Want a whalebone that once belonged to an Arctic explorer? Well it’s yours if you want it, just make a bid at the Chilcotts sale in Honiton on November14th.
What a great story this is.
The curious story of the day that intrepid explorer Shackleton, best known for his expedition aboard the ship Endurance that became trapped in an ice floe for nine months in 1915, decided to gift the whalebone to an order of French nuns after they bought his family’s house to turn it into a school for girls.
The humorous story of the whalebone that lay in the school garden in all weathers, before a history teacher realised its significance and removed it indoors for safekeeping.
The historic story of Shackleton’s connection to Torquay – the home his family owned and his residence there in the early 1900s. Of another of his ships, Nimrod, that moored briefly in Torquay harbour in 1907 before setting out on the first of Shackleton’s three Antarctic expeditions.
The sad story of the last of Shackleton’s ships, Quest, being anchored in Anstey’s Cove below the school before setting sail for South Georgia in 1921 – the voyage during which he died.
The fascinating story of Stoodley Knowle School, established in 1925 by the Congregation of Les Filles de la Croix, an order of nuns founded in Paris in 1641 by one Madame de Villeneuve who was driven by passion to provide an education for girls.
The concluding, melancholy story of the closure of the school earlier this year after pupil numbers crumbled.
The perfect story, in fact. Containing drama, history, sorrow, death, and even wildlife, albeit in the shape of a rather large bone. Sometimes I love my job