141-480: The Far Eastern Party was a sledging component of the 1911–1914 Australasian Antarctic expedition , which investigated the previously unexplored coastal regions of Antarctica west of Cape Adare . Led by Douglas Mawson , the party aimed to explore the area far to the east of their main base in Adélie Land , pushing about 500 miles (800 km) towards Victoria Land . Accompanying Mawson were Belgrave Edward Ninnis ,
282-481: A "cathedral of nature"; it was later named Horn Bluff , after William Horn , one of the expedition's sponsors. On their return journey, they celebrated Christmas Day as they camped on a glacier tongue , unaware that Mawson and Mertz were camped in the upper reaches of the same glacier. After completing a full coastal survey, Madigan's party returned to the base on 16 January 1913. Bage's Southern Party left Cape Denison on 10 November, and marched south in
423-647: A 23-year-old lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers whose father, also called Belgrave Ninnis , had accompanied the British Arctic Expedition of 1875–1876. Ninnis was to take charge of the expedition's fifty sledge dogs once they arrived from Greenland , even though he had no previous experience with dogs. He was to be assisted by another novice dog handler, Xavier Guillaume Mertz , a Swiss ski-jumping champion and mountaineer, whose skiing expertise Mawson thought would be an important asset. To preserve
564-423: A bargain. Davis supervised an extensive refit, which included alterations to her rigging and much internal reorganisation to provide appropriate accommodation, laboratories and extra storage space. The specialist equipment required for the oceanographic program included two sounding machines : a No. 1 Lucas sounder for work in depths up to 10,970 metres (6,000 fathoms), lent to the expedition by Bruce, and
705-430: A blizzard confined them to their tent for three days. On 9 December, they set off again, but Ninnis was struggling. He had developed neuralgia on the left side of his face and a whitlow on one of his fingers. The latter was making sleep difficult for him, and, on 13 December, Mawson lanced the finger. On the evening of 13 December Mawson and Mertz rearranged the sledges. The rear-most sledge, which had carried
846-416: A cairn, left by a search party, with food and a message telling him he was 37 kilometres (23 mi) from Aladdin's Cave. Three days later, Mawson reached the cave, where he discovered more provisions, but something that was missing from the cave was extra pairs of crampons which he would need to make the final descent to the base. He had thrown his last pair of crampons away after clearing the final glacier
987-470: A crevasse 11 feet (3.4 m) wide with straight, ice walls. On a ledge deep in the hole, Mawson and Mertz could see the bodies of two dogs—one still alive, but seriously injured—and the remains of Ninnis' sledge. There was no sign of their companion. They measured the distance to the ledge as 150 feet (46 m), too far for their ropes to reach. "Dog ceased to moan shortly", wrote Mawson in his diary that night. "We called and sounded for three hours, then went
1128-464: A day, he began to cross the Mertz Glacier. On 17 January, he broke through the lid of a crevasse, but the rope around his waist held him to the sledge and halted his fall. "I had time to say to myself "So this is the end" [Mawson recorded], expecting every moment the sledge to crash on my head and both of us to go to the bottom unseen below. Then I thought of the food left uneaten in the sledge—and, as
1269-441: A few days earlier knowing that there would be another pair at Aladdin's Cave. Bad weather meant he could not set out again until 8 February, but during this time he managed to make a pair of homemade crampons out of the wood from packing crates and loose nails which he then used for the final leg of his journey. As he descended the final slope towards the base, he thought he saw smoke on the horizon, which he took to be coming from
1410-418: A few miles to a hill and took position observations. Came back, called & sounded for an hour. Read the burial service." Along with the heavy-weather tent, most of their own food and all of the dogs' food, they had lost the pickaxe , the shovel, and Mertz's waterproof overpants and helmet. On Mawson's sledge they had their stove, fuel, sleeping bags , and ten days' worth of food. Their best immediate hope
1551-410: A head-start, Mawson, Ninnis, Mertz and the seventeen dogs left Cape Denison early in the afternoon, reaching Aladdin's Cave four hours later. Stopping for the night, they took on extra supplies and rearranged the sledges. The first team of dogs would haul a train of two sledges, which collectively carried half the weight of the party's supplies. The remaining supplies were put on the third sledge, towed by
SECTION 10
#17328523814721692-420: A large glacier, they sailed into a gulf which Mawson later named Commonwealth Bay , and on further exploration they discovered a long sheltered inlet which they dubbed Boat Harbour. Here, a reconnaissance party found a rocky spot at a location which they named Cape Denison , after Hugh Denison , one of the expedition's early sponsors, and Mawson decided to establish the main base there. The work of unloading
1833-415: A lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers , and Swiss ski expert Xavier Mertz ; the party used sledge dogs to increase their speed across the ice. Initially they made good progress, crossing two huge glaciers on their route south-east. On 14 December 1912, with the party more than 311 miles (501 km) from the safety of the main base at Cape Denison , Ninnis and the sledge he was walking beside broke through
1974-421: A lighter Kelvin machine for use in shallower depths. Mawson also acquired a small monoplane from Vickers , for both its potential utility and its considerable publicity value. The plane was shipped to Australia, where it was badly damaged during a demonstration flight, whereupon Mawson abandoned the idea of an aircraft, removing the wings and adapting the fuselage body and engine to create a motor-sledge, known as
2115-592: A meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He intended to operate in the Antarctic coastal arc between Cape Adare in the east, and Gaussberg in the west. Within these bounds, Mawson said, lay territory "of whose outline and glacial features [only] the barest evidence has been furnished". A full scientific and geographical investigation of these lands would be accompanied by
2256-536: A mere £3,200, for use in the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (ITAE), and hoped to settle the balance of the debt through the sales of his chronicle of the expedition, The Home of the Blizzard , and with the profits from Hurley's film and photographs. The outbreak of war later in 1914 delayed the book's publication, while the distribution of the film was hampered by contractual problems and by
2397-400: A month he pulled his sledge across the Antarctic, crossing the second glacier, despite an illness that increasingly weakened him. Mawson reached the comparative safety of Aladdin's Cave—a food depot five and a half miles (8.9 km) from the main base—on 1 February 1913, only to be trapped there for a week while a blizzard raged outside. As a result, he missed the ship back to Australia;
2538-616: A mystery. At the time, McLean—the expedition's chief surgeon and one of the men who had remained at Cape Denison—attributed their sickness to colitis ; Mawson wrote in The Home of the Blizzard , his official account of the expedition, that Mertz died of fever and appendicitis . A 1969 study by Sir John Cleland and R. V. Southcott of the University of Adelaide concluded that the symptoms Mawson described—hair, skin and weight loss, depression, dysentery and persistent skin infections—indicated
