Cheetham, Alfred B., 1867-1918

Alfred B. Cheetham was born in Liverpool in 1867. He became a Merchant Navy boatswain working out of Hull, and a Royal Naval Reservist.

He first saw the Antarctic as boatswain of the Morning, the relief ship sent to McMurdo Sound in 1902-1903 and 1903-1904 to assist the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904 (leader Robert Falcon Scott).

Cheetham was then invited to join the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909 (leader Ernest Henry Shackleton), as boatswain and third officer on board Nimrod, and he served again as boatswain during the British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-1913 (leader Robert Falcon Scott). He then joined the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition [Weddell Sea Party], 1914-1916 (leader Ernest Henry Shackleton), as third officer in Endurance .

After Endurance was crushed in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea, he and his companions escaped in boats to Elephant Island. A party of six led by Shackleton made the epic journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia to seek help from the Stromness whaling station and in August 1916, Cheetham and the remaining members of the expedition were rescued from Elephant Island. After the expedition, he served in the First World War but was drowned in 1918 when his ship was torpedoed while mine-sweeping in the North Sea.

From the guide to the Alfred Cheetham collection, 1907-1913, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)