Abbreviations used
|
AAE |
Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14) |
|
MC |
Mawson Centre, Adelaide |
|
ML |
The Mitchell Library, Sydney |
|
NE |
Nimrod expedition (British Antarctic Expedition 1907–09) |
|
SPRI |
The Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge |
|
SUA |
Sydney University Archives, Sydney |
|
TNE |
Terra Nova expedition (British Antarctic Expedition 1910–13) |
Prologue
1. Paquita Mawson, p. 15.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid., p. 23.
4. Eitel, ‘The Spell of the South’, press article, p. 1, MC, 144AE.
5. Douglas Mawson, interview with/letter to James Fisher, 18 August 1956, SPRI, MS1456.
6. Shackleton, ‘A New British Antarctic Expedition’, p. 331.
Introduction: Discovering Antarctica
1. Colon, p. 63.
2. James Cook, Voyage Towards the South Pole, p. 6.
3. See the website of the Museum of Australian Democracy, ‘Secret Instructions to Lieutenant Cook, 30 July 1768’, www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item.asp?dID=34.
4. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. I, p. xx.
5. James Cook, Voyage Towards the South Pole, p. 170.
6. Ibid., p. 445.
7. James Cook, Three Voyages Around the World, p. 222.
8. Weddell, pp. 53–4.
9. There were later claims that one American sealer, John Davis, actually set foot on Antarctica in 1821.
10. D’Urville, p. 470.
11. Ibid., p. 471.
12. Wilkes, p. 299.
13. Ibid.
14. Wilkes’s non-existent ‘Termination Land’, mapped in February 1840, is close to the western limit of the Shackleton Ice Shelf but to its north. At his closest approach to the actual coast, Wilkes was near Commonwealth Bay.
15. Larson, p. 27.
16. Ibid., p. 31.
17. In 1841, the South Magnetic Pole was located inland, west of McMurdo Sound in Victoria Land.
18. Larson, p. 36.
19. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. I, p. xxiii.
20. Ross, p. 219.
21. Birmingham Daily Post, 27 December 1872.
22. Mill, ‘The Challenger Publications’, pp. 360–1.
23. Nansen, p. 29.
24. Ibid., p. 316.
25. Bull, p. 218.
26. ‘The International Congress of 1895’, p. 292.
27. Frederick Cook, p. 208.
28. Ibid.
29. Flaherty, p. 40.
30. Cameron, p. 135.
31. Borchgrevink, ‘The Southern Cross Expedition to the Antarctic’, p. 383.
32. Bernacchi, pp. 69, 78–9.
33. Ibid., p. 132.
34. Borchgrevink, First on the Antarctic Continent, p. 135.
35. Bernacchi, p. 233.
36. Ibid., p. 261.
37. Markham, Lands of Silence, p. 447.
38. Larson, p. 43.
39. Robert Falcon Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, Vol. I, p. 24.
40. From the maps of Ross and then Borchgrevink, Scott knew enough of the Ross Island vicinity to investigate McMurdo Sound in the hope it would allow a ship to winter without suffering severe ice pressure.
41. Today known as the Transantarctic Mountains.
42. Armitage on Shackleton, memo to Mill, 24 May 1922, SPRI, MS367/1.
43. Begbie, p. 26.
44. Robert Falcon Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, Vol. II, p. 91.
45. Armitage on Shackleton, memo to Mill, 24 May 1922, SPRI, MS367/1.
46. Huntford, Shackleton, p. 116.
47. Ferrar Glacier was later named by Scott in honour of the party’s geologist, who had partially ascended it the previous season.
48. Robert Falcon Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, Vol. II, p. 186.
49. Ibid., p. 308.
50. Ibid., p. 188.
51. Ibid., pp. 195–6.
52. Ibid., p. 196.
53. The Times, 12 February 1907, p. 12.
54. Robert Falcon Scott, ‘Miscellaneous notes and plans for Antarctic exploration made before and during the British Antarctic Expedition 1910–1913’, SPRI, MS1453/29.
55. Ibid.
56. Robert Falcon Scott, letter to Shackleton, 18 February 1907, SPRI, MS1456/23.
57. Ibid., undated but shortly after 18 February 1907, SPRI, MS1456/23.
58. Robert Falcon Scott, letter to Scott Keltie, 20 February 1907, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen, p. 216.
59. Robert Falcon Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, Vol. II, p. 83.
60. Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 89, 90.
61. Robert Falcon Scott, letter to Shackleton, undated but shortly after 18 February 1907, SPRI, MS1456/23.
62. Edward Wilson, letter to Kathleen Scott, 17 January 1911, SPRI, MS1488/2.
63. Ibid., letter to Shackleton, 28 February 1907, SPRI, MS1537/2/14/15.
64. Shackleton, telegram to Robert Falcon Scott, 4 March 1907, SPRI, MS1456/24.
65. Ibid., letter to Robert Falcon Scott, 17 May 1907, SPRI, MS1464/25.
Part One: With Shackleton
Chapter One: Go South, Young Man, Go South
1. Douglas Mawson, letter to Edgeworth David, 28 September 1907, ML, MSS 3022/1.
2. Jacka and Jacka, p. xxvii.
3. Riffenburgh, Nimrod, pp. 36–7.
4. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, p. 27.
5. Jacka and Jacka, p. xxvii.
6. Burke, p. 48.
7. Hansard, Friday 13 December 1907, pp. 7491–3.
8. Ibid.
9. Marshall, NE diary, 7 January 1908, SPRI, MS1456/8.
10. Priestley, extract from NE diary, undated, SPRI, MS1456/9.
11. Davis, High Latitude, p. 71.
12. Ibid., p. 59.
13. Ibid., p. 60.
14. Ibid., p. 83.
15. Marshall, NE diary, 9 January 1908, SPRI, MS1456/8.
16. Huntford, Shackleton, p. 198.
17. Marshall, NE diary, 9 January 1908, SPRI, MS1456/8.
18. Ibid., 12 January 1908, SPRI, MS1456/8.
19. The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 February 1908, p. 9.
20. One thousand four hundred nautical miles equals 1610 statute miles.
21. Davis, High Latitude, p. 78.
22. Ibid.
23. Robert Falcon Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, Vol. I, p. 147.
24. Davis, High Latitude, p. 79.
25. Burke, p. 65.
26. Daly, p. 135. According to Armitage, if Shackleton had followed his plan and established his base on the Ross Ice Shelf he would have reached the Pole. Also, Shackleton was hampered by finances and could not afford to take the number of dogs Atkinson had advised. (Armitage on Shackleton, memo to Mill, 24 May 1922, SPRI, MS367/1.)
27. Priestley, ‘Prelude to Antarctica’, SPRI, MS1097/20/1.
28. Marshall, NE diary, 22 January 1908, SPRI, MS1456/8.
29. Davis, High Latitude, p. 78.
30. Ibid., pp. 81–2.
31. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, p. 120.
32. In actuality, the ponies were found to optimally pull around 650 pounds due to surface conditions.
33. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, p. 238.
34. Jacka and Jacka, p. xxviii.
35. Douglas Mawson, letter to Mill, 18 July 1922, SPRI, MS100/75/6.
36. Marshall, NE diary, 26 February and 16 March 1908, SPRI, MS1456/8.
37. Ibid., 16 March 1908, SPRI, MS1456/8.
38. The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 April 1908, p. 7.
39. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, p. 99.
