20. Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Quest Crow’s Nest, All Hallows by the Tower, 7 September 2023
Members of
Livery Companies and the Corporation of London joined with the South Georgia
Heritage Trust in the presence of HRH the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir
Timothy Lawrence at All Hallows by the Tower.
After a tour of the church led by city guides and music by the Square
Mile Choral Scholars we were welcomed by the Vicar and Chaplain to the Water
Conservators, the Revd Katherine Hedderly.
The special
event was to mark the return to All Hallows of Sir Earnest Shackleton’s Quest crow’s nest. It had travelled thousands of miles and
featured in exhibitions at Athy, Ireland and Grytviken, South Georgia to
celebrate the venture by the ship Quest,
a converted Norwegian sealer to the Antarctic in 1921-22.
The
subsequent expedition to the eastern Antarctic was under the second-in-command,
Frank Wild. The Quest was unable to
achieve its objectives due to the engine's low power and unsuitable bows to
penetrate the pack ice. The ship retuned to South Georgia before traveling to Cape
Town for a refit. Due to the withdrawal of funding in June 1922, the ship came home
to England. It was converted back to a
sealer and served as a mine-sweeper in the Second World War, but was eventually
sunk by ice in 1962 off the coast of Labrador whilst on a seal hunting
expedition. Shackleton’s original cabin was saved, as well as the crow’s nest,
before the ship sank.
The crow’s
nest was brought from north-east Canada to the church crypt in London by the Reverend
Tubby Clayton, founder of Toc H. He
would tour with the crow’s nest using it as an attraction to raise funds for
his hospices for men, particularly servicemen with nowhere to stay.
After the presentations there was a liturgy of blessing led by the Revd Katherine Hedderly accompanied by the choir prayers and readings including Psalm 104 vv24-30 by Baroness Young of Old Scone. It was good to catch up with her and share thoughts on the current situation in the Water Sector.
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