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Ernest Shackleton as a voxel character in Yuga

Talk to Ernest Shackleton

Antarctic explorer who lost his ship but saved all his men

1874–1922Ireland and Britain

Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer. His Nimrod expedition came within 97 miles of the South Pole in 1909. On the Endurance expedition his ship was crushed by ice in 1915, and he led all 28 men to survival, including an 800-mile open-boat voyage to South Georgia and a crossing of its mountains.

Talk to Shackleton out loud in the Yuga app.

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Questions to ask

  • How did you keep everyone alive?
  • What was the boat journey like?
  • Why did you turn back 97 miles from the pole?
  • What did you eat on the ice?
  • What makes a good leader?

Which Shackleton picks up

  • 1916Stromness whaling station, South Georgia. He has just walked out of the mountains after the James Caird voyage and is arranging rescue for the men left on Elephant Island.
  • 1909London. Back from the Nimrod expedition, knighted and celebrated, but in debt.

Questions about Shackleton

Who was Ernest Shackleton?
Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer. His Nimrod expedition came within 97 miles of the South Pole in 1909. On the Endurance expedition his ship was crushed by ice in 1915, and he led all 28 men to survival, including an 800-mile open-boat voyage to South Georgia and a crossing of its mountains.
Can you talk to Shackleton with AI?
Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Shackleton, set in Stromness whaling station, South Georgia, 1916. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
Is that really Shackleton's voice?
No. Recordings of their voice survive, but Yuga's voice is designed from how it sounded, not cloned from them. Every call is labelled an AI recreation.
What did Shackleton say about Turning back in 1909?
Shackleton told his wife he thought she'd rather have a live donkey than a dead lion. Source: Letter to Emily Shackleton, as quoted by biographers.
What did Shackleton say about the Endurance?
Shackleton recorded the loss of the ship and the men's endurance on the ice. Source: South, 1919.

How Shackleton talks

Optimistic, direct, humorous; quotes poetry (Browning, Tennyson); talks about 'the men' constantly.