The Shackleton Rowett Expedition of 1922 on board Quest is acknowledged to be the final chapter in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration (1880-1922) which saw polar titans Ernest Shackleton, Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen lead pioneering expeditions to the frozen continent in the name of science and discovery.

Quest was a low-powered, schooner-rigged steamship that sailed from 1917 until sinking in 1962. Here, it can be seen arriving in London:

Quest was originally built in Risør, Norway in 1917 as the wooden-hulled sealer Foca 1. She was renamed Quest by Lady Emily Shackleton. Shackleton died of a heart attack aboard Quest on January 5, 1922, while the ship was anchored off Grytviken, South Georgia. His death is often cited by historians as the dividing line between the ‘Heroic’ and ‘Mechanical’ ages of exploration.

Shackleton was enroute towards Antarctica on the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition. He had been forced to abandon earlier plans to use Quest on a Canadian Arctic expedition after the Canadian government of Arthur Meighen withdrew its support. A British philanthropist, John Quiller Rowett, stepped in to fund the Antarctic expedition.

The death of Shackleton on 5th January 1922 is often cited by historians as the dividing line between the ‘Heroic’ and ‘Mechanical’ ages of exploration. When Shackleton died, he was 47 years old and in the early stages of a journey to explore several islands and uncharted areas of the sub-Antarctic region.

After his death, Quest was acquired by a Norwegian company, and was involved in a series of important expeditions, including the 1930-31 British Arctic Air Route Expedition led by British explorer Gino Watkins, who himself tragically died aged 25 while exploring Greenland. Quest was also used in Arctic rescues and served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War, before resuming work as a sealing ship. On 5th May 1962, Quest was damaged by ice and sank off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. All the Norwegian crew survived.