antarctica.

"I have heard the stories of [Sir Ernest Shackleton's] great adventures since I was a small child," Commander Shackleton said. "I have always wanted to venture down to Antarctica and experience it for myself. I am honored and privileged to be given this assignment and have enjoyed every minute of my tour down in Antarctica."

Each Antarctic summer since McMurdo Station was established in 1955, an MSC tanker and dry cargo ship have traversed the icy waters with aid of an ice breaker to deliver 100 percent of the fuel and about 70 percent of the dry cargo needed to sustain personnel on the continent for an entire calendar year.

Following MSC's delivery by sea, the Air Force has then distributed that cargo by air from McMurdo Station to other remote research locations across the continent. MSC's dry cargo ships have also transported cargo - ranging from precious ice core samples for research to trash and recyclable materials for disposal - off of the continent.

Like Sir Ernest, Commander Shackleton took to the sea at a young age. He began sailing on commercial ships at the age of 18. He then enrolled in the California Maritime Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering in 1987 - the same year that he joined the U.S. Navy Reserve.

Commander Shackleton sailed for commercial industry until he moved to the University of California Berkeley, where he is now the assistant dean for capital projects and facilities in the College of Engineering. He has served as an MSC Navy Reservist for 16 years, and will depart McMurdo Station for home Feb. 10.

Military Sealift Command operates approximately 110 noncombatant, merchant mariner-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world, and move military cargo and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and coalition partners.

(Article based on a Military Sealift Command news release.)