SHACKLETON 150: A HISTORIC CELEBRATION OF AN ICONIC EXPLORER
New York, NY – February 13 and 15, 2025 – Shackleton 150 brought together historians, explorers, and enthusiasts to honor the 150th birthday of legendary Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. The event, held on February 13 and 15 at The New York Yacht Club and at The Explorers Club, celebrated Shackleton’s remarkable expeditions and the recent discoveries of his vessels, Quest and Endurance.
The festivities began with a commemorative dinner on Thursday, February 13, at the New York Yacht Club. Arranged by AIAC Chairman and Explorers Club Trustee L. M. Levie, the intimate gathering welcomed 25 Explorers Club members and guests for an evening of reflection, discussion, and tribute to Shackleton’s enduring legacy.
The main symposium was held on Saturday, February 15, and featured a full day of expert talks, discussions, and visually captivating archival presentations. Organized in partnership with The Explorers Club and the Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton Appreciation Society, the program attracted leading scholars from the National Maritime Museum (Greenwich, London), the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and other esteemed institutions.
Following the lectures, a special celebratory dinner capped off the event. Guests enjoyed a welcome reception, an open bar, hors d’oeuvres, a traditional Shackleton stew, and a signature Endurance cocktail. The evening also included exclusive tours of The Explorers Club’s historic Clubhouse, along with intimate networking, storytelling, and revelry among the world’s top Shackleton experts.
Culminating the program, noted Discovery Channel producer Josh Gates, host of Destination Truth, Expedition Unknown, and Tales from The Explorers Club, delivered a poetic toast in honor of Sir Ernest Shackleton. The poem, composed by AIAC Chairman and Explorers Club Trustee L. M. Levie, paid tribute to Shackleton’s spirit of perseverance, leadership, and adventure:
Mr. Levie commented, "Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was not only an explorer of frozen frontiers, but a beacon of resilience, leadership, and unyielding human spirit. In the face of impossible odds, he did not merely survive—he inspired, proving that courage and camaraderie can triumph over the harshest elements. Today, we honor Shackleton not just for the miles he charted across Antarctica, but for the legacy he etched into the heart of exploration itself. May his daring, his vision, and unbreakable will continue to guide all who dare to push beyond the known."
About Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874–1922) was an Anglo-Irish explorer and one of the most prominent figures of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. His daring leadership and ability to inspire resilience in extreme conditions made him a legendary figure in polar exploration.
Born in Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland, Shackleton moved to London with his family at the age of ten. He developed a love for adventure and the sea early in life, joining the merchant navy as a teenager. His first major expedition to Antarctica came as part of Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Discovery Expedition (1901–1904), during which he, Scott, and Edward Wilson set a new Farthest South record at 82°S. However, Shackleton was sent home early due to health concerns, an event that left him determined to return and prove himself.
In 1907, Shackleton led his own expedition aboard the Nimrod, with the ambitious goal of reaching the South Pole. He and his team came within 97 geographical miles (112 statute miles or 180 km) of their goal, setting a new record at 88°23′S, the closest any explorer had come at the time. His expedition also made significant scientific discoveries, including the first ascent of Mount Erebus, Antarctica’s most active volcano. For his achievements, Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII in 1909.
After Roald Amundsen successfully reached the South Pole in 1911, Shackleton shifted his focus to an even more ambitious goal: crossing Antarctica from coast to coast via the pole. This led to the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–1917), a journey that would become one of the greatest survival stories in history. His ship, Endurance, became trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea in early 1915. For months, Shackleton and his crew lived on the drifting ice before their ship finally sank in November 1915. Stranded, Shackleton led his men on an epic survival journey, first camping on the ice and then making a perilous open-boat voyage in lifeboats to Elephant Island. Realizing they could not survive there indefinitely, Shackleton and five men undertook an extraordinary 720-nautical-mile (1,330 km) journey across the stormy Southern Ocean to South Georgia in a small lifeboat, the James Caird.
