Cotton, correspondence

• MS 1433/2;D Letter to Rupert England, 9 March 1908 [Farewell letter on their departure from the expedition] 2 leaves, holograph (Xerox)

The correspondence relates to the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909 (leader Ernest Henry Shackleton). A shore party of 15 set up base on the Antarctic continent; they discovered nearly 500km of the Transantarctic Mountains flanking the Ross Ice Shelf. A party climbed Mount Erebus (3794 m), Ross Island. A southern party consisting of Shackleton, Jameson Adams, Eric Marshall and John Robert Francis [Frank] Wild found a route up the Beardsmore Glacier and sledged to within 180km of the pole.

A second party sledged to he region of the South Magnetic pole and exploration of the area around the Ferrar Glacier was also conducted.

Rupert England was captain of the expedition ship Nimrod during the first voyage south.

Chronological.

The Scott Polar Research Institute holds a number of photographs, film and other illustrative material in the Picture Library, some of which covers this expedition. The catalogue can be searched on line by going to the Picture Library Database and selecting the Enter Polar Pictures link.

The Institute holds over fifty archival collections containing material relating to this expedition see SPRI collection GB 015 British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909 for more information.