2679-514: A note from Archibald Lang McLean , who along with Frank Hurley and Alfred Hodgeman had been sent out by Aurora ' s captain, John King Davis , to search for the Far Eastern Party. From the note, Mawson learned he was 21 miles (34 km) south-east of Aladdin's Cave, and near two further food depots. The note also reported on the other parties of the expedition—all had returned to the hut safely—and on Roald Amundsen 's attainment of
2820-469: A period of semi-lucidity, Jeffryes asked to be relieved from his duties, and Bickerton permanently took over the wireless operator's role. As the weather was improving, Mawson decided that he would take out a final sledging party with Madigan and Hodgeman, primarily to recover equipment that had been dumped or cached during the journeys of the previous year. In this, they were largely unsuccessful. They returned to base on 12 December, and Aurora arrived
2961-607: A persecution mentality and neglecting his hygiene. This was alarming enough for the rest of the group, but when the wireless masts were re-erected early in August, Jeffryes began sending out wild messages, claiming that all the others apart from Mawson had gone insane and were trying to murder him. Bickerton began practising operating the wireless, and Mawson sent a message to Ainsworth at the Macquarie Island wireless station to censor all communications received from Jeffryes. Finally, in
SECTION 20
#17328523814723102-517: A plaque cut from wood from Mertz's bunk. The cross still stands, although the crossbar has required reattaching several times, and the plaque was replaced with a replica in 1986. The two glaciers the Far Eastern Party crossed—previously unnamed—were named by Mawson for Mertz and Ninnis. At a celebration in the centre of Adelaide on his return from Antarctica, Mawson praised his dead companions: "The survivors might have an opportunity of doing something more, but these men had done their all". Mawson's return
3243-465: A rope ladder, which he carried over his shoulder and was attached to the sledge. It paid off almost immediately, and twice in the following days it allowed him to climb from crevasses. Once out of the Mertz Glacier his mileage increased, and on 28 January, Madigan Nunatak came into view. The following day, after travelling five miles (8.0 km), a cairn covered with black cloth appeared about 300 yards (270 m) to his right. In it he found food and
3384-406: A rough cairn from snow blocks to cover it, and used two spare beams from the sledge to form a cross, which he placed on the top. The following day he read the burial service. As the weather cleared on 11 January, Mawson continued west, estimating the distance back to Cape Denison at 100 miles (160 km). He travelled two miles (3.2 km) before pain in his feet forced him to stop; he found that
3525-537: A shift of public attention towards the war. As a result, the scientific reports were produced piecemeal over the next 30 years, the last appearing in 1947. Many of the expedition's personnel enlisted in the armed forces when war broke out; Bage – already an officer in the Royal Australian Engineers – was killed during the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, and Leslie Blake, the cartographer and geologist of
3666-480: A ship-based oceanographic program. The AAAS responded enthusiastically. A committee was formed under the chairmanship of Professor Edgeworth David of the University of Sydney (who had stood with Mawson at the South Magnetic Pole), and Mawson soon acquired the backing of the scientific and political communities, as well as pledges of financial support from leading industrialists. Assured that his expedition
3807-482: A short letter to his fiancée, Paquita Delprat: "The weather is fine this morning though the wind still blows. We shall get away in an hour's time. I have two good companions, Dr Mertz and Lieut. Ninnis. It is unlikely that any harm will happen to us, but should I not return to you in Australia, please know that I truly loved you. I must be closing now as the others are waiting." Allowing Madigan and Stillwell's parties
3948-406: A site for the base and, despite the possibility of the ice breaking up, he decided to risk it. The base was established by 21 February, when Aurora sailed for Hobart. Wild named the ice shelf after Shackleton, whose birthday fell on 15 February. Attempts to establish wireless contact with Cape Denison failed; they were unable to erect a suitable mast and discovered that vital parts of
4089-406: A sledging party 237 kilometres (147 mi) east before being halted by impassable ice. A party led by Sydney Evan Jones travelled 377 kilometres (234 mi) west to reach Gaussberg , the extinct volcano discovered by Drygalski's expedition in 1902. In February 1913, the party waited anxiously for Aurora ' s return. Lacking provisions for another year at the base, they prepared for
4230-403: A steamer, SS Toroa , to carry part of the burden as far as Macquarie Island. After a series of farewell ceremonies and functions, Aurora was given a tumultuous dockside send-off from Hobart on 2 December. The passage to Macquarie Island was rough: waves repeatedly overwhelmed the ship, half-drowning the dogs and soaking the men. Part of Aurora ' s bridge was washed away, and
4371-530: A three-man party from Ernest Shackleton 's Nimrod expedition calculated that they had reached the South Magnetic Pole . The party included a young Australian geologist, Douglas Mawson , who, inspired by his experiences, came home with thoughts of organising his own expedition. His particular interest lay not in the South Pole , but in investigating the Antarctic lands west of Cape Adare , immediately to
Far Eastern Party - Misplaced Pages Continue
4512-542: A train heading to his home in Toowoomba , but he never arrived; a month later he was found near Stawell, Victoria , wandering in the bush. He spent the next year in asylums, but after an assault on a member of staff, he was committed to a criminal asylum in Ararat , where he died in 1942. His family were highly critical of Mawson's lack of care and sympathy; they wrote him numerous letters apparently without response. In 2018, Jeffryes
4653-518: A wireless relay and scientific station on Macquarie Island meant the recruitment of a further five-man team. To command the station, Mawson appointed George Ainsworth from the Commonwealth Meteorological Bureau, along with two wireless technicians, a geologist and a biologist. As the expedition's photographer, Mawson was eventually persuaded to engage Frank Hurley who had offered his services for free as soon as he had heard Mawson
4794-830: Is often regarded as the southernmost point of Victoria Land, and separates the Scott Coast to the north from the Hillary Coast of the Ross Dependency to the south. Early explorers of Victoria Land include James Clark Ross and Douglas Mawson . In 1979, scientists discovered a group of 309 meteorites in Antarctica, some of which were found near the Allan Hills in Victoria Land. The meteorites appeared to have undergone little change since they were formed at what scientists believe
4935-509: The Antarctic Plateau , the shore party erected their hut and began preparations for the following summer's sledging expeditions. The men readied clothing, sledges, tents and rations, conducted limited survey parties, and deployed several caches of supplies. The most notable of these depots was Aladdin's Cave, excavated from the ice on the slope five and a half miles (9 km) to the south of the main hut. On 27 October 1912, Mawson outlined
5076-561: The SY ; Aurora had sailed on 8 February, just hours before his return to Cape Denison, after waiting for more than three weeks. With a relief party, Mawson remained at Cape Denison until the Aurora returned the following summer in December ;1913. The causes of Mertz's death and Mawson's related illness remain uncertain; a 1969 study suggested hypervitaminosis A , presumably caused by
