Sir James Wordie: Polar Crusader - Exploring the Arctic and Antarctic

Sir James Mann Wordie, (1889-1962), was the elder statesman of polar exploration the link between the heroic Edwardian Age of Shackleton and Scott and the mechanised modern era which opened up Antarctica and the Arctic. The remarkable life of one of Scotland's greatest heroes remains surprisingly little known; although resolute and ambitious, he shunned publicity and popular fame. Wordie's career as both explorer and academic geologist began with his participation in Shackleton's Endurance expedition (191416), where he proved one of the most resilient of those stranded in appalling conditions on Elephant Island. He continued to lead arduous expeditions to the Arctic well into his forties, while building his reputation as an academic and mentor to new generations of explorers and mountaineers. During and after the Second World War he was instrumental in safeguarding British strategic interests in the Antarctic territories, and later rose to be President of the RGS and Master of St John's College, Cambridge. This is the first full biography of Wordie to be written, and it makes use of a wide variety of official sources, the personal recollections of family, friends and colleagues, and of previously unpublished papers and diaries, most notably those of Wordie himself, including the log he kept of the Endurance expedition. It is illustrated throughout with photographs taken on Wordie's numerous expeditions, many of them previously unpublished.