The Coulthard Saga

Even though it's easy to forget at times, family is the most important gift we have in life.  In all of us there is a hunger to know who we are and where we came from. If you don’t know the history of your family, you don’t know anything at all -  you are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.

Sir Ernest Shackleton

I first read about Sir Ernest Shackleton in 2009 when I was patrolling the British South Atlantic Territories onboard the mighty British warship HMS Manchester. Just prior to the voyage, my wife sent me a copy of the book 'South!' written by Sir Ernest Shackleton. The official account of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-17 a.k.a. 'The Endurance Expedition' ought  to be on National Curriculum! At first glance it can appeared too dense, full of flowery Edwarding English but, after reading the first chapter, I was hooked! By the end of that voyage, it changed my life. Never for a moment did I think I would come face-to-face with Sir Ernest Shackleton, laid to rest on the island of South Georgia, the last stop on that South Atlantic patrol.