40. Burke, p. 69.
41. Davis, High Latitude, p. 87.
42. Ernest Shackleton, letter to Emily Shackleton, 22 February 1908, SPRI, MS1456/25.
43. Burke, p. 80.
44. Wild, memoirs, p. 35, ML, MSS 2198/2.
45. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, p. 219.
46. Wild, memoirs, p. 34, ML, MSS 2198/2.
47. Burke, p. 77.
48. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. II, p. 308.
49. Edgeworth David, ‘The Ascent of Mt Erebus’, in Shackleton, AuroraAustralis, the first book ever written, printed, illustrated and bound in the Antarctic, published during the 1908 winter.
50. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, pp. 187–8.
51. Larson, p. 128.
52. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, p. 192.
53. Huntford, Scott and Amundsen, p. 227.
Chapter Two: Into the Night and Out into the Wilderness
1. Priestley, NE diary, 23 March 1908, SPRI, MS1097/1.
2. Larson, p. 123.
3. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 188.
4. Ibid.
5. Griffiths, p. 317.
6. Burke, p. 83.
7. Priestley, NE diary, 3 August 1908, SPRI, MS1097/1.
8. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, pp. 147–8.
9. Burke, p. 86.
10. The return distance from Cape Royds and Cape Evans to the South Pole is generally quoted by both Shackleton and Scott as 1760 miles. However, for ease of reading I have rounded this figure up to 1800 miles.
11. In actuality, the Party sledged up to a ton of supplies and equipment a total of 1260 miles (including 740 miles of relaying in 122 days). It remains one of the greatest unsupported man-hauling journeys in the history of Antarctic exploration.
12. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. II, pp. 73–4.
13. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 23.
14. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 127.
15. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 259.
16. Ibid., p. 261.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
19. Shackleton, letter of instruction to Douglas Mawson, 28 October 1908, SPRI, MS1456/24.
20. Jacka and Jacka, p. 16.
21. Ibid.
22. This large glacier is today known as the David Glacier. The Drygalski Ice Tongue is one of the few formations where its name and that of its major glacier are not the same. When Scott named it in 1902, he was unaware of its glacial source lying in the hinterland. Hence the use of the term ‘ice tongue’ rather than ‘glacier tongue’. The Drygalski Ice Tongue may be up to 30 miles in length, although as sections break off this is quite variable.
23. Four geographical miles equals 4.5 statute miles.
24. In actual fact, this location is 12 miles north of Granite Harbour.
25. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. II, p. 110. Note Shackleton has paraphrased Edgeworth David’s letter, though the sign-off is from the original letter. Cf. the original, Edgeworth David, ‘Miscellaneous notes’, SPRI, MS1408/2.
26. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 267.
27. Ibid., p. 268.
28. Ibid., p. 269.
29. West Coast Times, 7 January 1908, p. 2.
30. Jacka and Jacka, p. 19.
31. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. II, p. 133.
32. Jacka and Jacka, pp. 24–5.
33. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, p. 289.
34. Wild, NE diary, 21 November 1908, SPRI, MS660/5.
35. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, pp. 296–7.
36. Wild, NE diary, 27 November 1908, SPRI, MS660/5.
37. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, p. 308.
38. Marshall, NE diary, 3 December 1908, SPRI, MS1456/8.
39. Wild, NE diary, 3 December 1908, SPRI, MS660/5.
40. Shackleton, Heart of the Antractic, Vol. I, p. 310.
41. Wild, NE diary, 7 December 1908, SPRI, MS660/5.
42. The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 April 1909, p. 13.
43. Marshall, NE diary, 14 December 1908, SPRI, MS1456/8.
44. Wild, NE diary, 24 December 1908, SPRI, MS660/5.
45. Ibid., 28 December 1908, SPRI, MS660/5.
46. Ibid., 31 December 1908, SPRI, MS660/5.
47. Adams interview with James Fisher, 5 October 1955, SPRI, MS1456/63.
48. Ibid.
49. There remains debate as to the accuracy of his distance calculations and whether he ever made it this far south.
50. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, p. 347.
51. Wild, memoirs, p. 48, ML, MSS 2198/2.
52. Ibid.
Chapter Three: Getting Home
1. Later analysis came to the conclusion that while they were not exactly at the South Magnetic Pole, they had indeed reached its vicinity with good precision. The exact South Magnetic Pole was not reached until 2005.
2. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. II, p. 181.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid., p. 182.
5. Ibid., p. 257.
6. Jacka and Jacka, p. 45.
7. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, p. 352.
8. Burke, p. 99.
9. Ibid., p. 101.
10. Frederick Evans, ‘Narrative of Proceedings of the British Antarctic Expedition 1907–1909’, p. 4, SPRI, MS369.
11. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, p. 355.
12. Ibid., p. 354.
13. Wild, NE diary, 31 January 1908, SPRI, MS660/5.
14. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, p. 358.
15. Jacka and Jacka, p. 44.
16. Ibid., p. 45.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid., p. 46.
19. Ibid., p. 45.
20. Ibid., p. 46.
21. Ibid.
22. Mackay, ‘Diary of A. Forbes Mackay’, 3 February 1909, p. 63.
23. Ibid., 6 February 1909, p. 64.
24. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. II, p. 211.
25. Davis, High Latitude, p. 106.
26. Mackay, ‘Diary of A. Forbes Mackay’, 6 February 1909, p. 65.
27. The land-based location for the South Magnetic Pole – an inaccurate science – was last measured by Barton in 2000. The Northern Party’s South Magnetic Pole journey was not exceeded until the long traverses exploring the Antarctic Peninsula during the late 1940s; that is, their record was to stand for about four decades. The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE) 1955–58 sledged 2160 miles in 99 days.
28. Triangulation was the method they used, which involves establishing a baseline (i.e. the base of a triangle) on which the observer stands. To work out the distance from the baseline to the feature one is plotting, an angle is taken from either end of the baseline to the feature. With each angle known and a triangle created, simple trigonometry will give you the distance to the feature.
29. Brocklehurst, NE diary, 5 February 1909, SPRI, MS1635.
30. Davis, High Latitude, p. 104.
31. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. II, p. 217.
32. Huntford, Shackleton, p. 234.
33. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. II, p. 57.
34. Wild, NE diary, 4, 6 February 1909, SPRI, MS660/5.
35. Ibid., 19 February 1909, SPRI, MS660/5.
36. Ibid., 23 February 1909, SPRI, MS660/5.
37. Wild, memoirs, p. 52, ML, MSS 2198/2.
38. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, p. 369.
39. The Glacier Tongue is fairly dynamic, and sections calve often. It nevertheless can provide protection for a ship from strong wind, especially when this comes from the south.
40. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. II, p. 223.
41. Brocklehurst, NE diary, 25–28 February 1909, SPRI, MS1635.
42. Wild, memoirs, p. 54, ML, MSS 2198/2.
43. Vince’s Cross was erected in honour of R. N. Seaman George Vince, who lost his life on Scott’s Discovery expedition.
44. Mackay, NE diary, 5 March 1909, SPRI, MS1537/3/1.
45. Davis, High Latitude, p. 109.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid.
48. Wild, memoirs, p. 54, ML, MSS 2198/2.
49. Ibid.
50. Marshall, NE diary, 22 January 1908, SPRI, MS1456/8.
51. Ibid., 9 January 1908, SPRI, MS1456/8.
52. Ibid., 5 March 1909, SPRI, MS1537/3/1.
53. Ibid., 22 January 1908, SPRI, MS1456/8.
54. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. II, p. 227.