5217-423: The hoosh . On 30 November, the party reached the eastern limit of the glacier and began the ascent to the plateau beyond, only to find themselves confronted at the top by sastrugi so sharp-edged the dogs were useless. Worse still, temperatures rose to 1 °C (34 °F), melting the snow and making pulling difficult; the party switched to travelling at night to avoid the worst of the conditions. From atop
5358-483: The " air-tractor ". Mawson's technological interests extended to the new field of wireless telegraphy. After discussions with the Commonwealth Meteorological Bureau , he decided to set up an extra base on Macquarie Island , at the midpoint between Tasmania and Antarctica, to act as a relay station for wireless messages between Antarctica and Australia. Establishing a base at Macquarie would have
5499-435: The 48 dogs that had survived the trip from Greenland, laden with sledges and with more than 3,000 cases of stores on board – left London for Cardiff , where she loaded 500 tons of coal briquettes. She left Cardiff on 4 August, and arrived at Queens Wharf, Hobart , on 4 November, after a three-month voyage. In a flurry of activity, additional fuel, stores and equipment were taken aboard. Mawson chartered
5640-740: The British explorer Robert Falcon Scott . Scott's Northern Party expedition was in 1911, making the age of the fruitcake 106 years old. A program manager said it was in “excellent condition." The region includes ranges of the Transantarctic Mountains and the McMurdo Dry Valleys (the highest point being Mount Abbott in the Northern Foothills ), and the flatlands known as the Labyrinth . The 2,700-metre (9,000 ft) Mount Melbourne
5781-660: The Cape Denison base covered over 2,600 miles (4,200 km) of previously unexplored land; the expedition's Western Base Party on the Shackleton Ice Shelf , under Frank Wild , covered a further 800 miles (1,300 km). The expedition was the first to use wireless radio in the Antarctic—transmitting back to Australia via a relay station established on Macquarie Island —and made several important scientific discoveries. First published in 1915, Mawson's account of
Far Eastern Party - Misplaced Pages Continue
5922-471: The Cape Denison party in January ;1912, Aurora sailed west, well beyond the 800-kilometre (500 mi) mark, without finding any suitable landing spot. On 15 February, they were 2,410 kilometres (1,500 mi) from Cape Denison, and in danger of being frozen in for the winter when they found a large ice shelf at 66° 21′ S, 94° 51′ E. Lacking other options, Wild investigated it as
6063-710: The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, and also signed on to BANZARE. Wild joined ITAE as well, and in 1921 he accompanied Shackleton on his final expedition , taking over as leader following Shackleton's sudden death in January 1922. Charles Harrisson, who had been a member of the Far Western Party, visited Macquarie Island in 1914, but his ship disappeared without a trace on its return voyage to Australia. Two days after arriving in Adelaide, Jeffryes took
6204-709: The Macquarie Island party, died after being badly wounded by a shell in France in 1918. Several would return to the Antarctic: Mawson as the leader of the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) in 1929–1931; Davis, as captain of Aurora for the relief voyage for the Ross Sea party in Shackleton's expedition, and as captain of Discovery during the first stage of BANZARE; Hurley joined
6345-597: The Royal Geographical Society's Founder's Medal in 1915. In Australia, Mawson faced the reality of the expedition's debts. He proposed that the Australian government should purchase Aurora and the other artefacts and equipment from the expedition for £15,000 – an amount, he reckoned, that would not only meet all outstanding debts but would finance the production of the scientific reports. The government turned him down. Instead he sold Aurora to Shackleton for
6486-628: The South Pole in December 1911. The cairn had been left there just six hours before, when the three men had returned to the hut. Struggling on his injured feet and lacking crampons —he had thrown his away after he crossed the Mertz Glacier—Mawson took three days to reach Aladdin's Cave. Although supplies had been left in Aladdin's Cave—including fresh fruit—there were not the spare crampons he had expected. Without them he could not hope to descend
6627-831: The United States following the expedition. Several reports in American newspapers quoted Mawson as saying he considered eating Mertz, but these claims were denied by Mawson, who labelled them "outrageous" and an "invention". Mawson's biographers believe the suggestion of cannibalism is probably wrong; Beau Riffenburgh notes that Mawson nursed Mertz for days, even at the possible risk to his own life. Moreover, he notes, Mawson had no way of knowing why Mertz died; eating his flesh could possibly have been very dangerous. These sentiments are echoed by Philip Ayres, who also notes that with Mertz's death Mawson had sufficient rations without having to resort to cannibalism. Law, who knew Mawson well, believed "He
6768-495: The additional benefit of allowing the first proper survey and scientific study of the island. Before returning to Australia, Mawson recruited "the oldest resident of Antarctica", the polar veteran Frank Wild , as leader of one of the proposed mainland bases. Wild had turned down an invitation to join Scott's expedition; he disliked Scott's rigidity, considering him "too much the navy man". Mawson also took on Belgrave Edward Ninnis ,
6909-410: The appeal, British sources provided an amount close to £10,000. In Australia, the federal government gave £5,000, and the state governments together provided £18,500. With private donations and the British money, the expedition's total funds rose to around £38,000, still some way short of its spending commitments, but enough to send it on its way. Fundraising efforts continued while the expedition
7050-416: The bag. He dies peacefully at about 2 am on morning of 8th." Strong winds prevented Mawson from continuing for two days. Instead, he prepared for travelling alone, removing the rearmost half from the sledge, and rearranging its cargo. To save having to carry excess kerosene for the stove, he boiled the remainder of the dog meat. Dragging Mertz's body in the sleeping bag from the tent, Mawson constructed
7191-416: The base on 8 November, following the coast eastwards. They continued, mapping as they went and collecting geological and biological samples, to just beyond the 150° E mark, about 430 kilometres (270 mi) from the base. Near that point, they discovered a rocky headland, more than 300 metres (1,000 ft) high, with a magnificent columnar structure resembling organ pipes. Madigan described this as
SECTION 50
#17328523814727332-403: The base, one of its cylinders began misfiring. The trouble worsened; the engine stalled suddenly, and the propeller was wrecked. The motor-sledge was abandoned, and the party continued its journey by man-hauling, travelling 254 kilometres (158 mi) west across the plateau before turning for home. Their most important geological find was a meteorite, the first discovered in Antarctica. For
7473-619: The books that brought, as Mawson put it, "the sudden breath of a world of warmth and colour, richness and vivacity". On 9 August, Ninnis and Mertz ventured out, to carry stores up to the five-mile depot established in March. They named this spot "Aladdin's Cave". The beginning of September saw a break in the weather, which allowed work on the wireless masts to be completed. They began transmitting to Macquarie Island but received nothing back. Several sledging journeys were possible in September before
