Far Eastern Party
Encyclopedia
The Far Eastern Party was a sledging component of the 1911–14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition
, which investigated the previously unexplored coastal regions of Antarctica west of Cape Adare
. Led by expedition commander Douglas Mawson
, the party aimed to explore the area far to the east of their main base in Adélie Land
, pushing about 500 miles (804.7 km) towards Victoria Land
. Accompanying Mawson were Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
, a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers, and the 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 (500.5 km) from the safety of the main base at Cape Denison
, Ninnis and the sledge he was walking beside broke through the snow lid of a crevasse
and were lost. Their supplies now severely compromised, Mawson and Mertz turned back west, gradually using the remaining sledge dogs 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 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 5.5 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; 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 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 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. In 1976 explorer and mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary
described Mawson's month-long journey as "probably the greatest story of lone survival in Polar exploration".
was established in January 1912 at Cape Denison
in Commonwealth Bay
, Adélie Land
. This was much farther west than expedition commander Douglas Mawson
had originally intended; dense pack ice
had prevented the expedition ship SY Aurora from landing closer to Cape Adare
, his original eastern limit. Only after the Aurora—heading west—had rounded the ice tongue of the Mertz Glacier
was a suitable landing found. Battling katabatic wind
s that swept down from 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 5.5 miles (8.9 km) to the south of the main hut.
On 27 October 1912 Mawson outlined 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 Stillwell
, which would then turn to mapping the area between Cape Denison and 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 British Antarctic Expedition
in 1908–09. He hoped to travel about 500 miles (804.7 km) east, collecting geological data and specimens, mapping the coast, and claiming territory for the crown. Assisting him on this Far Eastern Party would be Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
, a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers, and the Swiss ski expert Xavier Mertz
. They were in charge of the expedition's sledge dogs—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 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.
Allowing Madigan and Stillwell's parties 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 the second dog team. Heading south the following day to avoid crevasse
s to the east, they travelled about 8 miles (12.9 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 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.
and Aurora Peak
, after the leader of the Eastern Coastal Party and the expedition's ship. The following day they began the steep descent into the Mertz Glacier. After 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 fourteen pups.
Over 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 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 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 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 pounds (1.1 kg) pack of butter, crucial for their nourishment to supplement 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 (33.8 °F), melting the snow and making pulling difficult; the party switched to travelling at night to avoid the worst of the conditions.
From atop 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 1838–42 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 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.
By noon the next day they had covered 311 miles (500.5 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:
Ninnis, his sledge and dog team had fallen through 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 (45.7 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 a few miles to a hill and took position observations. Came back, called & sounded for an hour. Read the burial service."
, the shovel, and Mertz's waterproof
overpants and helmet. On Mawson's sledge they had their stove, fuel, sleeping bag
s, and ten days' worth of food. Their best immediate hope was to reach the camp of two days earlier where they had left the abandoned sledge and supplies, 15 miles (24.1 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 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 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 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 the sledge. Despite the challenges, they made good progress; in the first four nights they travelled 60 miles (96.6 km). As they approached the Ninnis Glacier on 21 December, Haldane—once the largest and strongest of the dogs—was shot.
—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 5 miles (8 km) on 31 December, no progress for the following two days, and 5 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 2 miles (3.2 km) before Mertz collapsed. The following day Mawson placed Mertz onto the sledge in his sleeping bag and continued, but was forced to stop and camp when Mertz's condition again deteriorated. Mawson recorded:
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 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.
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 5 miles 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.
To save himself from future crevasses, Mawson constructed 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 5 miles, a cairn covered with black cloth appeared about 300 yards (274.3 m) to his right. In it he found food and a note from Archibald Lang McLean
, who along with Frank Hurley
and Alfred Hodgeman had been sent out by Auroras captain John King Davis
to search for the Far Eastern Party. From the note, Mawson learned he was 21 miles (33.8 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 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 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.
radio, but powerful katabatic winds sweeping down from 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
(ANARE), 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 the Cape Denison base covered over 2600 miles (4,184.3 km) of previously unexplored land; the expedition's Western Base Party
on the Shackleton Ice Shelf
, under Frank Wild
, covered a further 800 miles (1,287.5 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 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 the time". In his 1976 forward 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 an Australasian scientific team that explored part of Antarctica between 1911 and 1914. It was led by the Australian geologist Douglas Mawson, who was knighted for his achievements in leading the expedition. In 1910 he began to plan an expedition to chart...
