Auctions: A Chance To Buy An Original ‘Polar Explorer’ That Helped Guide Ernest Shackleton
It was January 9, 1909, and Ernest Shackleton’s team was painfully close to the South Pole. The team had spent nearly a year and a half on its expedition, rationing food time and time again as they trudged across the Antarctic landscape, losing all of the ponies that were meant to haul their equipment – but miraculously Shackleton and his team had survived. Yet Shackleton had to admit defeat, writing, “We have shot our bolt and the tale is 88° 23′ S.” They were just 97.5 miles from the South Pole, the closest of any explorer to date.
But well before Shackleton ever made landfall on the Antarctic there was the Nimrod, a forty-year-old wooden sealer that was pretty ill-equipped for an intense arctic journey, but all Shackleton could afford to make the journey. It became the namesake for the expedition. To guide them, the team used a Robert Gardner-made, two-day marine chronometer – among other chronometers – which was essential for navigation at the time. It’s that very clock that Bonhams is offering in its July 13th “Fine Clocks Sale”, now mounted as a mantle clock and with a whole host of research backing up its provenance.
The Gardner Marine Chronometer cased as a mantle clock. Photo: courtesy Bonhams
The “Nimrod Expedition” had fallen short of its goal, but as the first of three Antarctic expeditions by the Irish explorer, it played a huge part in cementing Ernest Shackleton’s place in history as more than just a capable explorer. In fact, Roald Amundsen, who would be the first to reach the South Pole two years later, said, “Sir Ernest Shackleton’s name will always be written in the annals of Antarctic exploration in letters of fire.”
It’s not the “Polar Explorer” you were thinking of, but as horological significance goes, this is a pretty cool bit of exploration history. The Nimrod expedition did more than just “come close” to the South Pole, the team also made the first ascent of Mount Erebus, Antarctica’s second-highest volcano, and set the tone for future expeditions to the Antarctic. Similarly, the chronometer lived a full life beyond that single expedition. It was purchased by the Admiralty (the office in charge of the Royal Navy until 1964) in March 1899 for £44. The clock traveled to Sydney more than once, was near Turkey during WWI, and eventually landed in India in 1920.
Bonhams has an estimate of £3,000 – £5,000 for the Nimrod chronometer. I’m not versed at all on the value of a chronometer like this, especially with the movement now mounted in a different configuration than it would have originally been, but a mantle clock is frankly far more practical than a chronometer case is these days. Knowing that an American-made marine chronometer from a later period would be about half the price, with far less provenance, I think it seems like a fair price for a cool piece of exploration history.
Lead photos courtesy of Getty Images
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For more on the Nimrod Chronometer and the sale from Bonhams, visit their website.
Hodinkee
