About this Event
In August 1914, Endurance, the strongest wooden ship ever built, sailed down the Thames on her maiden voyage to Antarctica. Despite her strength, the vessel was never designed to withstand the ‘inhospitable arms of the ice’. After ten months trapped in the pack, she was lost beneath the ice of the Weddell Sea. This year the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, commissioned by the UK Government and in collaboration with Historic England, prepared a conservation management plan to protect the wreck found in 2022.
Just 30 years after Shackleton’s expedition, a secret wartime mission established Base A at Port Lockroy on the Antarctic Peninsula. Today, the historic site, along with five others representing the birthplace of British climate science on the continent, is conserved as a museum and post office by the Trust. Visitors can step back in time to imagine the lives of the pioneering scientists. 80 years later, is life so different for the intrepid charity team tasked with conserving the building and its artefacts, sharing the stories of its residents and studying the neighbouring penguin colony?
Five people, five months, 9,000 miles from home on an Antarctic island the size of a football pitch. Join us at the Shackleton Flagship store to hear what it’s like to live in Antarctica, the threat of climate change on vulnerable Antarctic heritage and to pose your questions to those with first-hand experience.
Satellites willing, we will go live to Port Lockroy in Antarctica to meet the current team, hear about their first month and wish them seasons’ greetings.
Our seasonal soirée will also provide the opportunity to learn about the Shackleton Medal for Protection of the Polar Regions before nominations open in the new year.
Event Details
Date: 12th December, 2024
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Shackleton 214 Piccadilly, London, W1J 7BX
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Shackleton Store Piccadilly, 214 Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