, which investigated the previously unexplored coastal regions of Antarctica west of Cape Adare
Cape Adare
Cape Adare is the northeastern most peninsula in Victoria Land, East Antarctica. The cape separates the Ross Sea to the east from the Southern Ocean to the west, and is backed by the high Admiralty Mountains...
. Led by expedition commander Douglas Mawson
Douglas Mawson
Sir Douglas Mawson, OBE, FRS, FAA was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer and Academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.-Early work:He was appointed geologist to an...
, the party aimed to explore the area far to the east of their main base in Adélie Land
Adélie Land
Adélie Land is the portion of the Antarctic coast between 136° E and 142° E , with a shore length of 350 km and with its hinterland extending as a sector about 2,600 km toward the South Pole. It is claimed by France as one of five districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, although not...
, pushing about 500 miles (804.7 km) towards Victoria Land
Victoria Land
Victoria Land is a region of Antarctica bounded on the east by the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and on the west by Oates Land and Wilkes Land. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after the UK's Queen Victoria...
. Accompanying Mawson were Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis was a Lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers and an Antarctic explorer who was a member of Sir Douglas Mawson's 1911 Australasian Antarctic Expedition.-Antarctica 1911-1912:...
, a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers, and the Swiss ski expert Xavier Mertz
Xavier Mertz
Xavier Mertz was a Swiss explorer, mountaineer and skier, from Basel. He took part in the Far Eastern Party, a 1912–13 component of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which claimed his life...
; 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 (500.5 km) from the safety of the main base at Cape Denison
Cape Denison
Cape Denison is a rocky point at the head of Commonwealth Bay in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who named it for Sir Hugh Denison of Sydney, a patron of the expedition...
, Ninnis and the sledge he was walking beside broke through the snow lid of a crevasse
Crevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack in an ice sheet rhys glacier . Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the sheer stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rates of movement...
and were lost. Their supplies now severely compromised, Mawson and Mertz turned back west, gradually using the remaining sledge dogs 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 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 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from the main base—on 1 February 1913, only to be trapped there for a week while a blizzard
Blizzard
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...
raged outside. As a result he missed the ship back to Australia; 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 in December 1913.
The causes of Mertz's death and Mawson's related illness remain uncertain; a 1969 study suggested hypervitaminosis A
Hypervitaminosis A
Hypervitaminosis A refers to the effects of excessive vitamin A intake.-Presentation:Effects include* Birth defects* Liver problems* Reduced bone mineral density that may result in osteoporosis* Coarse bone growths...
, presumably caused by the men eating the livers of their Greenland Huskies
Greenland Dog
The Greenland Dog is a large breed of husky-type dog kept as a sled dog and for hunting polar bear and seal. This is an ancient breed, thought to be directly descended from dogs brought to Greenland by the first Inuit settlers.-Appearance:The Greenland Dog is a powerful, heavy-built dog...
, which are now known to be unusually high in vitamin A
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a vitamin that is needed by the retina of the eye in the form of a specific metabolite, the light-absorbing molecule retinal, that is necessary for both low-light and color vision...
. While this is considered the most likely theory, dissenting opinions suggest prolonged cold exposure or psychological stresses. In 1976 explorer and mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary
Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE , was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest – see Timeline of climbing Mount Everest...
described Mawson's month-long journey as "probably the greatest story of lone survival in Polar exploration".
Background
The main base of the Australasian Antarctic ExpeditionAustralasian Antarctic Expedition
The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was an Australasian scientific team that explored part of Antarctica between 1911 and 1914. It was led by the Australian geologist Douglas Mawson, who was knighted for his achievements in leading the expedition. In 1910 he began to plan an expedition to chart...
was established in January 1912 at Cape Denison
Cape Denison
Cape Denison is a rocky point at the head of Commonwealth Bay in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who named it for Sir Hugh Denison of Sydney, a patron of the expedition...
in Commonwealth Bay
Commonwealth Bay
Commonwealth Bay is an open bay about 48 km wide at the entrance between Point Alden and Cape Gray in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who established the main base of the expedition at Cape Denison at the head of the bay...