After reaching South Georgia, Shackleton and two others trekked across its mountainous interior—a feat never before accomplished—to reach a whaling station at Stromness. He then organized a rescue mission and successfully brought all 22 of his men on Elephant Island home without a single loss of life—a testament to his remarkable leadership.
Shackleton returned to Antarctica in 1921 with the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition, but he suffered a fatal heart attack on 5 January 1922 while moored in South Georgia. At his wife’s request, he was buried in Grytviken, where his grave remains a historic site.
Though Shackleton struggled with financial difficulties and failed business ventures in his personal life, his leadership in life-threatening conditions became legendary. While his contemporary Scott was long considered Britain’s greatest polar hero, Shackleton’s reputation was revived in the late 20th century, as he became recognized as a model for effective leadership, endurance, and crisis management. In 2002, he was ranked 11th in the BBC’s 100 Greatest Britons poll, and in 2022, the wreck of Endurance was discovered, further cementing his legacy. Shackleton’s story continues to inspire adventurers, leaders, and historians, and he remains one of the most celebrated explorers in history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton
About American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) is a diversified industrial group with manufacturing and distribution sites in 24 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia, and Australia-New Zealand. AIAC has acquired and grown non-core subsidiaries and divisions of Boeing, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Johnson Controls, Merck, Pfizer, Astellas, Visteon, Carlyle, Ahlstrom, Tolko, Groupe Suez, Groupe Rexel, and many other leading multinational corporations.
AIAC companies serve companies and governmental entities worldwide in all major sectors, including aviation, space, defense, automotive, truck, rail, marine, petrochemical, solar, nuclear, food, confectionary, beverage, civil engineering and infrastructure, commercial construction, mining, dredging, disaster relief, education, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. In addition, AIAC companies are exclusive, authorized distributors of leading branded industrial and consumer products and serve as critical suppliers for major airports, schools, hospitals, performing art and sports centers, offices and hotels throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. AIAC is a leading manufacturer of building, street, and highway signage in Europe, signage and illumination structures in North America, and a distributor of electrical products throughout France.
Of note, AIAC purchased Boeing Canada in 2005 and has produced over 10,000 unique components for every Boeing jet plane ever since, reliably serving Boeing from manufacturing facilities in North America. A leader in ultra-high precision jet engine component manufacturing, AIAC companies produce 2,200 fan blades and blisks for each jet engine produced by GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, and Honeywell.
AIAC companies actively support exploration into outer space, manufacturing critical components for launching and propelling spacecraft and satellites. AIAC customers in this sector include NASA, the European Space Agency, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Boeing. AIAC companies also lead in the design and manufacture of undersea umbilical cables for worldwide oceanographic research. AIAC companies produce the critical automotive wire and cable for Tesla, GM, Ford, Chrysler-Fiat, Toyota, and Nissan. In connection with its kraft paper manufacturing interests in Canada and the US, AIAC controls and sustainably manages 22 million acres of Manitoba, Canada forestland, an area equivalent in size to the nation of Hungary.
AIAC affiliate, Metallwarenfabrik Gemmingen GmbH, located in Germany, designs, manufactures and distributes high performance emergency portable power generators utilized in global conflict zones and during natural disasters by international humanitarian relief organizations and governments.
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About AIAC Philanthropy
AIAC and the AIAC Foundation support a wide range of nonprofit, nonsectarian, bipartisan organizations which promote international conflict resolution, disaster relief, economic development, environmental sustainability, and exploration. The exploration-focused nonprofit organizations which they actively support include the National Geographic Society, the Royal Geographical Society, the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Space Society, and the United States Space Foundation.
AIAC Chairman L. M. Levie is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Explorers Club, a 120-year-old organization whose members have pioneered the exploration of the earth, the oceans, and outer space. AIAC and its affiliates, Bradford Space, Canadian Kraft Paper Industries, Super Alloy Manufacturing Solutions, and Champlain Cable are Partners of The Explorers Club. In 2024, AIAC and its affiliates proudly served as a corporate sponsor of the Explorers Club Annual Dinner, Climate Week at the Explorers Club, and of Hubert Sagnieres’ historic circumnavigation of the earth in a single-engine plane (www.flightaroundtheglobe.com).
