"Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised."
Apsley Cherry-Garrard
"Adventure is just bad planning"
Roald Amundsen
On the Continent itself:
“…whoever has resolution and
perseverance to clear up this point by proceeding farther
than I have done, I shall not envy him the honour of
discovery, but I will be bold to say that the world will
not be benefited by it.”
Captain James Cook
Shackleton:
"...quickness of repartee was
characteristic of Shackleton and indeed a key to his
character. His aptitude for satire, for bantering his
companions, could be embarassing and sometimes annoying.
However, it was always done without malice. Shackleton was
responsible for most of the nicknames on board Discovery,
some of them given for reasons known only to himself"
Louis Bernacchi
Mate on the Discovery
“For scientific leadership,
give me Scott, for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen.
But when you are in a hopeless situation, when you are
seeing no way out, get down on your knees and pray for
Shackleton. Incomparable in adversity, he was the miracle
worker who would save your life against all the odds and
long after your number was up. The greatest leader that
ever came on God's earth, bar none.”
Sir Raymond Priestley
Member of the Nimrod expedition
1907-1909
"At all times he inspired men
with a feeling, often illogical, that, even if things got
worse, he could devise some means of easing their
hardships"
Frank Worsley
Skipper of the Endurance
Scott:
"Honest and truthful himself,
he was inclined at first to take people at their own
valuation, which led, sometimes, to bad judging of men. But
when he found out a fraud, he was quite ruthless in his
reaction. ... However, he was very sensitive and highly
strung, could not bear the sight of blood was full of
tender sympathy for pain in animals and for the genuine
troubles of his friends."
Louis Bernacchi
Mate on the Discovery
By Shackleton:
"Never for me the lowered banner, never the last endeavour."