Years ago I saw this marker on the internet and carefully and
repeatedly counted the number of points. It was nine. I asked my then
co-religionists, an Assembly of Baha'is, whose favorite number is 9,
to confirm and inform me if Sir Ernest or his wife were Baha'is.
At the time I could imagine no other reason why the marker of such a
noted man should bear the symbol of the Baha'i Faith and go
unrecognized.

Not only did the Baha'i Assembly, a body of nine educated adults, fail
to count nine points in the star ("My goodness, friends, it's
obviously eight!"), but publicly ridiculed me for believing it and
inquiring as to Sir Ernest's religious affiliation.  Whether or not
Shackleton was a Baha'i I do not believe they bothered to ascertain,
since I by asking them to look at a picture of a nine-pointed star and
confirm that it was, I had already put myself on record as being an
idiot.

That is when I began to realize that however snazzy, the outfit was a
cult  that could not or would not count to nine when presented with
the evidence. I dare say even Mrs.Chippy was cognizant of the number
of dogs boarded on the deck and cans of sardines in the galley. I was
glad to be free of the self-imposed obligation to need the
confirmation of Baha'i Administration, from an Assistant Professor to
a Mother of One, to do my thinking for me, or to share the joy of
discovery with me.

So it was that my delight was keen to read Dorothy Tinkler's report on
this site,  that indeed the marker is blessed with a nine-pointed
star, which tells me that Baha'is cannot count, or maybe they are just
too important to be counting. Although the Baha'i Faith was known in
Great Britain at the time, I have to believe that Shackleton's
affinity to the number 9 was personal and free from connection to that
religion. I like 9 too. In fact, Sir Ernest appears to have had more
"9"s in his life than the most towering figure in the Baha'i Faith.

You just never know who is going to save you.