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Hi Howard,

After my visit to the Canterbury Museum in 2017 I asked about how the logbooks had been acquired. The only information was that they had been donated by Peter Wordie in 2001. Peter, I believe, is the son of James "Jock" Wordie who was the expedition geologist. If you had left the Christchurch area prior to that then you can take solace in the fact that you did not overlap with them.

I am however familiar with the sensation of missing out on something important in the Shackleton universe. During the course of this research I visited the library of the Natural History Museum in New York City to view their copy of Nordenskjöld and Andersson, Antarctica: Or Two Years Amongst the Ice of the South Pole, which Worsley used to get his position on Elephant Island, but was not yet available online. The librarian told me that a while back they had the James Caird on display at the museum. I left there kicking myself but subsequently saw it at Dulwich College outside of London where it can be visited by appointment a few times a month.

And while we are telling anecdotes: I also recall that on the visit to the Christchurch Museum as the Human History Curator was leading me to the room where I could inspect the logs she said to me, as if in preparation for the inevitable disappointment, something to the effect of "You know, they're just a whole lot of numbers",

Regards,
Robin