SHACKLETON-ROWETT EXPEDITION: An extremely rare group of eighteen signatures by various members of the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition 1921-22, together on an oblong 8vo bifolium page removed from an autograph album, comprising Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) Commander, died on South Georgia during the expedition; Frank Wild (1873-1939) Second-in-Command, took command of the expedition after Shackleton's death; Frank Worsley (1872-1943) Captain of RYS Quest; Alexander Kerr (1892-1964) Engineer; James McIlroy (1879-1968) Surgeon and meteorologist; Alexander Macklin (1889-1967) Surgeon who was also in charge of stores and equipment; Leonard Hussey (1891-1964) Meteorologist and assistant surgeon; Charles Green (1888-1974) Cook; Thomas McLeod (1869-1960) Able seaman; Roderick Carr (1891-1971) Pilot who assisted with scientific work; James Dell (c.1880-1968) Electician and Boatswain; Hubert Wilkins (1888-1958) Biologist; George Vibert Douglas (1892-1958) Geologist; James Marr (1902-1965) Boy Scout; Douglas Jeffrey (1885-1972) Navigator; C. E. Smith (?-?) Second Engineer; Harold Watts (?-?) Wireless Operator; and Eriksen (?-?) a Norwegian harpoon expert. All have signed with their names alone in various colours of fountain pen inks. Together with an original vintage sepia 3 x 2.5 photograph of several men on board a small boat, annotated in an unidentified hand to the verso, 'Sir Ernest Shackleton going ashore from R.Y.S. Quest' and dated Madeira, 16th October 1921. An exceptional and highly desirable collection of signatures including a number of individuals who had also been members of Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-17. Some light age wear and a few minor stains, VG, 2

The Shackleton-Rowett Expedition of 1921-22 was Shackleton's last Antarctic project and marked the closing chapter in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Expedition. Proposed as an ambitious two-year programme of exploration, the expedition was curtailed with the death of Shackleton and the inadequacies of the RYS Quest. The crew of the ship comprised twenty-four members in all, but only nineteen were on board for the start of the Antarctic portion.