55. Wild, memoirs, p. 57, ML, MSS 2198/2.
56. Ibid.
57. Branagan, p. 171.
58. The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 March 1909, p. 9.
59. Evening Post, 29 March 1909, p. 2.
60. The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 March 1909, p. 9.
61. Larson, p. 165.
62. Daily Mail, 25 March 1909, p. 5.
63. Ibid., p. 4.
64. Ibid., p. 5.
65. Ibid.
66. Ibid.
67. Ibid.
Part Two: Three Men Get Organised
Chapter Four: Australian Heroes
1. Reconstructed from two different sources: Branagan, p. 204; The Sydney Morning Herald, 31 March 1909, p. 8.
2. The Sydney Morning Herald, 31 March 1909, p. 8.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid., 2 April 1909, p. 6.
5. Ibid.
6. The Advertiser, 21 April 1909, p. 7.
7. Ibid., 22 April 1909, p. 8.
8. Daly, p. 152.
9. Robert Falcon Scott, letter to Darwin, 23 March 1909, SPRI, MS1456/23.
10. The Times, 16 June 1909, p. 10.
11. The Observer, 20 June 1909, p. 9.
12. Ibid.
13. Huxley, p. 218.
14. Shackleton, letter to Robert Falcon Scott, 6 July 1909, SPRI, MS367/17/1.
15. Edward Wilson, letter to Shackleton, undated, 1909, SPRI, MS1537/2/14/15.
16. Larson, p. 164.
17. The Survivor: Douglas Mawson, ABC TV, 1982.
18. Chicago Daily Tribune, 2 September 1909, p. 1.
19. Ibid., 7 September 1909, p. 1.
20. The New York Times, 8 September 1909, p. 3.
21. Chicago Daily Tribune, 10 September 1909, p. 6.
22. Los Angeles Times, 3 September 1909, p. 14.
23. The New York Times, 16 September 1909, p. 1.
24. Preston, p. 101.
25. ‘Luncheon to British Antarctic Expedition’, p. 22.
26. The Observer, 20 June 1909, p. 9.
27. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. xiii.
28. Ibid.
29. Davis, High Latitude, p. 134.
30. By way of contrast, Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition garnered only 400 applicants.
31. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. I, p. 2.
32. Robert Falcon Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, pp. 191–2.
33. Evans was planning a Welsh expedition, for which he had already successfully obtained support in Wales. In consequence, the Terra Nova expedition sailed from, and returned to, Cardiff.
34. His full name was Thomas Griffith Taylor.
35. Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, Vol. I, p. 86.
36. Mason, p. 94.
37. Robert Falcon Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, Vol. I, p. 340.
38. Ibid., pp. 342–3.
39. Markham, ‘The Antarctic Expeditions’, p. 476.
40. Ibid., p. 475.
41. Ayres, p. 33.
42. Ibid.
43. This was referred to as Cape North at this time.
44. Jacka and Jacka, p. 53.
45. Edward Wilson, letter to Edgeworth David, 24 February 1910, ML, MSS 3022/2.
46. Jacka and Jacka, p. 53.
47. Douglas Mawson, letter to Geikie, dated only ‘Monday’ (probably in late January, early February 1910), SPRI, MS1517/1.
48. Ayres, p. 32.
49. Ibid., p. 34.
50. Jacka and Jacka, p. 53.
51. Davis, High Latitude, p. 145.
52. Ibid.
53. Huxley, p. 225.
54. Shackleton, letter to Robert Falcon Scott, 21 February 1910, SPRI, MS367/17/2.
55. Oates forever after wore a built-up inner sole in his left shoe to try to hide his limp.
56. Fiennes, Captain Scott, p. 172.
57. Gran, p. 10.
58. Mill, Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton, p. 166.
59. Gran, pp. 10–11.
60. Ibid., p. 12.
Chapter Five: Departures
1. Draft agreement, Douglas Mawson–Shackleton, 16 May 1910, MC, 8DM.
2. Jacka and Jacka, p. 54.
3. Daily Mail, 2 June 1910, p. 5.
4. Pound, Scott of the Antarctic, pp. 189–90.
5. Edward Evans, South with Scott, p. 13.
6. Preston, p. 123.
7. Paquita Mawson, pp. 42–3.
8. Smith, p. 101.
9. Preston, p. 124.
10. Debenham, In the Antarctic, p. 1.
11. Ibid.
12. Oates, letter to his mother, Caroline, 14 August 1910, SPRI, MS1016/335/1.
13. The Observer, 17 July 1910, p. 6.
14. The Times, 18 July 1910, p. 7.
15. Filchner, p. 108. Filchner’s Deutschland expedition entered the Weddell Sea in December 1911 and discovered Luitpold Coast and the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf (originally named after the German Emperor Wilhelm II). Disaster struck, however, when the ice shelf that Filchner attempted to establish a base on calved off, soon followed by the Deutschland becoming trapped in an ice floe, drifting until September 1912 before breaking free in December 1912. During this time, the captain of the ship died, and a Lord of the Flies scenario was played out between the men, who resorted to sleeping with their guns to protect themselves from each other.
16. Paquita Mawson, p. 47.
17. When the ponies were lined up at the dockside for transportation, one of the ponies, suspected of suffering from the contagious disease glanders, was rejected and only 19 ponies were shipped.
18. Huxley, p. 227.
19. In addition to these 30, Scott also takes to Antarctica two Eskimo dogs given to him by Commander Robert Peary, plus a New Zealand collie, making 33 in total.
20. Scott refers to the ponies as ‘Siberian’. However, excepting the two largest, they were Manchurian.
21. Meares, letter to his father, 22 August 1910, p. 1, MS-0455 (courtesy of Royal BC Museum, BC Archive).
22. The North Pole controversy is far from settled. It is generally thought that neither Cook (1908) nor Peary (1909) made it, although Peary came within a couple of degrees.
23. Edward Wilson, Diary of the Terra Nova Expedition, p. 45.
24. Huntford, Scott and Amundsen, p. 287.
25. Ibid.
26. Amundsen, South Pole, Vol. I, p. 45.
27. Ibid., p. 130.
28. Wheeler, p. 158.
29. Edward Wilson, Diary of the Terra Nova Expedition, p. 51.
30. Huxley, p. 240.
31. Gran, p. 14.
32. Huntford, Scott and Amundsen, p. 303.
33. Gran, p. 14.
34. Paquita Mawson, p. 43.
35. The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 October 1910, p. 8.
36. Oates, letter to his mother, Caroline, 24–31 October 1911, SPRI, MS1317/1/3.
37. Smith, p. 115.
38. Oates, letter to his mother, Caroline, 23 November 1910, SPRI, MS1016/337/1.
39. Seaver, notes on Oates, SPRI, MS1012.
40. Ibid.
41. Oates, letter to his mother, Caroline, 17 November 1910, SPRI, MS1016/336.
42. Ibid.
43. Williams, p. 103.
44. Paquita Mawson, pp. 43–4.
45. Evening Post, 24 November 1910, p. 3.
46. Poverty Bay Herald, 24 November 1910, p. 2.
47. Evening Post (NZ), Volume LXXX, issue 126, 24 November 1910, p. 3.
48. Gran, p. 14.
49. The Advertiser, 29 November 1910, p. 6; The Register, 24 November 1910, p. 8.
50. Oates, letter to his mother, Caroline, 23 November 1910, SPRI, MS1016/337/1.
51. Edward Wilson, Diary of the Terra Nova Expedition, p. 62.
52. Oates, letter to his mother, Caroline, 28 November 1910, SPRI, MS1016/338.
Chapter Six: Journey to the Bottom of the Earth
1. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. xiv.