, Adélie Land
Adélie Land
Adélie Land is the portion of the Antarctic coast between 136° E and 142° E , with a shore length of 350 km and with its hinterland extending as a sector about 2,600 km toward the South Pole. It is claimed by France as one of five districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, although not...
. This was much farther west than expedition commander Douglas Mawson
Douglas Mawson
Sir Douglas Mawson, OBE, FRS, FAA was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer and Academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.-Early work:He was appointed geologist to an...
had originally intended; dense pack ice
Drift ice
Drift ice is ice that floats on the surface of the water in cold regions, as opposed to fast ice, which is attached to a shore. Usually drift ice is carried along by winds and sea currents, hence its name, "drift ice"....
had prevented the expedition ship SY Aurora from landing closer to Cape Adare
Cape Adare
Cape Adare is the northeastern most peninsula in Victoria Land, East Antarctica. The cape separates the Ross Sea to the east from the Southern Ocean to the west, and is backed by the high Admiralty Mountains...
, his original eastern limit. Only after the Aurora—heading west—had rounded the ice tongue of the Mertz Glacier
Mertz Glacier
Mertz Glacier is a heavily crevassed glacier in George V Coast of East Antarctica. It is the source of a glacial prominence that historically has extended northward into the Southern Ocean, the Mertz Glacial Tongue...
was a suitable landing found. Battling katabatic wind
Katabatic wind
A katabatic wind, from the Greek word katabatikos meaning "going downhill", is the technical name for a drainage wind, a wind that carries high density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity. Such winds are sometimes also called fall winds...
s that swept down from the Antarctic Plateau
Antarctic Plateau
The Antarctic Plateau is a large area of Central Antarctica, which extends over a diameter of about , and which includes the region of the South Pole and the Amundsen-Scott Station...
, 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 5.5 miles (8.9 km) to the south of the main hut.
On 27 October 1912 Mawson outlined 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
Cecil Madigan
Cecil Thomas Madigan was an Australian explorer and geologist born in Renmark, South Australia.After attending Prince Alfred College in Adelaide and the University of Adelaide, he won a Rhodes scholarship in 1911 to study geology at Magdalen College, Oxford.In 1911 he was invited by Sir Douglas...
, was charged with exploring beyond the Mertz Glacier tongue; they would initially be supported by the Near Eastern Party led by Frank Stillwell
Frank Leslie Stillwell
Frank Leslie Stillwell OBE, was an Australian geologist, winner of the Clarke Medal awarded by the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1951....
, which would then turn to mapping the area between Cape Denison and the glacier. The final party, led by Mawson, would push rapidly inland to the south of the Coastal Party towards Victoria Land
Victoria Land
Victoria Land is a region of Antarctica bounded on the east by the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and on the west by Oates Land and Wilkes Land. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after the UK's Queen Victoria...
, an area he had explored during Ernest Shackleton
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...
's British Antarctic Expedition
Nimrod Expedition
The British Antarctic Expedition 1907–09, otherwise known as the Nimrod Expedition, was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton. Its main target, among a range of geographical and scientific objectives, was to be first to the South Pole...
in 1908–09. He hoped to travel about 500 miles (804.7 km) east, collecting geological data and specimens, mapping the coast, and claiming territory for the crown. Assisting him on this Far Eastern Party would be Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis was a Lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers and an Antarctic explorer who was a member of Sir Douglas Mawson's 1911 Australasian Antarctic Expedition.-Antarctica 1911-1912:...
, a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers, and the Swiss ski expert Xavier Mertz
Xavier Mertz
Xavier Mertz was a Swiss explorer, mountaineer and skier, from Basel. He took part in the Far Eastern Party, a 1912–13 component of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which claimed his life...
