MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ernest Shackleton honoured with birthday Google Doodle

Ernest Shackleton the famed Antarctic explorer has had his 137th birthday celebrated with a new Google Doodle on the search engine's homepage.

Yesterday Valentine's Day got the Doodle treatment with a Robert Indiana pop art-inspired logo and today it's a case of another day, another Google Doodle.

This time round it is the turn of Anglo-Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton, who was among the first Western explorers to scientifically survey the South Pole in what was known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Shackleton achieved legendary status after a fateful mission on the ship Endurance in 1914.

En route to the South Pole the ship encountered pack ice and was slowed to a speed of less than 30 miles a day. Shackleton and his team battled for weeks through strong winds and ice floes and eventually escaped the potentially fatal situation with all crew members intact.

Shackleton is said to have placed an advert in London newspapers that read: 'MEN WANTED: For hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success. Sir Ernest Shackleton.'

Despite the near fatal Endurance mission Shackleton planned several more polar explorations, but died of a heart attack before the Shakleton-Rowett Expedition of 1921 could begin.

 Google Doodles are frequently educational and often honour the birthdays of past inventors, artists and explorers that the public may not be familiar with. (METRO.co.uk)