2. The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 September 1911, p. 9.
3. Edward Wilson, Diary of the Terra Nova Expedition, p. 65.
4. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. I, p. 51.
5. Ibid., p. 49.
6. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 8.
7. Edward Wilson, Diary of the Terra Nova Expedition, pp. 67–8.
8. Ibid., p. 68.
9. Though there is no record that this is the particular song they sang, this was a popular sailor’s song at the time.
10. Edward Wilson, Diary of the Terra Nova Expedition, p. 68.
11. Paquita Mawson, pp. 47–8.
12. Flannery, p. 7.
13. Ibid., p. 9.
14. Ibid., pp. 10–11.
15. The Bulletin, 29 December 1910, p. 22.
16. Paquita Mawson, p. 51.
17. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, pp. 50–1.
18. Ibid., p. 61.
19. Ibid., p. 78.
20. Ibid., pp. 68–9.
21. Ponting, p. 64.
22. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, pp. 65–6.
23. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. I, p. 64.
24. Bruce, letter to Kathleen Scott, 27 December 1911, SPRI, MS1488/2.
25. The Advertiser, 12 January 1911, p. 8.
26. The Argus, 16 January 1911, p. 6.
27. Hansard, Friday 13 December 1907, pp. 7491–3.
28. Amundsen’s actual date of arrival in the Bay of Whales was 13 January 1911, but he believed it to be 14 January because he did not correct for crossing the International Date Line (which lies between Ross Island and the Bay of Whales), as reflected in the early documents used in the research of this book. Later versions of these documents were somewhat erratically amended, so for consistency I have adhered to the dates given in the original sources throughout the book.
29. Amundsen, South Pole, Vol. I, pp. 49–50.
30. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 71.
31. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. I, p. 218.
32. Smith, p. 163.
33. Oates, letter to his mother, Caroline, 22 January 1911, SPRI, MS1317/1/1.
34. Huxley, p. 255.
35. Bruce, letter to Kathleen Scott, 27 February 1911, SPRI, MS1488/2.
36. Campbell, p. 11.
37. Huntford, Scott and Amundsen, p. 330.
38. Priestley, TNE diary, 4 February 1911, SPRI, MS1097/2.
39. Bruce, letter to Kathleen Scott, 27 February 1911, SPRI, MS1488/2.
40. Amundsen, South Pole, Vol. I, p. 205.
41. Oates, letter to his mother, Caroline, 22 January 1911, SPRI, MS1317/1/1.
42. Gran, p. 59.
43. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 120.
44. Oates, letter to his mother, Caroline, 24 October 1911, SPRI, MS1317/1/3.
45. Ibid., 28 October 1911, SPRI, MS1317/1/3.
46. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 119.
47. Ibid., p. 129.
48. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. I, pp. 126–7.
49. Ibid., p. 139.
50. Gran, p. 64.
51. Oates, letter to his mother, Caroline, 23 November 1910, SPRI, MS1016/337/1.
52. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 130.
Chapter Seven: Trials and Errors
1. Ayres, p. 45.
2. Davis, High Latitude, p. 144.
3. Seaver, notes on Oates, SPRI, MS1012.
4. Daily Mail, 28 March 1911, p. 9.
5. Douglas Mawson, letter to Kathleen Scott, 5 April 1911, SPRI, MS1453/138.
6. Daily Mail, 28 March 1911, p. 9.
7. Jacka and Jacka, p. 55.
8. Paquita Mawson, p. 48.
9. Masson, letter to Professor Edgeworth David, 16 May 1911, SUA, Edgeworth David, Reference P011, Series 7, Correspondence 1911.
10. ‘Sydney Girl’, letter to Professor Edgeworth David, 14 July 1911, SUA, Edgeworth David, Reference P011, Series 7, Correspondence 1911.
11. Kathleen Scott, letter to Douglas Mawson, 25 April 1911, MC, 13AAE.
12. There is no documentary proof of this meeting, but that is the way the deal would have been struck, and when Mawson got back from his own expedition, one of his first cables was to the Daily Mail.
13. Herbert Ponting included the event in his film of the expedition.
14. Daily Mail, 8 May 1911, p. 9.
15. Ibid.
16. Daily Mail, 9 May 1911, p. 7.
17. The Times, 9 May 1911, p. 10.
18. Ibid.
19. Daily Mail, 11 May 1911, p. 5.
20. Ibid., 13 May 1911, p. 6.
21. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, pp. 210–11.
22. Ibid., p. 211.
23. Ibid.
24. The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 September 1911, p. 8.
25. Griffiths, p. 23.
26. That silk doll remained in Sir Douglas Mawson’s proud possession for the rest of his long life. His granddaughter Paquita Boston remembers it sitting in the glass cabinet in Sir Douglas and his wife Paquita’s drawing room. It is now proudly displayed as part of the Mawson Collection in the South Australian Museum.
27. Davis, High Latitude, p. 154.
28. Ibid., p. 155.
Part Three: Antarctica Under Siege
Chapter Eight: Under Way
1. Davis, High Latitude, p. 157.
2. Ibid., p. 158.
3. Ibid.
4. Mertz, AAE diary, 30 July 1911, p. 2, MC.
5. Davis, High Latitude, pp. 158–9.
6. Ibid., p. 159.
7. Amundsen, South Pole, Vol. I, p. 388.
8. Huntford, Scott and Amundsen, p. 393.
9. In actuality, the distance marched from the top of the Beardmore Glacier to the South Pole was closer to 350 miles.
10. Robert Falcon Scott, ‘Miscellaneous notes and plans for Antarctic exploration made before and during the British Antarctic Expedition’, 1910–13, SPRI, MS1453/29
11. Debenham, Quiet Land, p. 104.
12. Oates, letter to his mother, Caroline, 22 January 1911, SPRI, MS1317/1/1.
13. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 309.
14. Young, p. 134.
15. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, pp. 21–2.
16. Ayres, pp. 56–7.
17. Wild, memoirs, p. 61, ML, MSS 2198/2.
18. Griffiths, p. 24.
19. Mertz, AAE diary, 8 August 1911, p. 5, MC.
20. As detailed by Alasdair McGregor in his book Frank Hurley: A Photographer’s Life, there are a couple of versions of this story, both put out by Hurley himself. One story, in the Lone Hand, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2 November 1914, has it that Hurley asked Mawson to ask the guard to let him go to Mittagong. The other story, in the book Argonauts of the South, has it that Hurley effectively ambushed Mawson, having bought his ticket beforehand, by simply turning up in his compartment. I have plumped for the first story as the earliest version and therefore the one most likely.
21. Frank Hurley, letter to Douglas Mawson, 29 September 1911, AAE Records, 1 December 1910–1 December 1915, ML, MSS 171/14.
