Category Archives: Other Voices

“Like men longing for a thunderstorm to relieve them of the summer’s sultriness, so the generation of 1914 believed in the relief that war might bring.” — a Hapsburg official, quoted in Thunder at Twilight, by Frederic Morton

Ernest Shackleton (second from left), Queen Alexandra (third from left), Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, Emily Shackleton (in white), Edward Shackleton (child). “Shackleton received Queen Alexandra when, at her own desire, she inspected Endurance at the London docks, and … Continue reading →

“Cheetham the veteran of the Antarctic had been more often south than any other man.” — Ernest Shackleton, on Alfred Cheetham, third officer aboard the Endurance “Alfred Cheetham was born in 1867 in Liverpool. He was a small, lean man … Continue reading →

James McIlroy, second surgeon aboard the Endurance “…having been abroad in so many places, I couldn’t have settled down in England.” — James McIlroy “A sardonic, sarcastic blighter.” — Lionel Greenstreet “McIlroy heard by chance at his club that Shackleton … Continue reading →

“Tom Crean was an Irishman from County Kerry, and a Royal Navy petty officer. Crean was undeniably tough, determined and experienced. He had been to the Antarctic on Discovery, and again with Scott on his second expedition. “Crean was not … Continue reading →

“The interview was very brief — ‘Why do you want to go?’ ‘I don’t know, I just want to.’ ‘You look fit enough are you perfectly healthy…?’ ‘Perfectly fit.’ ‘What is wrong with your eyes?’ ‘Nothing.’ “At this I could … Continue reading →

“‘Gentle Jimmy’ was the expedition’s magnetician and physicist. Macklin wrote that he had: ‘some wonderful electrical machines which none of us understood…and a joke of ours that annoyed him very much was that he did not either.’” “Like many of … Continue reading →

“He called for me, looked me up and down, walked up and down when he was talking to me, didn’t seem to take any notice. Finally he said, ‘Yes, I like you, I’ll take you.’ He told me afterwards he … Continue reading →

“Temperamentally, Shackleton and Worsley had some of the same characteristics. Both were energetic, imaginative, romantic men who thirsted for adventure. But while Shackleton’s nature drove him always to be the leader, Worsley had no such inclinations. He was fundamentally light-hearted, … Continue reading →

“[While] Wall Street abhors such crimes, [the archduke] was an exceedingly unpopular prince.” — Wall Street Journal, June 30, 1914 [See enlargement]