A Perth doctor sailed to Antarctica with Ernest Shackleton in 1908 — and came home to tell about it.
His name was Rupert Michell.
Born in Perth on October 18, 1879, Michell trained in medicine at the University of Toronto and completed his post-graduate work in London. In his late twenties, he hired on as a ship’s surgeon on merchant vessels sailing the west coast of Africa — the Congo, the Kalabar. Rough oceans, hard crews, tropical fevers.
That experience is what brought his name to Ernest Shackleton’s attention.
In 1907, Shackleton was assembling the crew of his British Antarctic Expedition. He meant to be the first man to reach the South Pole — and he needed a doctor who could handle a long voyage. He chose Michell.
The Nimrod sailed from New Zealand for the Ross Sea on New Year’s Day, 1908. Michell served as her ship’s surgeon throughout the voyage. He cared for the crew. He joined several of the expedition’s exploring parties. And when the Nimrod sailed back into the ice in early 1909 to bring Shackleton and his men home, Michell was aboard.
The expedition returned to England to national celebration. Shackleton was knighted. His party had reached a hundred miles short of the pole — closer than any human being had ever been.
Michell came home to Canada. Ontario lecture halls filled to hear him. Eventually he became director of the Ontario Department of Health’s North Bay office, was transferred to Ottawa in 1935, and retired in 1949.
He died on July 20, 1966, at age 86.
The Perth boy who went as far south as a person could go.