22. Frank Hurley, Argonauts of the South, p. 13.
23. Ibid.
24. Douglas Mawson, letter to Frank Hurley, 20 October 1911, ML, MSS 171/14.
25. Margaret Hurley, letter to Douglas Mawson, 6 October 1911, ML, MSS 171/14.
26. Douglas Mawson, letter to Frank Hurley, 12 October 1911, ML, MSS 171/14.
27. Frank Hurley, letter to Douglas Mawson, 12–13 October 1911, ML, MSS 171/14.
28. Douglas Mawson, letter to Frank Hurley, 20 October 1911, ML, MSS 171/14.
29. Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 8.
30. Hall, p. 65.
31. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Wakefield Press, p. 7.
32. Kalgoorlie Western Argus, 10 October 1911, p. 30.
33. Wild, memoirs, pp. 63–4, ML, MSS 2198/2.
34. Amundsen, My Life as an Explorer, p. 44.
35. Oates, notes on ponies, 31 October 1911, SPRI, MS1317/2.
36. Seaver, Birdie Bowers of the Antarctic, p. 152.
37. Williams, p. 210.
38. Oates, letter to his mother, Caroline, 28 October 1911, SPRI, MS1317/1/3.
39. Bowers, letter to Kathleen Scott, 29 October 1911, SPRI, MS1488/2.
40. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 297.
41. Paquita Mawson, p. 68.
42. Ibid., p. 51.
43. Robert Falcon Scott, letter to Kinsey, 28 October 1911, SPRI, MS761/8/33.
44. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 307.
45. Edward Wilson, letter to Kathleen Scott, 31 October 1911, SPRI, MS1488/2.
46. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 314.
47. Ibid., p. 320.
48. Smith, p. 176.
49. Bowers, extracts from TNE diary, 29 November 1911, SPRI, MS782/5.
50. Originally named Mt Haakonshallen, after a Norwegian castle of the same name. Amundsen later changes the name to Don Pedro Christophersen, after his then current patron.
51. Amundsen, South Pole, Vol. II, p. 45.
52. Ibid., p. 47.
53. Nineteen and a quarter geographical miles equals 23 statute miles.
54. Amundsen, South Pole, Vol. II, p. 62.
55. Ibid., p. 60.
56. Ibid., p. 63.
57. Ibid., p. 65.
58. Hannam, AAE diary, 21 November 1911, ML, MSS 384.
59. Smith, p. 177.
60. Edward Evans, South with Scott, p. 178.
61. McLean, ‘Through the Roaring Forties’, p. 2, ML, MSS 382.
62. Chester, p. 20.
63. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 22.
64. McLean, AAE diary, undated, ML, MSS 382/2.
65. Laseron, AAE diary, 26 November–2 December 1911, ML, MSS 385.
66. Smith, p. 180.
67. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. II, p. 335.
68. Seaver, Edward Wilson of the Antarctic, p. 271.
69. Ibid., p. 272.
70. Wright, TNE diary, 28 November 1911, SPRI, MS1437/6.
71. Ninnis, letter to Zip, 1 December 1911, SPRI, MS1564/4.
72. The South Polar Times, produced by Shackleton during the Discovery expedition, was resurrected on the Terra Nova expedition under Cherry-Garrard’s editorship.
73. Edward Wilson, Diary of the Terra Nova Expedition, p. 177.
Chapter Nine: To the South!
1. Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 1 December 1911.
2. The West Australian, 4 December 1911, p. 6.
3. Frank Hurley, Argonauts of the South, pp. 16–17.
4. Ibid.
5. Davis, With the Aurora, p. 17.
6. Huntford, Scott and Amundsen, p. 467. This occurred on 11 December 1911.
7. Griffiths, p. 36.
8. Harrisson, AAE diary, 7 December 1911, ML, MSS 386, CY1188.
9. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 28.
10. Paquita Mawson, pp. 58–9.
11. Edward Wilson, Diary of the Terra Nova Expedition, p. 212.
12. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, pp. 338–9.
13. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. II, p. 349.
14. Edward Wilson, Diary of the Terra Nova Expedition, p. 213.
15. Davis, High Latitude, p. 121.
16. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 32.
17. This windfall subsequently paid the costs of hiring the Toroa.
18. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 341.
19. Edward Evans, South with Scott, p. 162.
20. Paquita Mawson, p. 57.
21. Author interview with Paquita’s great-granddaughter Emma McEwin.
22. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 343.
23. Bowers, TNE diary, 14 December 1911, SPRI, MS559/20.
24. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 345.
25. Amundsen, South Pole, Vol. II, p. 122.
26. Ibid., p. 121.
27. Gran, p. 153.
28. Flannery, p. 24.
29. Amundsen, South Pole, Vol. II, pp. 125–6.
30. Ibid., p. 132.
31. Kløver, p. 352.
32. A kamik (also known as a mukluk) is a soft reindeer- or sealskin boot, originally worn by Arctic aboriginal people, including the Inuit and Yupik.
33. Amundsen, South Pole, Vol. II, p. 133.
34. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. II, p. 363.
35. Wright, TNE diary, 19 December 1911, SPRI, MS1437/6.
36. Ibid., 20 December 1911, SPRI, MS1437/6.
37. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. II, p. 364.
38. Ibid., p. 381.
39. Ibid.
40. A kedge anchor is a light anchor used for moving or turning a ship. This technique is termed ‘kedging’.
41. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 357.
42. Bowers, TNE diary, 25 December 1911, SPRI, MS782/5.
43. Ibid.
44. Amundsen, My Life as an Explorer, p. 145.
45. Laseron, AAE diary, 29 December 1911, ML, MSS 385.
46. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 52.
47. Frank Hurley, Argonauts of the South, p. 42.
48. Oates, letter to his brother Bryan, 3 January 1912, SPRI, MS1495.
49. Bowers, letter to his mother, Emily, 3 January 1912 (misdated 1911), SPRI, MS1505/3/5/9.
50. Seaver, Edward Wilson of the Antarctic, p. 277.
51. Edward Evans, South with Scott, p. 207.
Chapter Ten: Cape Denison
1. Paquita Mawson, p. 61.
2. Ninnis, letter to Zip, 6–8 January 1912, SPRI, MS1564/4.
3. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 62.
4. Davis, High Latitude, p. 168.
5. Mill, Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton, p. 159.
6. Young, p. 157.
7. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 4.
8. Six geographical miles equals seven statute miles.
9. Five geographical miles equals six statute miles.
10. Seventy-four geographical miles equals 85 statute miles.
11. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 370.
12. Twenty-seven geographical miles equals 31 statute miles.
13. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 373.
14. Edward Wilson, Diary of the Terra Nova Expedition, p. 231.
15. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, pp. 374–5.
16. Bowers, letter to his mother, Emily, 17 January 1912, SPRI, MS1505/3/9.
17. Smith, p. 206.
18. Edward Evans, South with Scott, p. 232.
19. In fact, it is one of the sledge runners used to mark Amundsen’s second, five-mile locus to be sure he has included the Pole and is not the Pole itself. Hinks writes, ‘They had passed the Pole on their right hand half a mile away, and gone a little too far’ (p. 167).
20. Eight hundred geographical miles equals 920 statute miles.
21. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 376.
