The cabin in which Irish adventurer Sir Ernest Shackleton died of a heart attack in the Antarctic Ocean in early 1922 has landed in Letterfrack in Connemara, Ireland for restoration, following its donation by a Norwegian owner.
Shackleton’s “sea bedroom” arrived on a truck to Conservation Lettefrack on Friday morning, where it will be analysed and conserved by manager Sven Habermann before its eventual transfer to the Athy Heritage-Centre Museum in Co Kildare for next year.
Its current Norwegian owner, Ulf Bakke, agreed to donate it to the Co Kildare centre after Corkman Eugene Furlong tracked it down on a visit to Norway in 2008.
“It was very moving to see – it came through the village, and was taken off with two forklifts,” Janet O’Toole, administrator with Conservation Letterfrack said.
One of the Athy centre committee members, Joe O’Farrell, travelled the entire journey from Norway to Dublin port and west to Letterfrack with the shipment.
The cabin was originally part of the Norwegian schooner-rigged steamship, Quest, which Shackleton had acquired for his final voyage to try and clear his debts.