When Shackleton Spoke His Name

On May 20, 1916, three filthy, hollow-eyed men stumbled into the Stromness whaling station on South Georgia Island. Their clothes hung in shreds. Their faces were blackened with seal blubber and frostbite. The station manager, Thoralf Sørlle, stared at them blankly. He had known Ernest Shackleton for years, but the man standing before him was unrecognizable — given up for dead seventeen months earlier when his ship Endurance was crushed in Antarctic ice.

"Who the hell are you?" Sørlle demanded.

The middle figure stepped forward. "My name is Shackleton."

Sørlle turned away and wept.