22. One hundred geographical miles equals 115 statute miles.
23. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 377.
24. Flannery, p. 29.
25. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 69.
26. Davis, High Latitude, p. 169.
27. Davis, With the Aurora, p. 32.
28. McEwin, p. 54.
29. McGregor, p. 51.
30. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 88.
31. McGregor, p. 52.
32. Flannery, p. 27.
33. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 380.
34. This estimation of Taffy’s dependence on being first to the Pole to achieve financial independence comes from Trygvve Gran in his diary, The Norwegian with Scott, p. 216, presumably based on previous conversations with him.
35. Despite Laseron’s claim that the roof layers were of felt ruberoid, it is the observation of those repairing Mawson’s huts that it was in fact two layers of tar paper.
36. Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 45.
37. Amundsen, South Pole, Vol. II, p. 174.
38. Amundsen, ‘The Norwegian South Polar Expedition’, p. 13.
39. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. II, p. 381.
40. It was originally planned that Meares’s party would return north to be back at Hut Point by 10 December, allowing sufficient time for the dogs to recover before resupplying One Ton Depot in late December/early January.
41. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 95.
42. McGregor, p. 39.
43. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Journey, p. 8.
44. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 389.
45. Ibid., pp. 390–1.
46. Ibid., p. 393.
47. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 33.
48. Ibid., p. 137.
49. Davis, High Latitude, p. 171.
50. Ibid., p. 180.
51. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 394.
52. Ibid.
53. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. II, p. 395.
54. Edward Evans, South with Scott, pp. 224–5.
55. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. II, p. 407.
56. After the expedition was over, the King awarded Lashly and Crean the Albert Medal for their bravery in saving Evans.
57. Davis, High Latitude, p. 182.
58. Wild, memoirs, p. 112, ML, MSS 2198/2.
59. Author interview with the niece of Morton Moyes, Monica Moyes, August 2011.
60. Davis, With the Aurora, p. 53.
Part Four: Struggles
Chapter Eleven: Settling
1. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 396.
2. Eight and a half geographical miles equals ten statute miles.
3. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 397.
4. Davis, High Latitude, p. 184.
5. Frank Hurley, Argonauts of the South, p. 121.
6. Laseron, AAE diary, 18 February 1912, ML, MSS 385.
7. Douglas Mawson, ‘Operational Instructions and Hut Notices’, MC, 43AAE.
8. Flannery, p. 31.
9. Ibid., pp. 30–1.
10. Ibid., p. 32.
11. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 100.
12. Jacka and Jacka, p. 59.
13. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 99.
14. Ibid.
15. Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 67.
16. This last, known as ‘tin disease’, may be the reason why such vast amounts of oil were lost. Amundsen’s tins were composed of silver solder and remained unaffected. Tin disease is said to have caused the buttons on the uniforms of Napoleon’s troops to disintegrate in the 1812 winter.
17. Seventy-one geographical miles equals 82 statute miles.
18. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 402.
19. Edward Evans, South with Scott, p. 162.
20. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 402.
21. The important thing was to avoid anything magnetic – no iron, steel, etc. – in the construction of or anywhere near the huts. Thus, their buildings were brilliant examples of a joiner/carpenter’s work, held together by wooden dowels. Where metal was used – nails, brackets, etc. – this was either copper (soft) or brass (harder). Wind- and waterproofing were with tar-felt or similar.
22. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 154.
23. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. II, p. 429.
24. Ibid., p. 417.
25. Ibid., p. 416.
26. At an average of 18 miles a day, and allowing eight days to return, the Dog Party may have only proceeded another nine miles south.
27. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, pp. 402–3.
28. Ibid., p. 405.
29. Ibid.
30. Kathleen Scott, Self-Portrait of an Artist, p. 107.
31. The Northern Party’s plight during that winter is well described in Raymond Priestley’s Antarctic Adventure, including such details as the excavated cave they lived in, which they named Inexpressible Island, with sailors’ and officers’ quarters demarcated down a drawn line in the compacted snow, and their survival on what local food they could catch.
32. Mercury, 8 March 1912, p. 5.
33. Ibid., 9 March 1912, p. 4.
34. Ibid., 8 March 1912, p. 5.
35. The New York Times, 8 March 1912, p. 1.
36. Kathleen Scott, Self-Portrait of an Artist, p. 107.
37. Ibid., p. 108.
38. The New York Times, 8 March 1912, pp 1, 12.
39. Huntford, Scott and Amundsen, p. 529.
40. Chicago Daily Tribune, 8 March 1912, p. 1.
41. Huntford, Scott and Amundsen, p. 531.
42. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 405.
43. Williams, p. 210.
44. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 406.
45. Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 78.
46. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 149.
47. Laseron, South with Mawson, pp. 63–4.
48. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 151.
49. Mercury, 13 March 1912, p. 6.
50. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. II, Heinemann, p. 55.
51. Ibid.
52. Wild, memoirs, pp. 75–6, ML, MSS 2198/2.
53. Examiner, 14 March 1912, p. 6.
54. Ponting, p. 288.
55. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 406.
56. Ibid., p. 408.
57. There has been a great deal of debate as to whether Oates was assisted in undoing the flaps to the tent to make his exit, as the strings were complicated and by this point his hands and fingers were little more than frostbitten bits of blackened and gangrenous flesh.
58. There is some doubt as to the date of Oates’s death, as Scott himself lost track of the date, with the relevant entry reading: ‘16 or 17 March. Lost track of dates, but think the last correct.’
59. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 408.
60. Edward Wilson, letter to Caroline Oates, undated, SPRI, MS482.
61. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 157.
62. Eleven geographical miles equals 13 statute miles.
63. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 412.
64. Seaver, Edward Wilson of the Antarctic, pp. 293–4.
65. Edward Wilson, letter to his parents, undated, SPRI, MS1344.
66. Seaver, Edward Wilson of the Antarctic, p. 294.
67. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. II, p. 211.
68. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 410.
Chapter Twelve: The Winter Months
1. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 184.
2. McEwin, p. 61.
3. Flannery, pp. 36–8.
4. Laseron, South with Mawson, pp. 62–3.
5. Ibid., p. 71.
6. Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 81.
7. Ibid., p. 72.
8. Ibid., p. 73.
9. Ibid., p. 74.
10. Mertz, AAE diary, 26 May 1912, p. 67, MC.
11. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 173.
12. Jacka and Jacka, p. 78.
13. The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 May 1912, p. 9.
14. Laseron, South with Mawson, pp. 72–3.
15. McLean, AAE diary, undated, ML, MSS 382/2.
16. Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 113.
17. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p 139.
18. Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 51.
19. Riffenburgh, Racing with Death, p. 82.
20. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 130.
21. Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 71.
22. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 175.
23. Mertz, AAE diary, 21 June 1912, p. 74, MC.
24. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 192.
25. Mertz, AAE diary, 31 July 1912, p. 83, MC.
26. Jacka and Jacka, p. 106.
27. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 195.
28. Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 101.
29. Ibid., p. 95.
30. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 153.
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid.
33. The Register, Adelaide, 9 December 1912.
34. Jacka and Jacka, p. 104.
35. Ibid., p. 115.
36. Mertz, AAE diary, 6 October 1912, p. 102, MC.
37. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 209.