AIAC’s other beneficiaries include the Appeal of the Nobel Peace Laureates Foundation Inc., the Asia Society, the Atlantic Council, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Gates Philanthropy Partners, the Bretton Woods Committee, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carter Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, the Foreign Policy Association, the Institut Française des Relations Internationales, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Crisis Group, the International Rescue Committee, the Japan Society, the JFK School of Government of Harvard University, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the Sierra Club, and the Trilateral Commission.
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About the Explorers Club
The Explorers Club is a world-renowned international organization dedicated to promoting scientific exploration and field research across land, sea, air, and space. Founded in 1904 in New York City, the club was created to unite explorers, scientists, and adventurers involved in expeditions to uncharted territories, providing a platform for the exchange of knowledge and collaboration on significant discoveries. Its mission is to advance the cause of exploration, encourage scientific research, and inspire the next generation of explorers.
The club was born from the vision of a group of prominent adventurers and scientists, including Henry Collins Walsh, Adolphus Greely, and Carl Lumboltz, who sought a place where those pushing the limits of human endurance and curiosity could gather. Early on, the club became a meeting ground for individuals who were mapping the world’s unknown regions, from the polar ice caps to the deepest jungles. Over time, the Explorers Club attracted some of the greatest explorers and scientific minds in history.
Famous members of the club include many iconic figures who have made their mark on history. Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States and an avid explorer of the Amazon and Africa, was an honorary member. Aviator Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, was a pioneering member, as was Walter Cronkite, the legendary news anchor who chronicled many of the 20th century’s great scientific achievements. Astronauts John Glen and Neil Armstrong, the first to walked on the moon, were also members.
Other notable members include Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to summit Mount Everest, Charles Lindbergh, who made the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, and Thor Heyerdahl, known for the Kon-Tiki expedition across the Pacific. The club’s roster also includes oceanographer Sylvia Earle, and deep-sea explorer Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck of the Titanic. It is also known for embracing the next generation of explorers, such as modern-day space pioneers and conservationists.
The club’s headquarters, located at 46 East 70th Street in Manhattan, is a historic landmark filled with artifacts, maps, and memorabilia from expeditions around the globe. The building serves as a meeting place for members, and it regularly hosts lectures, special events, and its famed annual dinner, which attracts the world's leading explorers and scientists. The Explorers Club Flag, first introduced in 1918, is awarded to expeditions of scientific merit, and has been carried to the highest mountains, the deepest oceans, the North and South Poles, and even to the moon.
Today, the Explorers Club continues to support and sponsor expeditions in fields ranging from archaeology and anthropology to oceanography and space exploration. The club provides grants and fellowships to emerging explorers, while also educating the public about the importance of conservation and exploration. Its motto, "To the Field," captures its enduring commitment to advancing human knowledge through exploration and scientific discovery.
With its distinguished history and its continued role in shaping the future of exploration, the Explorers Club remains one of the most influential organizations in the world for those seeking to uncover the unknown.
The Explorers Club continues to attract an elite group of modern-day pioneers, entrepreneurs, and scientists who push the boundaries of exploration and discovery. Among its current distinguished members are some of the most influential figures in various fields. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, and Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, represent the new frontier of space exploration. Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon, remains an active symbol of human space exploration. Jane Goodall, the renowned primatologist and conservationist, champions the cause of wildlife and environmental preservation through her membership. Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, embodies the spirit of adventure and innovation in both space tourism and exploration. Ray Dalio, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, and D.E. Shaw, the influential hedge fund manager, are both dedicated to supporting global scientific initiatives.
The Explorers Club also includes royalty among its ranks. Prince Albert II of Monaco, a passionate advocate for environmental protection, and the King of Bhutan, known for his environmental and conservation efforts, are both members. Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg, who was recently made an honorary member of the club, is a supporter of exploration and scientific research, further cementing the club's global influence. The late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a noted aviator and conservationist, was a long-time member.
For further information, please see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Explorers_Club
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