7614-414: The camp they left a small amount of supplies, including the abandoned sledge and a tent cover, without the floor or poles. By noon the next day they had covered 311 miles (501 km) from the Cape Denison hut. Mertz was ahead on skis, breaking trail. Mawson sat on the first sledge; Ninnis walked beside the second. In his diary that night, Mertz recounted: "Around 1 pm, I crossed a crevasse, similar to
7755-417: The cargo stored above deck suffered damage. The bad weather finally abated, and they reached Macquarie Island on 13 December, where they were joined by Toroa soon afterwards. When Ainsworth's party and its equipment were established on land, Toroa returned to Hobart, and on 24 December, after carrying out survey work, Aurora sailed on south. Mawson's hopes of finding a suitable coastline to
7896-473: The coast as far as the Mertz Glacier tongue, searching for the party. Finding no sign and reaching the end of the navigable ice-free water, they returned to Cape Denison. The oncoming winter concerned Davis, and on 8 February—just hours before Mawson's return to the hut—the ship departed Commonwealth Bay, leaving six men behind as a relief party. Upon Mawson's return, the Aurora was recalled by wireless radio, but powerful katabatic winds sweeping down from
8037-490: The collection of many biological and geological samples, including the discovery of the first meteorite found in Antarctica . The expedition was the first to establish and maintain wireless contact between Antarctica and Australia. Another planned innovation – the use of an aircraft – was thwarted by an accident before the expedition sailed. The plane's fuselage was adapted to form a motorised sledge or "air-tractor", but it proved to be of very limited usefulness. The expedition
8178-403: The departing ship. When he arrived at the base, he found that the ship had indeed sailed, earlier that day, leaving a group of five – Bickerton, Bage, Madigan, Alfred Hodgeman and Archibald McLean – and a new wireless technician, Sidney Jeffryes , as a rescue party for the missing men. Mawson radioed the ship, asking Davis to return and pick up the party; Davis attempted to comply, and brought
8319-440: The depth to the seabed suddenly decreased, from the 3,550 metres (1,940 fathoms) measured on the previous day to 1,448 metres (792 fathoms). A repeat sounding, taken in case of error, produced 1,452 metres (794 fathoms). Davis took this as evidence of a submerged ridge that might have been part of a land bridge connecting Australia with the Antarctic in prehistoric time. Subsequent soundings failed to substantiate this theory. After
8460-480: The direction of the Magnetic Pole as Webb made daily magnetic observations. They soon found that magnetic disturbances played havoc with the compass readings, and they steered by the sun, "a more than efficient substitute", Bage noted. On 21 December, they were 484 kilometres (301 mi) from the base. However, their magnetic readings indicated that they were still some distance from the Magnetic Pole. To avoid
8601-400: The dog food, leaving them with about 11 or 12 days' rations. To reach base, they would have to augment these meagre supplies by shooting and eating the surviving dogs. They travelled steadily over the next days, despite Mawson suffering from snow-blindness ; by 25 December, they calculated that they were 254 kilometres (158 mi) from Cape Denison. On 29 December, they killed
SECTION 60
#17328523814728742-433: The dogs from the sledges and slowly make the treacherous descent. Once at the bottom of the glacier they spent four days crossing fields of crevasses, battling strong winds and poor light that made navigation difficult. In the harsh conditions, the dogs began to grow restless; one of them, Shackleton, tore open the men's food bag and devoured a 2.5-pound (1.1 kg) pack of butter, crucial for their nourishment to supplement
8883-437: The east of Cape Denison. At the same time, a Western Party under Frank Bickerton would take the motorised sledge to explore the plateau to the west. The longest journey would be undertaken by a Far Eastern Party, consisting of Mertz, Ninnis and Mawson, which would take the dogs and attempt to reach Oates Land , some 560 kilometres (350 mi) distant in the vicinity of Cape Adare. Other groups would form support parties for
9024-403: The end of April. The general routine of hut life was enlivened by elaborate celebrations of birthdays, often concluding with improvised concerts. When there was a shortage of birthdays, other occasions were eulogised; Mawson records that even the anniversary of the "First Lighting of London by Gas" was observed "with extraordinary éclat". Much use was made of the expedition's library, especially
9165-547: The equipment—including the camera, photographic films, and all of the scientific equipment save the theodolite —was abandoned. On 29 December, the day they cleared the Ninnis Glacier, the last dog was killed. Mawson recorded: "Had a great breakfast off Ginger's skull—thyroids and brain". Two days later Mawson recorded that Mertz was "off colour"; Mertz wrote that he was "really tired [and] shall write no more". They made five miles (8.0 km) on 31 December, no progress for
9306-441: The expedition's predominantly Australasian character, Mawson recruited his science staff from the universities of Australia and New Zealand. In key positions were Eric Webb , a 22-year-old New Zealander who became chief magnetician, and Cecil Madigan , also 22, who was appointed as the main base's meteorologist. Madigan deferred a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University for a year to join the expedition. The decision to establish
9447-604: The expedition, The Home of the Blizzard , devotes two chapters to the Far Eastern Party; one contemporary reviewer commented that "undoubtedly to the general public the interest of the book centres in [this] moving account". A later analysis by J. Gordon Hayes, while commending most of the expedition, was critical of Mawson's decision not to use skis, but Fred Jacka, writing in the Australian Dictionary of Biography , suggests that "for Mawson and Ninnis, who were manoeuvring heavy sledges, this would have been difficult much of
9588-460: The first ledge which they measured to be at a depth of 46 metres (150 ft), so they had no option except to hope that Ninnis would answer their shouts. They spent several hours calling but – having received no response – they were forced to give him up for dead. Shocked at the sudden loss of their companion, Mawson and Mertz now had to consider their own prospects. Ninnis's sledge had been carrying most of their provisions and equipment, and all of
9729-443: The following two days, and five miles more on 3 January. "[The] cold wind frost-bit Mertz's fingers" recorded Mawson, "and he is generally in a very bad condition. Skin coming off legs, etc—so had to camp though going was good." Not until 6 January did they make any more progress; they went two miles (3.2 km) before Mertz collapsed. The following day Mawson placed Mertz onto the sledge in his sleeping bag and continued, but
9870-536: The front dogs happened to be, cutting across corners and probably dragging their sledge sideways into a crevasse". But despite their precautions Ninnis fell down and was rescued from three crevasses, once when they found they had pitched their tent on its lip. After Mawson slipped into a crevasse, they began to tie themselves to their sledges as a precaution. Ninnis developed photokeratitis (snow-blindness), which Mawson treated with zinc sulfate and cocaine hydrochloride . They were also losing dogs; one broke his leg and
10011-472: The glacier. The final party, led by Mawson, would push rapidly inland to the south of the Coastal Party towards Victoria Land , an area he had explored during Ernest Shackleton 's Nimrod Expedition in 1908–1909. He hoped to travel about 500 miles (800 km) east, collecting geological data and specimens, mapping the coast, and claiming territory for the crown. Assisting him on this Far Eastern Party
