2-693-857 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'The Northern Party at the South Magnetic Pole from Left - Dr. Mackay, Professor David, Douglas Mawson', 17 January 1909. Anglo-Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) made three expeditions to the Antarctic. During the second expedition, 1907-1909, Alastair Mackay, Edgeworth David, and Douglas Mawson reached the Southern Magnetic Pole. Unlike the geographic South Pole, the magnetic South Pole is not a fixed point, but wanders over the surface of the Earth as the magnetic field surrounding the planet fluctuates. In 1909, it was still accessible over land. Shackleton and three companions also established a new record, Farthest South latitude at 88°S, only 97 geographical miles (112 statute miles, or 180 km) from the South Pole, the largest advance to the pole in exploration history. Illustration from The Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, by E. H. Shackleton, C.V.O. [William Heinemann, London, 1909]