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OXFORD UNIVERSITY ELLESMERE LAND EXPEDITION, 1934

HAMPTON COURT PALACE, MIDDLESEX.

21st May 1936.

Dear Lord Tweedsmuir ,

As mentioned in my letter of last week, I am sending the manuscript of "Arctic Journeys," for which you very kidnly promised to write a Preface. It will probably be going into slip proof sometime next month, but the Publishers say there is no real hurry.

I should be most grateful if you were able to find time to make any corrections or suggestions .

Yours ever,

Eddie Shackleton

2nd June, 1936

Edward Shackleton, Esq., Hampton Court Palace, Middlesex, England

My dear Eddie,

I have safely received your manuscript, which I now return. I enclose a little preface, which you can alter in any way you like.

I think you have written an admirable narrative, and I have very little to suggest in the way of alteration. One thing, however, I would emphasise - that it ought to be shorter. You could easily cut it down by leaving out incidents which are frequently repeated in slightly different forms. You could also cut down, or leave out, the long quotations in Chapter I. I would suggest, too, that you give special attention to your paragraphing. There is an enormous paragraph in Chapter IV. on page 17, which should be put into at least six or seven. I have marked what I mean in the first chapter.

I would also suggest that you be a little more succinct in your scientific explanations, and that you make it clear to the reader the nature of the three journeys in 1935. You must be sure to have good maps. I would also suggest that you have summaries of the contents at the beginning of each chapter. I strongly recommend an appendix on the question whether Peary reached the Pole, about which most people are in doubt.

But I congratulate you warmly on the work, and I hope the

new expedition will go forward satisfactorily.

Yours ever,

Preface. As President of the Oxford Exploration Club from its start

I am glad to have the privilege of writing a few words of preface to my friend Mr. Edward Shackleton's story of its latest, and, in many ways, most remarkable expedition. It was a bold enterprise for young men, for, apart from Dr Noel Humphrey, the leader, and Sergeant Stallworthy of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the average age of the party was twenty-three. Sailing from London on 17th July 1934 the expedition found it impossible, owing to the jam of floe ice in Smith's Sound, to reach the base in Ellesmere Land, on which they had decided, and were compelled to spend the winter at Etah, in Northern Greenland. In the spring of 1935 they grouped themselves into three parties, one of which penetrated into Grant Land crossed the United States Range, and came within sight of the Polar Sea. It discovered a new range of mountains 10,000 feet high.

The whole expedition returned to England in October 1935 without a single casualty, and with much of valuable scientific data. Apart from their initial bad luck in not wintering in Ellesmere Land, they were kindly treated by fortune.

Mr. Shackleton has given a vivid description of a winter spent far inside the Arctic Circle. Had the ghosts of the old explorers in that region visited the camp they would have been amazed by some of the incidents of its life. Daily it was in touch with the outer world through the radio, and could listen every evening to English and American programmes. On Christmas Day a special broadcast was made for its occupants from London, containing messages from home and their favourite

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its tunes. But all the appliances of civilisation did not relieve them from the difficulties and dangers of the Far North. They had many hard and perilous journeys and many days of short rations. The expedition was a happy company; they had no tiffs and practically no sickness. One delightful feature of the book is the account of the many Eskimos, with whom the travellors formed a warm friendship - the race whom Mr. Kipling has called the "People of the Elder Ice."

The day is past for the discovery of any big new geographical secrets. The modern explorer must concentrate on limited problems of scientific interest. Moreover in these difficult times no large funds are available for exploration, so an expedition must be organised with thrift and providence down to the last decimal. It is impossible to read Mr. Shackleton's story without realising that the impulse towards adventure and discovery is as strong today in our young men as ever. There is a certain comfort, the writer says truly, in "reasonable hardship", quite apart from the old "he olim meminisse" business. Moreover, the scientist has the satisfaction of finding his pleasure coincide with his duty. The man who has once experienced the potent spell of the North cannot easily forget it. There is a vast mount of intensive work still to be done in Ellesmere Land, and, to take one instance, an advance base at Lake Hazen would probably produce ornithological data of the first importance. I am glad to know that another and a longer expedition is in prospect which will put fully on the scientific map Canada's most northerly territory.