10152-503: The group left at Cape Denison, winter came early, confining them mostly to the hut for many months. The previous year's program of magnetic and meteorological observations was resumed, as were the routines of daily life at the base. Many of the group found they had time on their hands, and McLean, in the tradition of earlier expeditions, took advantage of this to edit and produce a magazine, the Adelie Blizzard . One major improvement on
10293-442: The harder surface the cold provided. With the five remaining dogs, Mawson and Mertz pushed on. Starving, the dogs began to struggle; two more—Johnson and Mary—were shot and divided between men and dogs over the following days. Mawson and Mertz found most of the meat tough, but enjoyed the liver; it, at least, was tender. With the pulling power of the dogs now severely depleted, Mertz stopped making trail and instead helped Mawson to pull
10434-533: The hundred previous ones we had passed during the last weeks. I cried out "crevasse!", moved at right angle, and went forward. Around five minutes later, I looked behind. Mawson was following, looking at his sledge in front of him. I couldn't see Ninnis, so I stopped to have a better look. Mawson turned round to know the reason I was looking behind me. He immediately jumped out of his sledge, and rushed back. When he nodded his head, I followed him, driving back his sledge." Ninnis, his sledge and dog team had fallen through
10575-430: The hut. For the next five months, life was largely concentrated in the hut and centred on various scientific activities. Some outside work was unavoidable; the meteorologists and the magneticians made their daily readings regardless of conditions. In rare lulls, efforts were made to erect the wireless masts and establish contact with Macquarie Island, but after repeated failures, these attempts were temporarily abandoned at
10716-409: The journey, and the sea ice in summer could not be relied on. Or, pushing slightly to the south of their outward route, they could hope to avoid the worst of the crevasses and aim for speed. Mawson chose the inland route, which meant that in the absence of fresh seal meat they would have to resort to eating their remaining dogs . The first dog—George—was killed the following morning, and of his meat some
10857-561: The largely uncharted Antarctic coast due south of Australia . Mawson had been inspired to lead his own venture by his experiences on Ernest Shackleton 's Nimrod expedition in 1907–1909. During its time in Antarctica, the expedition's sledging parties covered around 4,180 kilometres (2,600 mi) of unexplored territory, while its ship, SY Aurora , navigated 2,900 kilometres (1,800 mi) of unmapped coastline. Scientific activities included meteorological measurements, magnetic observations, an expansive oceanographic program, and
10998-564: The last of the dogs. Both men had been feeling unwell, but from New Year's Day 1913 there was a sudden and rapid deterioration in Mertz's health; he had frostbite and became delirious and agitated. After a weather delay, they resumed their journey on the evening of 3 January, but they did not get far before the weather and Mertz's frostbite forced them to stop. They laid up until 3 January when Mertz agreed to push on, but his condition continued to worsen, and though Mawson managed to drag him on
11139-684: The main huts were smaller structures, used for magnetic observations. The party quickly discovered that their chosen location was an exceptionally windy spot; powerful katabatic winds swept down to the bay from the ice sheet , storms frequently pummelled the coast, and intense localised whirlwinds battered the men and equipment. Carsten Borchgrevink , wintering at Cape Adare in 1899–1900, had reported frequent wind speeds in excess of 64 kilometres per hour (40 mph), and in one 12-hour period winds averaged above 130 kilometres per hour (80 mph), with gusts estimated to exceed 164 kilometres per hour (102 mph). They had unknowingly settled in one of
11280-437: The main journeys. All parties would be required to return to base by 15 January 1913, when Aurora was expected to retrieve them. Mawson's Far Eastern Party left on 10 November and made good distances when the weather allowed. By 14 December, they had travelled more than 480 kilometres (300 mi) towards Oates Land. Shortly after noon, as Mawson paused to calculate latitude, he saw that Mertz had stopped and
11421-603: The men eating the livers of their Greenland huskies , which are now known to be unusually high in vitamin A . While this is considered the most likely theory, dissenting opinions suggest prolonged cold exposure or psychological stresses. Explorer and mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary described Mawson's month-long journey as "probably the greatest story of lone survival in Polar exploration". The Australasian Antarctic expedition , commanded by Douglas Mawson , explored part of East Antarctica between 1911 and 1914. The expedition's main base
11562-449: The men had suffered hypervitaminosis A , an excessive intake of vitamin A . This is found in unusually high quantities in the livers of Greenland Huskies, of which both Mertz and Mawson consumed large amounts. While hypervitaminosis A is the generally accepted medical diagnosis for Mertz's death and Mawson's illness, the theory has its detractors. Law believed it was "completely unproven ... The symptoms that were described are exactly
11703-435: The most weight, was well-worn, and they decided to abandon it. The remaining supplies were re-distributed between the remaining two sledges. Most of the important supplies—the tent and most of the food—were stored on the new rear sledge; if they were to lose a sledge down a crevasse, they reasoned, it would be the front, less-vital sledge. As the rear sledge was heavier, the strongest of remaining dogs were assigned to pull it. At
11844-446: The necessary funds". With this assurance, Mawson returned to Australia. Mawson's feelings of uncertainty were renewed as months of silence followed; Shackleton was still trying to float the gold mining venture and struggling to raise funds for the expedition. Finally, on 1 December, Shackleton confirmed that he would not be going but would, as promised, give Mawson his full support. In January 1911, Mawson revealed his plans at
11985-483: The new Antarctic expedition ships – Scott's Discovery , Nimrod , or William Speirs Bruce 's Scotia – but none of these was available. He finally settled on Aurora , an old Dundee whaler , built in 1876 to work in northern waters. In 1884, she had participated in the rescue efforts for American Arctic explorer Adolphus Greely 's Lady Franklin Bay Expedition . The ship cost £ 6,000, which Mawson considered
12126-448: The next day. They finally left Cape Denison on 24 December 1913. As they sailed away, they could see the cross, erected on high ground by Bickerton and McLean, commemorating their lost comrades, Ninnis and Mertz. Mawson had hoped to place the western base around 800 kilometres (500 mi) (and no more than 970 kilometres (600 mi)) west of Cape Denison, to make inter-base wireless communication possible. After landing
12267-406: The next several days, the party continued across the glacier. They developed a method of crossing the many crevasses; the forerunner, on skis, would cross the snow covering the hole—the lid—and once across the first of the two dog teams would follow. Only after the first dog team was across would the second follow, "otherwise", wrote Mawson, "the dogs in the rear would make a course direct for wherever
12408-626: The ones you get from cold exposure. You don't have to predicate a theory of this sort to explain the soles coming off your feet." A 2005 article in The Medical Journal of Australia by Denise Carrington-Smith suggested it may have been "the psychological stresses related to the death of a close friend and the deaths of the dogs he had cared for", and a switch from a predominately vegetarian diet that killed Mertz, not hypervitaminosis A. Suggestions of cannibalism —that Mawson may have eaten Mertz after his death—surfaced during Mawson's lecture tour of
