The Shackleton–Rowett Expedition (1921–22) was Sir Ernest Shackleton‘s last Antarctic project, and the final episode in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
The venture, financed by John Quiller Rowett, is sometimes referred to as the Quest Expedition after its ship Quest, a converted Norwegian sealer. Shackleton had originally intended to go to the Arctic and explore the Beaufort Sea, but this plan was abandoned when the Canadian government withheld financial support; Shackleton thereupon switched his attention to the Antarctic.
Quest, smaller than any recent Antarctic exploration vessel, soon proved inadequate for its task, and progress south was delayed by its poor sailing performance and by frequent engine problems. Before the expedition’s work could properly begin, Shackleton died on board the ship, just after its arrival at the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia.