. They were in charge of the expedition's sledge dogs—Greenland Huskies
Greenland Dog
The Greenland Dog is a large breed of husky-type dog kept as a sled dog and for hunting polar bear and seal. This is an ancient breed, thought to be directly descended from dogs brought to Greenland by the first Inuit settlers.-Appearance:The Greenland Dog is a powerful, heavy-built dog...
—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 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.
Journey eastwards
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 a short letter to his fiancée, Paquita Delprat:Allowing Madigan and Stillwell's parties 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 the second dog team. Heading south the following day to avoid crevasse
Crevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack in an ice sheet rhys glacier . Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the sheer stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rates of movement...
s to the east, they travelled about 8 miles (12.9 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 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.
Mertz and Ninnis Glaciers
Heading south-east towards the Mertz Glacier, with Mertz skiing ahead and Mawson and Ninnis driving the dogs, the party covered 15 miles (24.1 km) on 18 November. This was despite encountering sastrugi—ridges in the ice caused by wind—as high as 3 feet (91.4 cm), that caused the dogs to slip and the sledges to roll. During the day they passed two peaks, which Mawson named Madigan NunatakMadigan Nunatak
Madigan Nunatak is an isolated nunatak that rises above the continental ice 18 nautical miles south of Cape Gray, Antarctica. Discovered by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who named it for Cecil T. Madigan, meteorologist with the expedition....
and Aurora Peak
Aurora Peak
Aurora Peak is a peak high along the west side of the Mertz Glacier, south of Mount Murchison. It was discovered by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson who named it after the expedition ship Aurora....
, after the leader of the Eastern Coastal Party and the expedition's ship. The following day they began the steep descent into the Mertz Glacier. After 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 fourteen pups.
Over 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 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
Photokeratitis
Photokeratitis or ultraviolet keratitis is a painful eye condition caused by exposure of insufficiently protected eyes to the ultraviolet rays from either natural or artificial sources. Photokeratitis is akin to a sunburn of the cornea and conjunctiva, and is not usually noticed until several...
(snow-blindness), which Mawson treated with zinc sulfate
Zinc sulfate
Zinc sulfate is the inorganic compound with the formula ZnSO4 as well as any of three hydrates. It was historically known as "white vitriol". It is a colorless solid that is a common source of soluble zinc ions.-Production and reactivity:...
and cocaine hydrochloride. They were also losing dogs; one broke his leg and 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
Ninnis Glacier
Ninnis Glacier is a large, heavily hummocked and crevassed glacier descending steeply from the high interior to the sea in a broad valley, on George V Coast in Antarctica. It was discovered by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who named it for Lieutenant B. E. S...
) far larger than the first. As with the first glacier, they had to unhitch 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 pounds (1.1 kg) pack of butter, crucial for their nourishment to supplement the hoosh
Hoosh
Hoosh is a thick stew made from pemmican or other meat, thickener such as ground biscuits, and water...
. 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 (33.8 °F), melting the snow and making pulling difficult; the party switched to travelling at night to avoid the worst of the conditions.
From atop 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
Charles Wilkes
Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 and commanded the ship in the Trent Affair during the American Civil War...
during the 1838–42 United States Exploring Expedition
United States Exploring Expedition
The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States from 1838 to 1842. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones. The voyage was authorized by Congress in...
. 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 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
Neuralgia
Neuralgia is pain in one or more nerves that occurs without stimulation of pain receptor cells. Neuralgia pain is produced by a change in neurological structure or function rather than by the excitation of pain receptors that causes nociceptive pain. Neuralgia falls into two categories: central...
on the left side of his face and a whitlow
Whitlow
A whitlow or felon is an infection of the tip of the finger. The terms are also sometimes misapplied to paronychia, which is an infection of the tissue at the side or base of the nail....
on one of his fingers. The latter was making sleep difficult for him, and on 13 December Mawson lanced the finger.
Death of Ninnis
On the evening of 13 December Mawson and Mertz rearranged the sledges. The rear-most sledge, which had carried 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 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 (500.5 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:
Ninnis, his sledge and dog team had fallen through 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 (45.7 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 a few miles to a hill and took position observations. Came back, called & sounded for an hour. Read the burial service."