12549-404: The parties was required to return to Cape Denison by 15 January 1913, to allow time for the Aurora to collect them and escape Antarctic waters unencumbered by the winter sea ice. Blizzards prevented the parties from leaving Cape Denison until 10 November 1912, four days after the scheduled start date. In his diary, Mertz recorded the clearing weather as "definitely a good omen". Mawson wrote
12690-471: The plateau prevented the ship's boat from reaching the shore to collect the men. The Aurora returned to Cape Denison the following summer, in mid-December, to take the men home. The delay may have saved Mawson's life; he later told Phillip Law , then-director of Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions , that he did not believe he could have survived the sea journey so soon after his ordeal. The cause of Mawson and Mertz's illnesses remains in part
12831-409: The possibility that the ship would not arrive by building up stocks of seal and penguin meat, but to their great relief, Aurora appeared on 23 February; by that same evening the men, their equipment and their personal possessions were aboard, and the ship was on its way to Hobart . Ainsworth's party began daily meteorological observations from 1 January 1912, and the wireless station
12972-513: The previous day. In London, he lectured to the Royal Geographical Society, visited the parents of Ninnis, and was received at Marlborough House by Alexandra, the Queen Mother , and her sister, the Dowager Empress of Russia . On 29 June, before his return to Australia, he was knighted at Buckingham Palace by King George V and was later the recipient of many further honours, including
13113-518: The previous year was that, from 20 February, regular wireless contact with Macquarie Island was established, which allowed the group to stay in touch with the outside world until 8 June, when strong winds once again brought down the wireless masts. The wireless operator, Jeffryes, was initially a conscientious and respected member of the group, but from mid-June, his behaviour began to deteriorate. He became moody and aggressive, challenging his hut mates to fights, mumbling to himself, developing
13254-463: The proposition looked doubtful, Mawson hurried across the Atlantic to brief Shackleton and to check that he was still committed to the expedition. On 16 May, Shackleton issued a statement confirming Mawson's position as chief scientist, adding that, should he (Shackleton) be unable to accompany the expedition, "D. Mawson will be in charge, and I shall still use my influence ... in regard to raising
13395-487: The remaining members of the Cape Denison party had been picked up in December 1913, Mawson decided that, before returning home, they would conduct a coastal and seabed survey to the west, as far as the Shackleton Ice Shelf . This task proved taxing and led to dissension between Mawson and Davis, who was by this time sleep-deprived and exhausted. Mawson noted as much in his diary: "I hope the strain won't tell any more on him". The work began on 1 January 1914, and
13536-453: The ridge on the eastern side of the Ninnis Glacier, Mawson began to doubt the accuracy of the reports of land to the east by Charles Wilkes during the 1838–1842 United States Exploring Expedition . By Wilkes' reckoning, Mawson recorded in his diary, "We now appear to be off the real continent edge." Concerned about overlap with Madigan's party to the north, he turned his party south. They made good progress initially, but beginning on 6 December
13677-488: The risk of missing the ship, they turned for home. The latter part of this journey was gruelling, as they missed their final food depot, and had to make a rapid 100-kilometre (60 mi) dash to reach the base by 11 January. The Western Party delayed its departure until 3 December, hoping that better weather would aid the running of the motor-sledge. The machine had performed satisfactorily in trials, and it ran well initially, but 16 kilometres (10 mi) out from
13818-404: The second dog team. Heading south the following day to avoid crevasses to the east, they travelled about eight miles (13 km) before poor weather forced them to stop and camp. Strong winds confined them to the tent until 13 November, and they were able to travel just a short distance before the weather picked up again. For three more days they remained in their tent, unable even to light
13959-405: The ship back to Commonwealth Bay, but a severe gale prevented the ship from anchoring or launching a boat. After sitting offshore for a day and worried that with further delays, Aurora would not reach Wild's western base before being blocked by winter ice, Davis gave up and headed west, leaving the Cape Denison group to spend another year at the base. The Eastern Coastal Party under Madigan left
14100-413: The ship, frequently interrupted by storms and winds, continued until 18 January. The next day, with time running short before the onset of winter, Aurora sailed away to find a suitable site for Wild's western base. The main base quarters provided a spacious living space, 7.3 by 7.3 metres (24 by 24 ft), with an attached workshop and a wide verandah for storage and housing the dogs. Away from
14241-517: The sledge stopped without coming down, I thought of Providence again giving me a chance. The chance looked very small as the rope had sawed into the overhanging lid, my finger ends all damaged, myself weak ... With the feeling that Providence was helping me I made a great struggle, half getting out, then slipping back again several times, but at last just did it. Then I felt grateful to Providence ... who has so many times already helped me." To save himself from future crevasses, Mawson constructed
14382-442: The sledge they could not cover much ground. Mertz died early on 8 January. Mawson was around 160 kilometres (100 mi) from the base, which was, he observed, a relatively short distance for a healthy man, but a long way for one weak and famished. After burying Mertz and marking his grave, Mawson prepared for the journey ahead. To lighten his burden, he used a small pocket tool to cut his sledge in half. On 11 January,
14523-486: The sledge. Despite the challenges, they made good progress; in the first four nights, they travelled 60 miles (97 km). As they approached the Ninnis Glacier on 21 December, Haldane—once the largest and strongest of the dogs—was shot. Both men were suffering, but Mertz in particular started to feel ill. He complained of stomach pains, and this began to slow them down. Pavlova was killed, leaving only one remaining dog. Mawson decided to lighten their sledge, and much of
14664-407: The sledges several times overtook the dogs, the huskies were allowed to run free down the slope. Following a particularly steep descent the following day, half of Mawson's team of dogs—reattached to his sledges—were almost lost when they fell into a crevasse. They were hauled out, but Mawson decided to camp when one of the dogs, Ginger Bitch, gave birth to the first in a litter of 14 pups. Over
14805-422: The snow lid of a crevasse and were lost. Their supplies now severely compromised, Mawson and Mertz turned back west, gradually shooting the remaining sledge dogs for food to supplement their scarce rations. As they crossed the first glacier on their return journey Mertz became sick, making progress difficult. After almost a week of making very little headway Mertz died, leaving Mawson to carry on alone. For almost
