The core problem was identified as the leader of the expedition, Ernest Shackleton. The question that leads to the secondary problem is: what was Shackleton’s guiding force that made him continue his journey? The answer is the industry of exploration. This industry is the secondary problem of this case study, and led to the deaths of many explorers and their crew. For this particular expedition and explorer, the Royal Geographic Society was the main funder of all expeditions to Africa, Asia, the Arctic, and Antarctica. The society was found in London in 1830, and focused on accumulating the fullest possible information about the unexplored areas of the Earth (Koehn, 2010). According to the text, “In the late 19th and 20th early centuries,
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According to the website for the society, “The Society’s purpose remains the same today as when it was first founded, namely the ‘advancement of geographical science’… the manner in which that is done has expanded greatly over the years” (Royal Geographic Society). The website seems to forget to mention everyone that was hurt by their society, including the names of explorers mentioned on the site: Livingstone, Stanley, Scott, Shackleton, Hunt, and Hillary. Scott died with his crew on an expedition that reached the South Pole, but could not make the journey back to their ship. Shackleton was the first at many things, but suffered a case of scurvy, severe health issues, and ultimately had two heart attacks before he died on his last expedition. The case study mentions several devastating losses of ships and men. First, an expedition to Antarctica in 1902-1903 resulted in the ship being crushed by pack ice, resulting in the crew having to stay for two frigid winters before they were rescued. Second, an expedition in 1912 led by Douglas Mawson say two people die, and the explorer himself barely made it home alive. Third, an expedition led by Vilhjalmr Stefansson in 1913, led to the ship being lost, which resulted in the deaths of eleven men. In this particular expedition, most men suffered mentally from this trip as well as physically. Many men suffered from frostbite, which led to an amputation of one man’s toes. Most of the men were also malnourished, had infected wounds, and lived off of seal steaks for months on end. If the exploration industry and the Royal Geographic Society did not thrive off of competition, Shackleton may have stopped the expedition when he heard the weather report on South Georgia Island. Instead, Shackleton continued the mission to succeed in the industry, resulting in poor health for all men on the
According to the website for the society, “The Society’s purpose remains the same today as when it was first founded, namely the ‘advancement of geographical science’… the manner in which that is done has expanded greatly over the years” (Royal Geographic Society). The website seems to forget to mention everyone that was hurt by their society, including the names of explorers mentioned on the site: Livingstone, Stanley, Scott, Shackleton, Hunt, and Hillary. Scott died with his crew on an expedition that reached the South Pole, but could not make the journey back to their ship. Shackleton was the first at many things, but suffered a case of scurvy, severe health issues, and ultimately had two heart attacks before he died on his last expedition. The case study mentions several devastating losses of ships and men. First, an expedition to Antarctica in 1902-1903 resulted in the ship being crushed by pack ice, resulting in the crew having to stay for two frigid winters before they were rescued. Second, an expedition in 1912 led by Douglas Mawson say two people die, and the explorer himself barely made it home alive. Third, an expedition led by Vilhjalmr Stefansson in 1913, led to the ship being lost, which resulted in the deaths of eleven men. In this particular expedition, most men suffered mentally from this trip as well as physically. Many men suffered from frostbite, which led to an amputation of one man’s toes. Most of the men were also malnourished, had infected wounds, and lived off of seal steaks for months on end. If the exploration industry and the Royal Geographic Society did not thrive off of competition, Shackleton may have stopped the expedition when he heard the weather report on South Georgia Island. Instead, Shackleton continued the mission to succeed in the industry, resulting in poor health for all men on the