A statue of Shackleton designed by Charles Sargeant Jagger was unveiled at the Royal Geographical Society's Kensington headquarters in 1932, [142] but public memorials to Shackleton were relatively few. Facing hunger, loneliness, near-mutiny and what has come to be known as the greatest small-boat journey in history, this is their story.

In his final term at the school he was still able to achieve fifth place in his class of thirty-one. Slowly and steadily, the ice drifted farther to the north; and, on April 7, 1916, the snow-capped peaks of Clarence and Elephant Islands came into view, flooding them with hope. He launched one more expedition to the Antarctic, but the Endurance veterans who rejoined him noticed he appeared weaker, more diffident, drained of the spirit that had kept them alive.Modern calculations, based on Shackleton's photograph and Wilson's drawing, place the furthest point reached at 82°11'. Within a few years, he was thoroughly overtaken in public esteem by Shackleton, whose popularity surged while that of his erstwhile rival declined.

Shackleton's fellow-explorers expressed their admiration; Roald Amundsen wrote, in a letter to RGS Secretary John Scott Keltie, that "the English nation has by this deed of Shackleton's won a victory that can never be surpassed". In accordance with Shackleton's promise to Scott, the ship headed for the eastern sector of the Great Ice Barrier, arriving there on 21 January 1908. Shackleton used his acquaintance with the son to obtain an interview with Longstaff senior, with a view to obtaining a place on the expedition.A photograph of the departure of the James Caird in April was doctored by photographer Frank Hurley to create this image.

Filchner was able to bring back geographical information that would be of much use to Shackleton, including the discovery of a possible landing site at Vahsel Bay.

Discovery departed London on 31 July 1901, arriving at the Antarctic coast, via Cape Town and New Zealand, on 8 January 1902.

For several weeks, the ship poked and prodded its way through leads in the ice, gingerly making its way south; but on January 18, a northerly gale pressed the pack hard against the land and pushed the floes tight against each other. The young Shackleton did not particularly distinguish himself as a scholar, and was said to be "bored" by his studies. By 17 March, their ice camp was within 60 miles (97km) of Paulet Island; [95] however, separated by impassable ice, they were unable to reach it.On 16 September 1921, Shackleton recorded a farewell address on a sound-on-film system created by Harry Grindell Matthews, who claimed it was the first "talking picture" ever made. The plan changed; the destination became the Antarctic, and the project was defined by Shackleton as an "oceanographic and sub-antarctic expedition".