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Telegram from Skackleton to Edward VII
Royal Writing throughout the Ages

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ERNEST SHACKLETON

Telegram from Ernest Shackleton to King Edward VII

25 March 1909

From 1907–9 Ernest Shackleton and his expedition team attempted to go further south than anyone had gone before. He took a Union Jack that had been presented to him by Queen Alexandra and planted it just 97 miles from the magnetic South Pole. While unfortunately he did not reach the South Pole himself, others of his team did, making the expedition not only successful but historic.

Shackleton sent this telegram to inform King Edward VII of the expedition’s achievements, and to request permission to name a mountain range after Queen Alexandra. In his response, the king sent his congratulations on ‘the splendid result accomplished by your Expedition’, and ‘gladly’ gave his assent to ‘the new Range of Mountains in the far South’ bearing the Queen’s name. The Queen Alexandra Range, about 100 miles long, is in East Antarctica. For all its appearance, this frail-looking document is part of the extraordinary history of Antarctic exploration.


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