The members of the Nimrod Expedition Southern Party (Frank Wild, Ernest Shackleton, Eric Marshall and Jameson Adams) aboard ship after their arduous polar trek in 1909.... Shackleton's Antarctic expedition used cocaine-and-caffeine “Forced March” tablets while starving on its return from the South Pole. The men went 36 hours without food, relying on the tablets and cocoa, while frostbitten and barely able to stay awake. This happened during Ernest Shackleton's 1907–1909 Nimrod expedition, when Shackleton, Frank Wild, Eric Marshall and Jameson Adams attempted to become the first men to reach the South Pole. They turned back just 97 geographical miles from the Pole when Shackleton realized continuing would probably kill them. The return became a desperate race against starvation. At one point, their food was exhausted and the men went roughly 36 hours consuming only cocoa and Forced March tablets. Sold by Burroughs Wellcome & Co., Forced March contained cocaine and caffeine and was marketed as a way to suppress hunger and prolong endurance during extreme exertion. The recommended instructions even suggested taking a tablet every hour. All four men survived, reaching the Nimrod in March 1909. Expedition doctor Eric Marshall, who used the tablets during the ordeal, later wrote that if forced to choose between Forced March tablets and ordinary sugar under similar conditions, he would choose the sugar. #archaeohistories