Shetlanders' role in Shackleton's funeral

Shackleton's death

By 1920, Shackleton once again turned his attention to the Antarctic, aspiring to return to the polar region with the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition on his ship Quest. Key aims were oceanography, looking for sub-Antarctic islands, and mapping unchartered coasts.

Upon arrival in South Georgia, Shackleton visited old associates making preparations for getting his ship ready to proceed. At 3:50am on 5 January he passed away in his cabin from a heart attack, aged 47. Closest friend and second-in-command Frank Wild made arrangements to send the body home to Lady Shackleton, with Albert Hussey, meteorologist on the expedition. When his remains arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay, a message was received from Lady Shackleton that her husband should be buried in South Georgia.

The funeral

The historic events were recorded in The Times, 4 May 1922, by Captain Leonard Hussey:

“We arrived in the whaler Woodville with the body of Sir Ernest Shackleton at South Georgia, ‘the gate of the Antarctic’, on February 26th. We took the body ashore on March 1st. The coffin was taken to the Lutheran Church with floral tributes. At 3pm, on March 5th, the manager of the whaling stations on the island and about 100 men assembled at the church. Mr Edward Binnie, resident magistrate of South Georgia, and the Customs and other officials representing the Falkland Islands Government, were also present.

“One Shetlander, James Brown, was given responsibility to choose the others for duty as pall bearers in Grytviken, South Georgia. The men he selected were his friends who were with him at the time.

“Just before the service began, Mrs Aaderg, the only women on the island, placed a bunch of freshly gathered flowers on the coffin. All present repeated the Lord’s Prayer. After the second verse of the Norwegian funeral hymn, the coffin was lifted by six Shetlanders from Leith Harbour Whaling Station...carried over piles of whalebones and many small mountain streams to the little cemetery on the hill... As the cortege left the church, the bell began to toll, and continued till the coffin was lowered into the grave.

The Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton [1933] added that “… the coffin was borne on the shoulders of six stalwart Shetland Islanders, .....up the hillside to the grave, followed by the cortege of islanders..... the managers even from the most distant stations came to attend it, and one of them, with a fine and understanding sympathy, brought with him from a great distance ex-service men from a British Ship, Shetlanders all, to act as bearers on the last stage.”[i] The coffin, draped in the Union Jack, was carried in procession to the cemetery by six Shetland Island men, preceded by two men carrying black funeral banners in the Norwegian custom.

The pallbearers

All the pallbearers worked within the fishing industry before the First World War. Fishing in the early 20th century had declined with onset of war and this continued after the war with fewer people being employed and the amount and value of the catch variable. This had a devastating impact on the Shetland salt herring industry. Many men arrived home from war to a changed local economic and social environment, with scarce employment. This forced many Shetlanders to move to where the work was and whaling seemed a sensible option.

The South Georgia and Shetland connection is closely linked through whaling. Antarctic whaling took hold following the decline in whale stocks in the North Sea around Britain, Iceland and Norway. It had been important to the Shetland economy for many years. For these men, setting forth to the whaling during the winter months in South Georgia in the South Atlantic, between 1921 and 1922, was an economic necessity. Some of these Shetland men had been coopers before the war, a trade that was needed at whaling stations.

It was for this reason that a group of Shetlanders happened to be in South Georgia the time of Shackleton's death. His pallbearers were:

James Brown

Known locally as “Sodger” Brown he served with 2/Royal Scots. He saw action at Mons in August 1914 and was an “Old Contemptible”, those that had served from 1914 and throughout the war. He was awarded the Mons Star and Bar, and twice wounded. Following discharge from army, he served on Ambitious, a hired drifter. During WWII, James joined the Royal Engineers, after being turned down for the Home Guard on account of his age. He was on operations at Le Havre docks where he witnessed evacuation of troops in 1940, as part of Operation Aerial. James passed away in Swansea, on 17 June, 1966. At his funeral, floral tributes were sent by the local Royal British Legion.

John Bryne

Enlisted as a seaman with the Royal Naval Reserve in 1916, having previously served with the Gordon Highlanders. He served with HMS Brilliant shore staff, a depot ship for trawlers and patrol boats of the Auxiliary patrol, then later on Ambitious, until his discharge in December 1919. After the war he was a baker and the town lamp lighter. John died on 16 August 1959, aged 72.

James Leask

Originating from Lochside, Lerwick, James worked as a fishworker. In August 1914 he enrolled as a seaman with the Royal Naval Reserve serving on an X-Class Motor Lighter, a shallow craft used for landing, as well as water and fuel tankers. James passed away on 30 June 1984.

Magnus Leask

Magnus was employed as a fishworker before he enlisted as a seaman with HMS Thalia depot ship, a parent ship for boats of the Auxiliary Patrol, Cromarty and Peterhead. He served the Royal Naval Reserve as a gunner on hired drifter HMS Moniadhla. Following the war, Magnus was a crofter. In the 1970s, Shackleton's son visited Shetland and was presented with a photograph of the burial by Magnus. He passed away in Lerwick on 24 March 1987.

George Manson

Originating from Hamnavoe, Burra, George resided at 14 Burgess Street. In November 1914, he enrolled as a seaman with the Royal Naval Reserve. He demobilised in March 1919 with rank as “Gunner”. He passed away on 13 April 1957.

William Sandison.

From Freefield, Lerwick, William was one of over 200 Shetland Territorials who left Shetland in June 1915. Prior to the war, he was a cooper at Slaters barrel factory in Lerwick. He saw action with the 7th Battalion Gordon Highlanders on the Western Front throughout 1915-1918, on the Somme, Cambrai and was wounded during the German Offensive of March 1918, obtaining a Military Medal. Although wounded, he served on the Italian front, looking after prisoners of war. Following WWII, William again returned to working in whaling. A passport photograph of him – aged 47 – was taken at Leith on 17 October 1945 en route once more to the whaling stations on South Georgia. Like whaling families, his wife and son would not see him throughout the winter.

Shackleton was a great man, carried to his final resting place by six ordinary, humble Shetlanders. There was to be a further addition to this story. Some of these pallbearers played a football match against the crew of the Quest, upon their return to South Georgia following their expedition.