June 14th 2018

Shackleton’s Forgotten Men  -  Open Evening
Debby Horsman

Debby is a relative of the photographer and padre of the Ross Sea party, AP Spencer Smith, who helped lay the supply depots across the Great Ice Barrier from the Ross Sea to the Beardmore Glacier along the polar route established by earlier Antarctic Expeditions. She will tell us the fascinating story of Ernest Shackleton and his expeditions. Who were these forgotten men?

Review of the evening
Debby's was a fascinatng story which none of knew anything about. In a nutshell, Shackleton set off from the west side of Antarctica with 5 men to travel to the Ross Sea on the eastern side. At a similar time, Mackintosh and a few men set off from the Ross Sea with provisions - clothes, water, food, medicines, on dog sleds to build depots to support Shackleton on his long journey.  Problems arose at both ends but eventually some of the men met up and were rescued. The forgotten men are those who toiled from the Ross Sea end to provide the shelters and provision depots.

Debby was given a lot of information by a distant relative and brought it all together to provide talks on the subject. She has delivered it to schools and many groups like ourselves but is planning on giving up very soon so we were lucky to hear her.

Some of us were lucky enough to visit Debby's  and her friend's gardens in the Spring to see their wonderful collection of snowdrops. They raised £3,500 for Marie Curie over a period of 6 days. She also opens her garden in June when returning visitors were amazed that she had many other flowers besides snowdrops!