38. Ibid., p. 211.
39. Flannery, pp. 39–42.
40. Ibid.
41. Riffenburgh, Racing with Death, p. 97.
42. Frank Hurley, AAE sledging diary, 10 November 1912, ML, MSS 389/1.
43. I have paraphrased Mawson’s words in Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 215 to retain the air of immediacy.
44. Paquita Mawson, p. 76.
45. Mawson later took this as a premonition of his father’s death, which occurred around this time.
46. Paquita Mawson, p. 77.
47. Riffenburgh, Racing with Death, pp. 101–2.
48. Frank Hurley, AAE sledging diary, 10 November 1912, ML, MSS 389/1, CY 1423.
Chapter Thirteen: Into the Wide White Yonder
1. Wright, Silas, p. 346.
2. Daily Mail, 8 May 1913, p. 6.
3. Ibid., 14 February 1913, p. 5.
4. Huxley, pp. 305–6.
5. Ibid., p. 306.
6. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 439.
7. Gran, p. 216.
8. Edward Evans, South with Scott, p. 252.
9. Wright, TNE diary, 12 November 1912, SPRI, MS1437/6.
10. Twenty geographical miles equals 23 statute miles.
11. Daily Mail, 14 February 1913, p. 5.
12. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 417.
13. The New York Times, 16 November 1912, p. 2.
14. Larson, p. 24.
15. Amundsen, My Life as an Explorer, p. 45.
16. The controversy broke in 1927, after an article appeared in the American magazine World’s Work in July, followed by the release of Amundsen’s autobiography, My Life as an Explorer, that same year. The secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, at the request of Lord Curzon, immediately wrote to Amundsen asking if he accepted responsibility for his words and drawing his attention to the January 1913 edition of the journal, where Lord Curzon is recorded as saying at the conclusion of Amundsen’s speech, ‘I almost wish that in our tribute of admiration we could include those wonderful, good tempered, fascinating dogs, the true friends of man, without whom Captain Amundsen would never have got to the Pole. I ask you to signify your assent by your applause.’ Amundsen, however, did not accept this rendition and despite the request of the Royal Geographical Society refused to apologise. In November 1927, he tendered a hastily accepted resignation. The Geographical Society report on the series of events that ultimately led to the resignation of one of their most highly honoured members (in 1907, Amundsen had been awarded the Gold Medal ‘for splendid work in the north polar region’) appears in ‘Captain Roald Amundsen and the Society’, pp. 572–5.
17. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 222.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid., p. 227.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid., p. 230.
22. Jacka and Jacka, p. 140.
23. Mertz, AAE diary, 13 December 1912, p. 119, MC.
24. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 239.
25. Ibid.
26. Mertz, AAE diary, 14 December 1912, p. 120, MC.
27. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 241.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. Jacka and Jacka, p. 148.
31. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 243.
32. Ibid., p. 244.
33. The Advertiser, 18 December 1912, p. 18.
34. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 241.
35. Aurelius, p. 134.
36. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 252.
37. Mertz, AAE diary, 25 December 1912, p. 124, MC.
38. Frank Hurley, AAE sledging diary, 21 December 1912, ML, MSS 389/1–2.
39. Ibid., 15 December 1912, ML, MSS 389/1–2.
40. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. II, Heinemann, p. 104. Frank Wild was acting without royal consent, and the name ‘King George V Land’ was subsequently given to the land that Mawson’s Far-Eastern Party discovered east of Commonwealth Bay. Wild’s area was ultimately included as part of Queen Mary Land.
41. Ibid., Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 255.
42. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 256.
43. Mertz, AAE diary, 1 January 1913, p. 126, MC.
44. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 258.
45. Jacka and Jacka, p. 158.
46. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 259.
47. Jacka and Jacka, p. 158.
48. Fifty years after the death of Mertz, when medical science had advanced exponentially from where it was in 1913, the theory was proposed, and broadly accepted, that what had most likely killed the Swiss man was an excess of vitamin A from eating dog liver – now understood to be poisonous.
49. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 260.
50. Jacka and Jacka, p. 158.
51. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 260.
Chapter Fourteen: A Close-Run Thing …
1. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 305.
2. Frank Hurley, AAE sledging diary, 8 January 1913, ML, MSS 389/1-2.
3. Ibid., 11 January 1913, ML, MSS 389/1-2.
4. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 308.
5. Ibid., p. 261.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Eitel, ‘Bound for the Ice’, press article, pp. 11–13, MC, 144AAE.
9. Davis, High Latitude, p. 197.
10. Eitel, ‘Bound for the Ice’, press article, pp. 11–13, MC, 144AAE.
11. Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 163.
12. Jacka and Jacka, p. 160.
13. Ibid., p. 161.
14. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 265.
15. Chicago Sunday Tribune, 14 February 1915, p. 12.
16. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 265.
17. Chicago Sunday Tribune, 14 February 1915, p. 12.
18. Ibid.
19. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 265.
20. Davis, Trial By Ice, p. 52.
21. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. II, p. 270.
22. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 266.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. II, p. 566.
26. Daily Mail, 14 February 1913, p. 5.
27. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. II, pp. 270–1.
28. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 267.
29. Davis, With the Aurora, p. 91.
30. McLean, AAE diary, 22–25 January 1913, ML, MSS 382/2.
31. Davis, High Latitude, p. 206.
32. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 268.
33. Ibid., p. 269.
34. Jacka and Jacka, p. 165.
35. ‘Notes Left in Aladdin’s Cave and Out in the Field’, MC, 48EE, 290113. By way of interest, the chairman of the Mawson’s Hut Foundation, David Jensen, actually found this note lying in a pile of papers at the South Australian Museum in 1997. He told me, ‘This historic little note just fluttered to the floor as if demanding to be seen.’
36. Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 192.
37. Davis, High Latitude, p. 212.
38. Stanley Taylor, Diary, 2 February 1913.
39. Laseron, AAE diary, 4 February 1913, ML, MSS 385.
40. McLean, AAE diary, 8 February 1913, ML, MSS 382/2.
41. Jacka and Jacka, p. 172.
42. Ibid.
43. Aurora Log Book, 8 February 1913, ML, MSS 171/25.
44. Douglas Mawson, telegram to Davis, 8 February 1913, MC, 28AAE.
45. Hannam, AAE diary, 8 February 1913, ML, MSS 384.
46. Stanley Taylor, Diary, 8 February 1913.
47. Davis, Trial By Ice, p. 61.
48. McLean, AAE diary, 13 February 1913, MSS 382/1.
49. Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 176.
Chapter Fifteen: Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent
1. McEwin, p. 167.
2. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. II, p. 572.
3. Gennings to Kinsey, correspondence with Central News Ltd, 14 February 1913, SPRI, MS559/164.
4. Smith, p. 241.
5. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. II, p. 573.
6. Poverty Bay Herald, 10 February 1913, p. 5.
7. Cherry-Garrard, Vol. II, pp. 572–3.
8. Daily Mail, 13 February 1913, p. 5.
9. Ibid., 11 February 1913, p. 5.
10. Ibid.
11. In the original, Tennyson uses the word ‘North’, but the Daily Mail changed it to fit with Scott.
12. Daily Mail, 11 February 1913, p. 4.
13. Ibid., p. 5.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid., 15 February 1913, p. 5.
16. Smith, p. 247.
17. Daily Mail, 15 February 1913, p. 5.
18. Ibid., p. 3.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid., 11 February 1913, p. 5.
21. Smith, p. 249.
22. Daily Mail, 11 February 1913, p. 5.
23. Ibid., 13 February 1913, p. 5.
24. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. II, Heinemann, p. 134.