Return
Along with the heavy-weather tent, most of their own food and all of the dogs' food, they had lost the pickaxePickaxe
A pickaxe or pick is a hand tool with a hard head attached perpendicular to the handle.Some people make the distinction that a pickaxe has a head with a pointed end and a flat end, and a pick has both ends pointed, or only one end; but most people use the words to mean the same thing.The head is...
, the shovel, and Mertz's waterproof
Waterproofing
Waterproof or water-resistant describes objects relatively unaffected by water or resisting the ingress of water under specified conditions. Such items may be used in wet environments or under water to specified depths...
overpants and helmet. On Mawson's sledge they had their stove, fuel, sleeping bag
Sleeping bag
A sleeping bag is a protective "bag" for a person to sleep in, essentially a blanket that can be closed with a zipper or similar means, and functions as a bed in situations where a bed is unavailable . Its primary purpose is to provide warmth and thermal insulation...
s, and ten days' worth of food. Their best immediate hope was to reach the camp of two days earlier where they had left the abandoned sledge and supplies, 15 miles (24.1 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 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 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 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 the sledge. Despite the challenges, they made good progress; in the first four nights they travelled 60 miles (96.6 km). As they approached the Ninnis Glacier on 21 December, Haldane—once the largest and strongest of the dogs—was shot.
Death of Mertz
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 the equipment—including the camera, photographic films, and all of the scientific equipment save the theodoliteTheodolite
A theodolite is a precision instrument for measuring angles in the horizontal and vertical planes. Theodolites are mainly used for surveying applications, and have been adapted for specialized purposes in fields like metrology and rocket launch technology...
—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 5 miles (8 km) on 31 December, no progress for the following two days, and 5 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 2 miles (3.2 km) before Mertz collapsed. The following day Mawson placed Mertz onto the sledge in his sleeping bag and continued, but was forced to stop and camp when Mertz's condition again deteriorated. Mawson recorded:
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
Kerosene
Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
for the stove, he boiled the remainder of the dog meat. Dragging Mertz's body in the sleeping bag from the tent, Mawson constructed 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.
Alone
As the weather cleared on 11 January, Mawson continued west, estimating the distance back to Cape Denison at 100 miles (160.9 km). He travelled 2 miles before pain in his feet forced him to stop; he found that the soles of his feet had separated as a complete layer. Applying lanolinLanolin
Lanolin , also called Adeps Lanae, wool wax or wool grease, is a yellow waxy substance secreted by the sebaceous glands of wool-bearing animals. Most lanolin used by humans comes from domestic sheep...
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 5 miles 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.
To save himself from future crevasses, Mawson constructed 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 5 miles, a cairn covered with black cloth appeared about 300 yards (274.3 m) to his right. In it he found food and a note from Archibald Lang McLean
Archibald Lang McLean
Archibald Lang McLean was an Australian bacteriologist. He was the chief doctor on the Australasian Antarctic Expedition in 1912....
, who along with Frank Hurley
Frank Hurley
James Francis "Frank" Hurley, OBE was an Australian photographer and adventurer. He participated in a number of expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer with Australian forces during both world wars.His artistic style produced many memorable images but he also used staged...
and Alfred Hodgeman had been sent out by Auroras captain John King Davis
John King Davis
John King Davis, CBE was an English-born Australian explorer and navigator notable for his work captaining exploration ships in Antarctic waters as well as for establishing meteorological stations on Macquarie Island in the subantarctic and on Willis Island in the Coral Sea.-Early life:Davis's...
to search for the Far Eastern Party. From the note, Mawson learned he was 21 miles (33.8 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
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....
's attainment of the South Pole
Amundsen's South Pole expedition
The first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott...
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
Crampons
Crampons are traction devices used to improve mobility on snow and ice. There are three main attachment systems for footwear: step-in, hybrid, and strap bindings. The first two require boots with welts, the last adapt to any type....
(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 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.
Aftermath
The Aurora arrived at Cape Denison on 13 January 1913. When Mawson's party failed to return, Davis sailed her east along 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 wirelessWireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
radio, but powerful katabatic winds sweeping down from 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
Phillip Law
Phillip Garth Law AC, CBE, FAA was an Australian scientist and explorer who served as director of Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions from 1949 to 1966.-Early life:...
