Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Aeneas Mackintosh

Aeneas Mackintosh
This nomination predates the introduction in April 2014 of article-specific subpages for nominations and has been created from the edit history of Today's featured article/requests. 
 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page. 

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/March 14, 2014 by BencherliteTalk 13:05, 7 March 2014‎ (UTC)



Aeneas Mackintosh  (1879–1916) was a British  Antarctic explorer  who commanded the Ross Sea party within Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–17. The  party's mission was to support Shackleton's proposed transcontinental march by laying supply depots along the latter stages of the march's intended route. Confusing orders meant Mackintosh was uncertain of the timing of Shackleton's proposed march. Matters worsened when the party's ship, SY Aurora, was swept from its moorings during a gale and was unable to return. Despite these setbacks and further practical difficulties, Mackintosh's stranded party managed to carry out its depot-laying task to the full. Having reached safety, he and a companion lost their lives while attempting to reach the expedition's base camp by crossing the unstable sea ice. Shackleton later commended the work of Mackintosh and his comrades, and equated the sacrifice of their lives to those given in the trenches during the First World War. However, his competence and leadership skills have been questioned by some polar historians.


 * Ancient FA (promoted May 2008, but I've since updated and polished the prose). This was the very first article I created for wikipedia (7 November 2007). If it is to be TFA, maybe something can be done about the teeny photo, which looks rather too small? (I make it 2 pts for age, 2 more for nothing similar recently, so 4 altogether). Brianboulton (talk) 21:27, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Support. Not that ancient, I think ancient starts at pre-2007 levels. &mdash; Cirt (talk) 18:55, 2 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Oppose image until licensing is cleared up. That this was taken in 1909 does not necessarily mean it was published in 1909. This needs to be cleaned up. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 14:20, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes, I have restored the admittedly substandard lead image, which was substituted by a well-meaning and highly distinguished editor - but there is no pre-1923 publication history for the eyepatch photo. It is not in Shackleton's Heart of the Antarctic, of which I have a 1911 edition. Until we can establish that it is PD, we can't use it. I was hoping, though, for a slight enlargement of the existing image. Brianboulton (talk) 15:41, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Does the Shackleton book have any images of Mackintosh? — Crisco 1492 (talk) 11:45, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
 * No – I would have grabbed it, otherwise. Brianboulton (talk) 21:21, 5 March 2014 (UTC)