25. Flannery, pp. 39–40.
26. Paquita Mawson, p. 102.
27. Kathleen Scott, Self-Portrait of an Artist, p. 120. It was of course Captain Scott and four others, but, according to Lady Scott’s account, that is the text of the cable.
28. Ibid., pp. 120–1.
29. Huxley, p. 309.
30. Young, p. 155.
31. Kathleen Scott, Self-Portrait of an Artist, p. 123.
32. Davis, High Latitude, p. 222.
33. Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 177.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid., p. 178.
36. Douglas Mawson, telegram to Lord Denman, 24 May 1913, ML, MSS 171/40.
37. Douglas Mawson, telegram to Inspector General Ninnis, 24 February 1913, ML, MSS 171/40.
38. Douglas Mawson, telegram to Mertz family, 24 February 1913, ML, MSS 171/40.
39. Daily Mail, 26 February 1913, p. 5. The date is a mistake in the press. Ninnis actually died a month earlier.
40. This is an error on Shackleton’s part. While Shackleton’s expeditions were along the north–south axis, Mawson’s was far more on the east–west axis.
41. Daily Mail, 7 March 1913, p. 7.
42. Lord Denman, telegram to Douglas Mawson, 29 March 1913, ML, MSS 171/40.
43. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. II, Heinemann, p. 136.
44. This line appears in Laseron, South with Mawson, p. 183.
45. McEwin, p. 238.
46. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Wakefield Press, p. 315.
47. Ibid., p. 317.
48. Frederick Cook, pp. 208, 308–9.
49. Though Mawson does not cite these symptoms specifically, Dr Michael Cooper of Sydney, a student of Antarctic medical history, tells me these are the classic symptoms of those having trouble with their ‘nerves’.
50. Jacka and Jacka, p. 185.
51. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Wakefield Press, p. 319.
52. Ibid.
53. Ibid.
54. Ibid.
55. McEwin, p. 157.
56. Paquita Delprat, telegram to Douglas Mawson, 2 April 1913, ML, MSS 171/40.
57. Flannery, pp. 56–7.
58. Paquita Delprat, letter to Douglas Mawson, 21 April 1913, MC, 52DM.
59. Flannery, p. 58.
60. Fort Street High School students, telegram to Fort Street old boys in Antarctica, 24 May 1913, ML, MSS 171/40.
61. Jacka and Jacka, p. 191.
62. Pound, Scott of the Antarctic, p. 302.
63. Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. I, p. 415.
64. Twenty-three geographical miles equals 26 statute miles.
65. Bowers, letter to his mother, Emily, 22 March 1912, SPRI, MS1505/1/1/3/115.
66. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. II, Heinemann, p. 148.
67. Jacka and Jacka, p. 194.
68. Ibid., p. 196.
69. Ibid.
70. Ibid.
71. Ibid., p. 197.
72. Ibid.
73. McLean, AAE diary, 11 July 1913, ML, MSS 382/2.
74. Douglas Mawson, report on Jeffryes, MC, 177AAE.
75. Jeffryes, letter to Eckford, c. July 1914, ML, MSS 7064.
76. Jacka and Jacka, p. 197.
77. Jeffryes, letter to Eckford, c. July 1914, ML, MSS 7064.
78. Ibid.
79. Sidney Jeffryes, letter to his sister Norma Jeffryes, 13 July 1913, MC, 177AAE.
80. ‘Cape Denison: The People – Sidney Jeffryes’, website of the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Australian Antarctic Division, Australian Government, www.mawsonshuts.aq/cape-denison/people/sidney-jeffryes.html.
81. Jeffryes, letter to Douglas Mawson, 13 July 1913, MC, 177AAE.
82. Jacka and Jacka, p. 198.
83. Flannery, pp. 91–2.
84. Ibid., p. 97.
85. Griffiths, p. 174.
86. Flannery, p. 91.
87. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. II, Heinemann, p. 151.
88. Ibid., p. 152.
89. Griffiths, p. 173.
90. Jacka and Jacka, p. 205.
91. Douglas Mawson, letter to Jeffryes, 12 September 1913, MC, 177AAE.
92. Flannery, p. 125.
93. Ibid., pp. 101–3.
94. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Wakefield Press, pp. 330–1.
95. Davis, High Latitude, pp. 228–9.
96. Ibid., p. 229.
97. Ibid. Hurley’s account of this – on p. 111 of Argonauts of the South – is quite different. According to him, there was no one there to greet them, and when they entered the hut, Mawson simply looked up and said, ‘“Halloa … back again” – as casually as if we had merely returned from an excursion between breakfast and dinner.’
98. Davis, High Latitude, p. 229.
99. Quilty and Goddard, p. 198.
100. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. I, Heinemann, p. 140.
101. Davis, High Latitude, p. 230.
102. Flannery, p. 122.
103. Ibid., p. 124.
104. Davis, High Latitude, p. 233.
105. Ibid.
106. Ibid., p. 234.
107. Douglas Mawson, Home of the Blizzard, Vol. II, Heinemann, p. 277.
108. Paquita Mawson, p. 102.
109. Ibid.
Epilogue
1. Paquita Mawson, pp. 104–5.
2. Ibid., p. 107.
3. In the Great War to come, Ninnis’s regiment, The Royal Fusiliers, were cut to pieces on the bloody fields of Flanders, and the likelihood is that had he not lost his life in Antarctica, Ninnis would have lost his life there, which was something that at least allowed Ninnis’s mother to accept his death. ‘Somehow death in an icy crevasse seemed more fitting to his youth than slaughter in the mud of Flanders, however sacred the latter became to us all,’ wrote Paquita (Mawson of the Antarctic, p. 170).
4. Riffenburgh, Racing with Death, pp. 180–1.
5. Daily Mail, 15 February 1913, p. 5.
6. Ibid., 25 February 1913, p. 5. She became ‘Kathleen, Lady Scott’ (not ‘Lady Kathleen Scott’). The former is her title derived from that of her husband (while the latter would have been a courtesy title in her own right, which was not given).
7. Churchill, letter to Kathleen Scott, 12 November 1913, SPRI, MS1488/2;BJ.
8. Williams, p. 276.
9. Shackleton, ‘Discussion: Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911–1914’, p. 285.
10. Ibid., p. 286.
11. Ibid.
12. Fisher, p. 68.
13. Griffiths, p. 34.
14. Fisher, p. 435.
15. Ayres, p. 105.
16. The Argus, 30 April 1919, p. 9.
17. Wild and Macklin, p. 64.
18. Amundsen, My Life as an Explorer, p. 44.
19. ‘Obituary: Captain Roald Amundsen’, p. 397.
20. This is why today the New South Wales Mitchell Library holds much valuable AAE material and not the Mawson Centre in Adelaide, as one might expect.
21. Griffiths, p. 113.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid., p. 118.
24. Ibid., pp. 119–120.
25. Fred Jacka, ‘Mawson, Sir Douglas (1882–1958)’, pp. 454–7.
26. Today, the supercontinent theory is generally accepted among the scientific community.
27. Smith, p. 261.
28. McEwin, p. 145.