14946-413: The soles of his feet had separated as a complete layer. Applying lanolin to his feet and wrapping them in several pairs of socks under his boots, he continued. "My whole body is apparently rotting from lack of nourishment" he recorded, "frost-bitten fingertips festering, mucous membrane of nose gone, saliva glands of mouth refusing duty, skin coming off whole body". Averaging around five miles (8.0 km)
15087-599: The south of Australia. That coast had been indeterminately explored in the 1840s by the French under Dumont D'Urville and by the American Charles Wilkes , but had not been visited since. In January 1910, in London, Mawson met Robert Falcon Scott , who was then preparing his Terra Nova expedition . Mawson proposed that he should join this expedition as the head of an independent team, based at Cape Adare. Although Scott
15228-510: The steep ice slope to the hut, and so he began to fashion his own, collecting nails from every available source and hammering them into wood from spare packing cases. Even when completed, a blizzard confined him to the cave, and only on 8 February was he able to begin the descent. Nearing the hut, he was spotted by three men working outside, who rushed up the hill to meet him. The Aurora arrived at Cape Denison on 13 January 1913. When Mawson's party failed to return, Davis sailed her east along
15369-422: The stove. When the weather cleared on 16 November, Madigan and Stillwell's parties joined them. The three parties travelled together for much of the following day, before Mawson's party separated and pushed on ahead in the late afternoon. Heading south-east towards the Mertz Glacier, with Mertz skiing ahead and Mawson and Ninnis driving the dogs, the party covered 15 miles (24 km) on 18 November. This
15510-464: The summer sledging program. Of the seven sledging parties that would depart from Cape Denison, three would head east. The Eastern Coastal Party, led by the geologist Cecil Madigan , was charged with exploring beyond the Mertz Glacier tongue; they would initially be supported by the Near Eastern Party led by Frank Leslie Stillwell , which would then turn to mapping the area between Cape Denison and
15651-630: The supposed location of the Royal Company's Islands which had been searched for without success on numerous occasions. Aurora found no trace of them either, nor of any shelving of the seabed that might suggest sunken islands. The main sphere of oceanographic research was the sea around Macquarie Island and further northeast towards the Auckland Islands . The second cruise, in November ;1912, returned to these waters. Three days out from Hobart,
15792-476: The time". In his 1976 foreword to Lennard Bickel's book on the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, explorer and mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary described Mawson's journey as "probably the greatest story of lone survival in Polar exploration". Australasian Antarctic expedition The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was a 1911–1914 expedition headed by Douglas Mawson that explored
15933-456: The transmitting equipment were missing. Over the course of the next year, the party at the western base completed a busy program of work. This included two major sledging journeys east and west of the base, mapping a total of over 560 kilometres (350 mi). They also completed several depot-laying trips and an exploration of the inland plateau. They made regular meteorological, geological, magnetic and other scientific observations. Wild took
16074-436: The weather cleared, and he set out. His extreme weakness and, in particular, the condition of his feet, meant he could not travel great distances. On 17 January, he fell into a crevasse and hung there by a rope from the sledge, which fortunately did not fall. It took him more than four hours to extricate himself. As he drew nearer to the base, he was frustratingly delayed by more bad weather. On 29 January he discovered
16215-414: The weather closed in again; on 9 October a particularly violent wind brought the recently erected wireless masts crashing down. On 27 October 1912, Mawson announced his plans for the sledging season ahead. A Southern Party led by Bage would head south, towards the Magnetic Pole, making magnetic observations along the way. An Eastern Coastal Party, under Madigan, would explore and map the coastline to
16356-410: The west of Cape Adare were soon dashed. The coast remained hidden behind impenetrable ice, and the land reported by Wilkes in 1840 appeared to be non-existent. As the ship sailed further west, Mawson decided to reduce his land bases from three to two, by consolidating the proposed central base with the main base and placing Wild in charge of a single western base . On 8 January 1912, rounding
16497-448: The west of the cape, in uncharted territory. In London, in search of a suitable ship, Mawson sought the help of John King Davis , to whom he offered the post of ship's master and second-in-command of the expedition. Davis had served as Nimrod 's chief officer during Shackleton's recent expedition and had acted as its captain on the voyage back to England. He accepted Mawson's offer without hesitation. Mawson hoped to secure one of
16638-418: The windiest sites in Antarctica; Mawson frequently recorded gusts between 240 kilometres per hour (150 mph) and 290 kilometres per hour (180 mph) at Cape Denison. Mawson had planned, before winter closed in, to carry out some experimental sledging work, and on 1 March, he, Madigan and Bob Bage managed a journey of 8 kilometres (5 mi), before depositing a sledge and stores and returning to
16779-459: Was Belgrave Edward Ninnis , a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers , and the Swiss ski expert Xavier Mertz . They were in charge of the expedition's Greenland huskies , who would be crucial if the party was to cover the distance at the speed Mawson intended. Ninnis and Mertz had spent the winter preparing the dogs for the journey, sewing harnesses and teaching them to run in teams with the sledges. Each of
16920-401: Was a man of very solid, conservative morals. It would have been impossible for him to have considered it." In November 1913, shortly before the Aurora arrived to return them to Australia, the men remaining at Cape Denison erected a memorial cross for Mertz and Ninnis on Azimuth Hill to the north-west of the main hut. The cross, constructed from pieces of a broken radio mast, was accompanied by
17061-484: Was celebrated at the Adelaide Town Hall , in an event attended by the governor-general, Lord Denman . A typical speaker stated that "Mawson has returned from a journey that was absolutely unparalleled in the history of exploration—one of the greatest illustrations of how the sternest affairs of Nature were overcome by the superb courage, power and resolve of man". Including the Far Eastern Party, sledging parties from
17202-464: Was despite encountering sastrugi —ridges in the ice caused by wind—as high as three feet (91 cm), that caused the dogs to slip and the sledges to roll. During the day they passed two peaks, which Mawson named Madigan Nunatak and Aurora Peak , after the leader of the Eastern Coastal Party and the expedition's ship. The following day they began the steep descent to the Mertz Glacier. After
17343-416: Was erected on a high promontory christened Wireless Hill . By mid-February, the station had made contact with Sydney , and by 12 May, was transmitting daily weather reports to Wellington . Signals from Cape Denison were heard for the first time on 25 September. Still, the cape was unable to receive messages from Macquarie. On 20 February 1913, two-way communication with Cape Denison
17484-552: Was established in January 1912, at Cape Denison in Commonwealth Bay , Adélie Land . This was much farther west than originally intended; dense pack ice had prevented the expedition ship SY Aurora from landing closer to Cape Adare , the original eastern limit. Only after the Aurora —heading west—had rounded the ice tongue of the Mertz Glacier , was a landing made. Battling katabatic winds that swept down from
