What breed were shackleton's dogs?

Answer 1

The dogs of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Trans Antarctic Expedition, also popularly known as the Endurance Expedition, were Canadian Sledge Dogs. They were recruited from along the western shores of Lake Winnipeg in the vicinity of present day Gimli, in Manitoba, Canada during the spring of 1914. The Canadian Sledge Dogs were not any specific breed but were described by members of Shackleton's Endurance expedition as a

"mongrel mix of "half wild" undefined half-breeds a combination of just about any kind of large dog and regarded by some observers as not many degrees removed from wolves. Their bloodlines included Newfoundland and Eskimo dogs, St Bernards and leggy Wolfhounds"

Of the 100 dogs purchased for the Endurance expedition, one perished in route in Canada during their shipment to England. Of the surviving 99 dogs, 69 were put on board the Endurance as draft animals for the planned trans- Antarctic crossing beginning at the Weddell Sea. All perished following the entrapment of the Endurance in pack ice. The remaining 30 dogs were put on board the Aurora to be employed as draft animals for the purposes of setting cache supplies along the planned expedition route from the Ross Sea on the opposite side of the continent. Of these only 3 survived and were later retired to homes and zoos.