Tuhia he tohutoro mō tēnei wāhanga - I muri i te wikitōria o te Pou Tonga e Roald Amundsen i te Hakihea 1911, Shackleton, i whai i tenei whakatutukitanga ia, i akina ki te whakaaro ano i ona wawata polar. I whakapono ia kei reira tonu "tetahi kaupapa nui o nga haerenga Antarctic - te whakawhiti i te whenua o te Polar ki te Tonga mai i te moana ki te moana". I runga anō i tana rautaki i ngā mahere i hangaia i mua e te kaitirotiro o Rōpū Pōtiki, e William Spiers Bruce, i whakamahere a Shackleton kia eke tana rōpū matua ki te tonga rawa, ki te takutai o te Moana Weddell. Kātahi ka haere tana rōpū whakawhiti whenua ki te tonga ki te Pou, i mua i te haere tonu i te papa o te pou, ka heke iho mā te Beardmore Glacier (i kitea e Shackleton i te tau 1909
) ki te Great Ice Barrier. Ko te wahanga whakamutunga ka whakawhiti atu ki a rātou i te ārai ki McMurdo Sound i te takutai moana o Ross.