17625-727: Was finally established, and after that messages were regularly exchanged. The Macquarie party, who had been expecting to be relieved, heard in March that Cape Denison would be operational for a second season, and that the Macquarie station would therefore need to remain open until November. Mawson radioed that the supply ship could pick up any of the party who wished to leave in May, but all elected to stay. As it turned out, severe winter weather prevented supply vessels from reaching them until 20 August, by which time provisions and fuel supplies were close to exhaustion. Arthur Sawyer , who had fallen ill,
17766-747: Was finally honoured by the erection of a plaque in the Ararat Cemetery, near the site of his unmarked grave. Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf , extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78°00'S , and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Antarctic Plateau . It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after Queen Victoria . The rocky promontory of Minna Bluff
17907-409: Was forced to stop and camp when Mertz's condition again deteriorated. Mawson recorded: "He is very weak, becomes more and more delirious, rarely being able to speak coherently. He will eat or drink nothing. At 8 pm he raves & breaks a tent pole. Continues to rave & call 'Oh Veh, Oh Veh' [ O weh! , 'Oh dear!'] for hours. I hold him down, then he becomes more peaceful & I put him quietly in
18048-444: Was fried for the men and the rest fed to the now starving dogs. "On the whole it was voted good" wrote Mawson of the meat, "though it had a strong, musty taste and was so stringy that it could not be properly chewed". Before setting off again they raised the flag—which they had forgotten to do at their furthest point—and claimed the land for the crown. With the temperature rising, they switched to travelling at night to take advantage of
18189-502: Was in the field. When the expedition was over and the ship and other assets had been sold off, the overall deficit, according to Mawson's accounting, was £4,462; this, he hoped, would be made up by royalties on the sale of the expedition book and from lecture fees. He estimated that a further £8,000 would be required to publish the scientific findings. The problems of meeting these financial obligations would preoccupy Mawson for many years. On 28 July 1911, Aurora – her deck teeming with
18330-525: Was interested, they were unable to agree on the scope of Mawson's responsibilities. Shackleton, who was in London investigating the possibility of organising and financing an expedition of his own, suggested to Mawson that he could act as its chief scientist. While Shackleton raised funds by lecturing in America, Mawson was dispatched to investigate the possibility of purchasing and developing a goldmine in Hungary. As
18471-428: Was looking behind him. There was no sign of Ninnis. Mawson and Mertz retraced their steps and found a crevasse about 3.4 metres (11 ft) across; tracks on the far side made it clear that Ninnis, with his sledge and dogs, had fallen into the depths. Far below on a ledge, they could see the bodies of two dogs, and debris from the sledge, but no sign of Ninnis. Their remaining ropes were far too short of reaching even
18612-453: Was made difficult by the mental breakdown of Sidney Jeffryes , the wireless operator. When Mawson returned from Antarctica, he was given a hero's welcome and received many honours, including a knighthood. The scientific studies provided copious, detailed data – which took thirty years to completely publish – and the expedition's broad exploration program laid the groundwork for Australia's later territorial claims in Antarctica. In January 1909,
18753-402: Was marred by the deaths of two members during an attempt to reach Oates Land : Belgrave Edward Ninnis , who fell into a crevasse , and Xavier Mertz , who died on the harrowing return journey. Mawson, their sledging partner, was then forced to make an arduous solo trek back to base; he missed the ship, and had to spend an extra year at Cape Denison, along with a relief party of six. This sojourn
18894-430: Was mostly complete by 2 February. After an arduous period in the ice, during which Davis rarely left the bridge, Aurora began the journey home. On 26 February 1914, Aurora reached Adelaide to an enthusiastic welcome. For the next month, Mawson was engaged in a busy round of receptions and scientific meetings, before sailing for London on 1 April, accompanied by his bride, Paquita Delprat, whom he had married
19035-475: Was now safely launched, Mawson travelled to London to begin practical arrangements. Mawson's original intention had been to set up his main shore base at Cape Adare and establish others further west. He felt it necessary to modify this arrangement when, in March 1911, he learned that Scott's expedition was sending a northern party to the Cape Adare region. As a consequence, he decided to place his main base well to
19176-517: Was organised into three bases: one on the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island and two on the Antarctic mainland. The main base , under Mawson's command, was set up at Cape Denison , about 500 kilometres (300 mi) west of Cape Adare , and a western base under Frank Wild was established on the Shackleton Ice Shelf , more than 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) west of Cape Denison. Activities at both mainland bases were hampered by extreme winds, which often made outside work impossible. The expedition
19317-551: Was recruiting. In accordance with his undertaking to support the expedition, Shackleton persuaded the press baron Lord Northcliffe to publish an appeal for funds in the Daily Mail . The appeal resulted in an immediate influx of money; more than £6,000 in two days. The British government gave £2,000, and, after a successful presentation by Mawson, the Royal Geographical Society contributed £500. All told, following
19458-458: Was shot, another fell ill, and a third was lost down a crevasse. On 24 November, the party reached the eastern side of the glacier and ascended to the plateau. On level ground again, they began to make quick progress. They awoke on the morning of 27 November to find another glacier (later known as the Ninnis Glacier ) far larger than the first. As with the first glacier, they had to unhitch
19599-432: Was taken off the island. Aurora arrived on 29 November, when the rest of the Macquarie party was picked up, replaced by members of the Commonwealth Meteorological Bureau. The expedition's main oceanographic work was carried out during two cruises in 1912, and in a coastal journey in 1914, after the final relief of Cape Denison. The first cruise, May to July 1912, included investigation, southwest of Tasmania, of
19740-606: Was the birth of the Solar System . In 1981, lichens found at Victoria Land attracted the attention of NASA because lichens may give clues about where to look for the existence of extraterrestrial life . Dr. George Denton, a glaciologist at the University of New Hampshire , looked for microorganisms on Mount Lister , one of the highest in Antarctica; it has the same kind of sandstone in which lichens grow. In 2017, conservationists at Cape Adare , Victoria Land, unearthed an ice-covered fruitcake that they believe once belonged to
19881-531: Was to reach the camp of two days earlier where they had left the abandoned sledge and supplies, 15 miles (24 km) west. They reached it in five-and-a-half-hours, where Mertz used the tent cover, with the runners from the abandoned sledge and a ski as poles, to erect a shelter. They were faced with two possible routes back to Cape Denison. The first option was to make for the coast, where they could supplement their meagre supplies with seal meat , and hope to meet with Madigan's party; that would considerably lengthen
#471528