Northern Ireland

Violin made from floorboards salvaged from home of Antarctic explorer Shackleton

Irish-born Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton.
Irish-born Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton. Irish-born Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton.

FLOORBOARDS once walked on by Co Kildare-born Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton have been made into a violin to mark the centenary of his death.

The boards were salvaged from a skip outside the house in Edinburgh's South Learmonth Gardens, where Shackleton lived in the early part of the 20th century.

Combined with salvaged driftwood from a Scottish beach, the wood has been made into a violin by Edinburgh-based luthier and nature conservationist Steve Burnett.

Anglo-Irish explorer Shackleton lived in the house when he was the secretary of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society between 1904 and 1910, just four years before he would go onto lead the ill-fated ship Endurance in the Antarctic.

Mr Burnett said he hoped the violin would not only be a musical celebration of Shackleton's life and an inspiration to youngsters, but that it would "honour his fellow companions and their heroic achievements against adversity, especially at a time when humanity is now faced with such uncertainty in the journey ahead".

He said he hoped the violin would be a "symbol of one of the most incredible journeys of survival in human history".

Inside the instrument is carved the names of all 28 crew members of Endurance, along with a poem by Irish writer Mel McMahon.

The poem, titled Oratory, marks the centenary of Shackleton's death, and pays homage to the crew aboard Endurance.

The men had become stranded after their ship was trapped and eventually crushed by pack ice in the Weddell Sea.

Shackleton later died on January 5, 1922 while in South Georgia on what would become his final Antarctic expedition, at the age of 47.

"I just think with this centenary we have all got to reflect where humanity is now," Mr Burnett said.

"This violin is also a time capsule and a message, through the power of music, and through the connection to Shackleton directly from the floorboards."

Speaking of Shackleton's most famous voyage, Mr Burnett said: "When you read more into that particular expedition, with Endurance, it's just one of the most miraculous journeys," Mr Burnett said. He added that thanks to the ingenious work of the crew, they all managed to survive.

"The fact is we are at a time, we all know now, if we don't change our ways the whole planet going to be coming more and more hostile towards us and survival might be something we are all going to be faced with if we don't watch it,"