The Ross Sea party was a component of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914–1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Its task was to lay a series of supply depots across the Great Ice Barrier from the Ross Sea to the Beardmore Glacier, along the polar route established by earlier Antarctic expeditions. The expedition's main party, under Shackleton, was to land near Vahsel Bay on the Weddell Sea on the opposite coast of Antarctica, and to march across the continent via the South Pole to the Ross Sea. As the main party would be unable to carry sufficient fuel and supplies for the whole distance, their survival depended on the Ross Sea party setting up supply depots, which would cover the final quarter of their journey.
Back row from left: Ernest Joyce, Victor Hayward, John Cope, Arnold Spencer-Smith; centre: Aeneas Mackintosh and Joseph Stenhouse third and fourth from left
The Aurora, pictured in New Zealand after the drift
On the left is Mount Hope, the site of the Ross Sea party's final depot
Mackintosh and Spencer-Smith being drawn on the sledge by Joyce and Wild
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Shackleton in 1904
Blue plaque marking Shackleton's home at 12 Westwood Hill, Sydenham, London Borough of Lewisham
Shackleton in 1901, aged 27
Discovery in Antarctic water