Alfred Cheetham
Alfred " Alf" Buchanan Cheetham ( born May 6, 1867 in Liverpool, † August 22, 1918, drowned in the North Sea in Blyth ( Northumberland ) ) was an English sailor and explorer in the exploration of Antarctica during the golden age of Antarctica known as research.
Life
Alfred Cheetham was the son of John and Annie Elizabeth Cheetham in Liverpool to the world. At the age of about 10 years, he moved with his parents from there to Hull. As a teenager he went to sea and worked at a fishing fleet in the North Sea. Later he became a boatman, and served as a reservist in the Royal Navy. With his wife Eliza Sawyer he had 13 children together.
Cheetham participated in four major Antarctic expeditions. During the Discovery Expedition (1901-1904) under the direction of Robert Falcon Scott, he was involved on board the ship Morning in the rescue of the trapped on guard Point Peninsula in the ice expedition members. Ernest Shackleton made him the third officer aboard the Nimrod during the Nimrod Expedition ( 1907-1909 ). Fatal case of Scott -ending attempt to reach the South Pole during the Terra Nova Expedition (1910-1913), Cheetham served as boatswain on board the Terra Nova. Since he was a family man at this time, he was in the selection of the team that went in search of Scott and his companions passed over. When he was re- hired during the Endurance Expedition (1913-1916) as a boatman and third officer of Shackleton, the already 47 -year-old Cheetham was the expedition members with the largest Antarctic experience. At the time of the rescue group, led by Frank Wild on Elephant Iceland he had spent a total of nearly six years in Antarctic waters.
Cheetham was considered by his peers as Joker. Frank Worsley described him once as " Prirat to the fingertips ." During their visit to Elephant Iceland possession of matches, according Worsleys presentation was so valuable that it for a single match a bottle of champagne offered Cheetham. This wanted to hand Cheetham Worsley, as soon as he opened his own pub in Hull. But for this it should not come.
After his return from the Endurance expedition Cheetham learned that his 16- year-old son William Alfred was killed while on duty on the Crusaders Adriatic. Cheetham volunteered for military service in the merchant marine and served as second officer on the steamer prunelle. He died on August 22, 1918 on a trip from London to Dundee in the sinking of the ship, after this by the German submarine UB -112 under Commander William Rhine ( 1887-1964 ) had been torpedoed two miles to the southeast of Blyth.
For his services in the Endurance expedition Cheetham was awarded the silver medal Polar.