Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte


The Elephant Island Party, Macklin circled


‘Once they settled in their hut, the health of the party was quite good. Of course, they were all a bit weak, some were light-headed, all were frostbitten, and others, later, had attacks of heart failure. Blackborrow, whose toes were so badly frostbitten in the boats, had to have all five amputated while on the island. With insufficient instruments and no proper means of sterilising them, the operation, carried out as it was in a dark, grimy hut, with only a blubber-stove to keep up the temperature and with the outside temperature well below freezing, speaks volumes for the skill and initiative of the surgeons [Macklin and McIlroy]. I am glad to be able to say that the operation was successful, and after a little treatment ashore, very kindly given by the Chilean doctors at Punta Arenas, he has now completely recovered and walks with only a slight limp.’


When, at length, Shackleton hove into view aboard his rescue ship on 30 August 1916, Frank Wild paced up Penguin Hill with a petrol can to ignite a pile of old clothes, while Macklin made a rush for the flagstaff which was placed on a prominent position on an ice- slope - the running gear and flag were frozen solid, so by way of compensation he tied his jersey to the top of the pole. And their combined efforts to signal “The Boss” - the whole supported by the men screaming themselves hoarse - were but a few of the memorable incidents that passed on what became known as the ‘day of wonders’.


Soldier surgeon - France, Italy and North Russia 1917-19


Commissioned in the Royal Army Medical Corps on his return from Antarctica, via South America, Macklin served on attachment to the Tank Corps in France, but it was for his subsequent deeds on attachment to the 11th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, in Italy, in 1918, that he was awarded his M.C. for treating wounded under fire - the Battalion was heavily engaged in the fighting on Asiago Plateau, at Vittorio Veneto and at the passage of the Piave and the Monticano.


Macklin next volunteered for service in North Russia, where, among other events, he was re-united with Shackleton at Murmansk, the pair last having seen each other in Buenos Aires after the Endurance expedition. And he was able to impart some useful intelligence to his old chief, having overheard Major-General Maynard exclaim, “I’ve heard about this man Shackleton. He’s an impossible person. He likes to run everything in his own way ... I’m not going to have him.” As it transpired, “The Boss” dealt with Maynard admirably, so much so that his senior later described him as ‘a cheerful and amusing companion’, who did much to dispel moments of gloom and depression.


Politics aside, Macklin busied himself in the treatment of extensive outbreaks of scurvy, in addition to smallpox, typhus and typhoid, and was instrumental in establishing new methods of transport for the evacuation of the wounded from the front - valuable work that formed the basis for his M.D. thesis on his return.


He was awarded the O.B.E. and the Russian Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd Class, with swords, in addition to being mentioned in despatches.


The “Quest” Expedition 1921-22


In 1921, Macklin was recruited by “The Boss” to join his Shackleton-Rowett expedition but, before the project begun, he died of a heart attack on the Quest at South Georgia on 5 January 1922. He had asked for Macklin in the early morning hours, suffering from back pains and other discomfort and, according to Macklin’s own account, he told “The Boss” he had been overdoing things and should ‘try to lead a more regular life’, to which Shackleton replied, “You are always wanting me to give up things, so what is it I ought to give up?”. Macklin having responded, “Chiefly alcohol, Boss,” a few moments later, at 2.50 a.m., the great explorer suffered a fatal heart attack.


Macklin’s subsequent post-mortem attributed Shackleton’s death to atheroma of the coronary arteries hastened by ‘overstrain during a period of debility’. At his widow’s request, he was buried in the cemetery at Grytviken, where his faithful physician noted in his diary:


‘I think this is as “The Boss” would have had it himself, standing lonely in a island far from civilisation, surrounded by stormy tempestuous seas and in the vicinity of one of his greatest exploits.’


And he subsequently wrote the appendix on the medical work of the Quest expedition in Frank Wild’s Shackleton’s Last Voyage (London, 1923), a practical guide to the recognition, prevention and cure of ailments likely to be met in the Polar regions, together with a section on the care of dogs.


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