Shackleton must always be considered one of the most important among
those fitted out for the work of polar research. Shackleton had been a
member of the Scott expedition and therefore was well acquainted with
the character of the work. The members of the staff, about twenty-five
in number, were selected with great care, and the results of the
expedition demonstrated Lieutenant Shackleton's wisdom.

The _Nimrod_, a wooden steamship built for seal hunting, was purchased
and equipped for the expedition. She was a small vessel, scarcely more
than one hundred feet in length. Her foremast carried square sails; her
main and mizzen masts were schooner-rigged. Under steam her speed did
not exceed six knots. The equipment included a generous outfit of
scientific instruments, a supply of dogs and sledges, ten Manchurian or
"Shetland" ponies, and a gasoline motor-car. The vessel was equipped at
Cowes, England, but made her final start from Lyttleton, New Zealand,
New Year's Day, 1908. In order to save her supply of coal for future use
she was towed to the antarctic circle.

The following winter months, May to September, were spent on Ross
Island, near the winter quarters of the _Discovery_, in McMurdo Bay,
about thirty degrees south of New Zealand. This bay, or sound, forms a
curve in the shore line of Victoria Land, the coast of which is the best
known part of the antarctic regions. Up to the present time it is the
most accessible entrance to south circumpolar regions known; it is also
the most convenient location for winter quarters, being only two
thousand miles from New Zealand.

In the following March a party of six--David, Mawson, Mackay, Adams,
Marshall, and Brocklehurst--prepared for the ascent of Mount Erebus, the
volcano, then active, discovered by Ross and named after one of his
ships. The crater rim was only a few miles distant, and during the
first three days the party could be seen from the camp by means of a
powerful telescope--tiny black specks struggling up the ice-clad slopes.
Three craters were discovered, the youngest and highest of which was
found to be thirteen thousand three hundred and fifty feet above sea
level.[3] During the ascent the party nearly perished in a gale which
blew their tents into tatters. The crater rampart was finally reached,
however, and a number of excellent photographs were made.

During the entire stay at Ross Island the steam column from the crater
furnished the means whereby the