, then-director of Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions
Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions
The Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions is the historical name for the Australian Antarctic Program administered for Australia by the Australian Antarctic Division .-The ANARE Name:...
(ANARE), 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 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
Colitis
In medicine, colitis refers to an inflammation of the colon and is often used to describe an inflammation of the large intestine .Colitides may be acute and self-limited or chronic, i.e...
; Mawson wrote in The Home of the Blizzard, his official account of the expedition, that Mertz died of fever and appendicitis
Appendicitis
Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...
. A 1969 study by Sir John Cleland
John Burton Cleland
Sir John Burton Cleland CBE was a renowned Australian naturalist, microbiologist, mycologist and ornithologist.-Early Life and education:...
and R. V. Southcott of the University of Adelaide
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...
concluded that the symptoms Mawson described—hair, skin and weight loss, depression, dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
and persistent skin infections—indicated the men had suffered hypervitaminosis A
Hypervitaminosis A
Hypervitaminosis A refers to the effects of excessive vitamin A intake.-Presentation:Effects include* Birth defects* Liver problems* Reduced bone mineral density that may result in osteoporosis* Coarse bone growths...
, an excessive intake of vitamin A
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a vitamin that is needed by the retina of the eye in the form of a specific metabolite, the light-absorbing molecule retinal, that is necessary for both low-light and color vision...
. 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 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
The Medical Journal of Australia
The Medical Journal of Australia is a peer-reviewed medical journal. It is the official journal of the Australian Medical Association, published by the Australasian Medical Publishing Company. The editor-in-chief is Annette G. Katelaris....
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
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
—that Mawson may have eaten Mertz after his death—surfaced during Mawson's lecture tour of 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
Beau Riffenburgh
Beau Riffenburgh is an author and historian specializing in polar exploration. He is also an award winning American Football coach and author of books on football history.- Early career :...
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 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 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 was celebrated at the Adelaide Town Hall
Adelaide Town Hall
Adelaide Town Hall is a landmark building on King William Street in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.-Description and history:Adelaide Town Hall was designed by Edmund Wright and Edward Woods, with construction commencing in 1863 and completed in 1866...
, in an event attended by the Governor-General
Governor-General of Australia
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
, Lord Denman
Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman
Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman GCMG, KCVO, PC was a British Liberal politician and the fifth Governor-General of Australia.-Early years:...
. 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 the Cape Denison base covered over 2600 miles (4,184.3 km) of previously unexplored land; the expedition's Western Base Party
Western Base Party
The Western Base Party was a successful exploration party of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. The eight-man Western Party was deposited by the Aurora on the Shackleton Ice Shelf at Queen Mary Land. The leader of the team was Frank Wild and the party included the geologist Charles Hoadley.The...
on the Shackleton Ice Shelf
Shackleton Ice Shelf
Shackleton Ice Shelf is an extensive ice shelf fronting the coast of East Antarctica for about 384 km , projecting seaward about 145 km in the western portion and 64 km in the east. It occupies an area of 33,820 km². It is part of Mawson Sea and separates the Queen Mary Coast to the west from...
, under Frank Wild
Frank Wild
Commander John Robert Francis Wild CBE, RNVR, FRGS , known as Frank Wild, was an explorer...
, covered a further 800 miles (1,287.5 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
Macquarie Island
Macquarie Island lies in the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between New Zealand and Antarctica, at 54°30S, 158°57E. Politically, it has formed part of the Australian state of Tasmania since 1900 and became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978. In 1997 it became a world heritage...
—and made several important scientific discoveries. First published in 1915, Mawson's account of 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
Australian Dictionary of Biography
The Australian Dictionary of Biography is a national, co-operative enterprise, founded and maintained by the Australian National University to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's history....
, suggests that "for Mawson and Ninnis, who were manoeuvring heavy sledges, this would have been difficult much of the time". In his 1976 forward to Lennard Bickel's book on the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, explorer and mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary
Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE , was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest – see Timeline of climbing Mount Everest...
described Mawson's journey as "probably the greatest story of lone survival in Polar exploration".