Harry McNish (1874–1930) was the carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914 to 1917. At 40, he was one of the oldest members of the crew and was regarded as somewhat odd and unrefined, but was highly respected as a carpenter. He was responsible for much of the work that ensured the crew's survival after their ship, the Endurance, was destroyed when it became trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea. He modified the small boat, James Caird, that allowed Shackleton and five men (including McNish) to make a voyage of hundreds of miles to fetch help for the rest of the crew. He briefly refused to follow orders on the crew's long trek pulling the boats across the pack ice, and, despite his efforts during the journey, was one of only four of the crew not to receive the Polar Medal. After the expedition he returned to work in the Merchant Navy and eventually emigrated to New Zealand, where he worked on the docks in Wellington until ill-health forced his retirement. He died destitute in the Ohiro Benevolent Home in Wellington. McNish Island, which lies in the approaches to King Haakon Bay, South Georgia, was named in his honour.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_McNish
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1775:
American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold's expedition departed from Cambridge, Massachusetts as part of the invasion of Quebec. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Arnold%27s_expedition_to_Quebec
1897:
Gaki Sherocho was captured by the forces of Emperor of Ethiopia Menelik II, bringing an end to the Kingdom of Kaffa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Kaffa
1945:
The Japanese-run camp at Batu Lintang, Sarawak, in Borneo was liberated by the Australian 9th Division, averting the planned massacre of its 2,000-plus Allied POWs and civilian internees by four days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batu_Lintang_camp
1965:
Indo-Pakistani War: Indian infantry captured the town of Burki near Lahore, Pakistan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Burki
2001:
Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger airliners for a series of suicide attacks against targets in New York City and the Washington, D.C., area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
in memoriam: In memory (of); as a memorial. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/in_memoriam
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
The magnificent here and now of life in the flesh is ours, and ours alone, and ours only for a time. We ought to dance with rapture that we should be alive and in the flesh, and part of the living, incarnate cosmos. I am part of the sun as my eye is part of me. That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly, and my blood is part of the sea. My soul knows that I am part of the human race, my soul is an organic part of the great human soul, as my spirit is part of my nation. In my own very self, I am part of my family. There is nothing of me that is alone and absolute except my mind, and we shall find that the mind has no existence by itself, it is only the glitter of the sun on the surface of the waters. --D. H. Lawrence https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/D._H._Lawrence