Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration
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37 With it were gone not only: MAD, 148.
37 “We could do nothing”: Mertz, diary, December 14, 1912.
37 In his own diary, after: MAD, 148.
2. PROF DOGGO
38 Mawson’s family cherished: P. Mawson, Mawson of the Antarctic, 15; Ayres, Mawson, 1.
38 Douglas Mawson was born: Ayres, Mawson, 2.
39 In the village of Rooty Hill: Ibid., 22–23.
39 From Fort Street emerged: Ibid., 23.
39 Both William and Douglas entered: Ibid.
39 “in his forties”: Ibid., 5.
39 David had participated: Branagan, David, 85–86, 104.
39 In 1896, David had published: Ibid., 141.
40 Though Norwegian-born: http://www.south-pole.com/p400087.htm.
40 In 1901, David exhorted: Branagan, David, 141–44.
40 Several months earlier, David: Ibid., 141.
40 “sang his old student’s”: Ayres, Mawson, 12.
40 After earning his bachelor’s: P. Mawson, Mawson of the Antarctic, 25.
41 Mawson himself believed: Ayres, Mawson, 7, 9.
41 The boldest exploit: Ibid., 7–8.
41 “Stopped at 11 O’Clock”: Douglas Mawson, New Hebrides diaries, June 13, 1903, quoted in Ayres, Mawson, 8.
42 While he hammered away: P. Mawson, Mawson of the Antarctic, 26–27.
42 A fellow student later recalled: H. G. Foxall, quoted ibid., 27.
42 Mawson’s own interest in glaciation: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/howchin-walter-6744; Ayres, Mawson, 9.
43 On March 1, 1905, Mawson: P. Mawson, Mawson of the Antarctic, 29.
43 During 1906 and 1907, Mawson: Ayres, Mawson, 10–11.
43 In December 1907, when Ernest Shackleton: Ibid., 12.
43 “My idea,” Mawson later: Mawson to Margery Fisher, quoted ibid.
43 Shackleton rather brusquely: Ibid.
43 To his astonishment, one day: Huntford, Shackleton, 188.
43 In late December 1907: Ayres, Mawson, 14.
44 On January 1, 1908, hailed: Riffenburgh, Racing with Death, 7.
44 “a place that under ordinary”: Raymond Priestley, diary, January 1–8, 1908, quoted in Riffenburgh, 8.
44 “Mawson is useless & objectionable”: Marshall, diary, January 9, 1908, quoted in Riffenburgh, 8.
44 “As daylight came, I noticed”: Davis, High Latitude, 71–73.
45 But on learning of Shackleton’s: Huntford, Shackleton, 161.
45 According to Scott’s early: Seaver, Scott of the Antarctic, quoted in Rosove, Let Heroes Speak, 95.
45 One evening early in: Huntford, Shackleton, 95.
46 “Shackleton in his traces”: Ibid., 96.
46 “Wilson and Shackleton were packing up”: A. B. Armitage memorandum, quoted ibid.
46 Throughout the desperate return: Ibid., 113.
46 Back at Hut Point, the men: Rosove, Let Heroes Speak, 99.
47 “Of course all the officers”: Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, quoted ibid.
47 “Shackleton’s enterprise was born”: Huntford, Shackleton, 161.
47 “Scott’s assumption of prescriptive”: Ibid., 162.
48 “I am leaving the McMurdo”: Shackleton to Scott, May 17, 1907, quoted in ibid., 177.
48 The Nimrod first sighted: ibid., 201–4.
48 Even after embarking: Ibid., 208–11.
49 The essential structure: Shackleton, The Heart of the Antarctic, 133–34.
49 “Mawson, whose lair was a little”: Ibid., 118–19.
49 Shackleton was anxious to lay: Ibid., 167.
50 In 1904, three members of Scott’s party: Riffenburgh, Nimrod, 173.
50 The idea, apparently: Huntford, Shackleton, 221.
50 “apart from scientific considerations”: Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, 167–68.
50 Given the men’s lack: Ibid., “The Ascent of Mount Erebus,” Aurora Australis, passim.
51 By the end of the first day: Ibid.
51 “Occasionally we came to blows”: Ibid.
52 That evening, snug: Ibid.
52 “Some of us . . . found”: Ibid.
52 “Some of us with our sleeping bags”: Ibid.
53 “It was a close call,”: Ibid.
53 “an even plain of névé”: Ibid.
54 “We were all surprised”: Ibid.
54 The next day, rather than head: Ibid.
55 On March 11, the men: Ibid.
55 “Many were the hand-shakings”: Ibid.
55 Modern scientists endorse: Larson, An Empire of Ice, 128–31.
56 “In a few minutes”: Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, 189–90.
56 Thus all kinds of entertainments: Ibid., passim.
57 By the end of October, Shackleton: Riffenburgh, Nimrod, 189–96.
57 Instead of dogs and skis: Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, 21–22, 158–59.
57 “a 12–15 horse-power”: Ibid., 22.
57 “It . . . went a few feet”: Aeneas Mackintosh, diary, February 1, 1908, quoted in Riffenburgh, Nimrod, 159.
58 The compass, invented in China: Gurney, Below the Convergence, 23.
58 In pursuit of the elusive: http://www.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/geomag/nmp/expeditions_e.php.
58 Since 1831, the North Magnetic Pole: http://www.athropolis.com/arctic-facts/fact-nmp.htm.
59 why do some planets: http://www.astronomynotes.com/solarsys/plantblb.htm.
59 Ten years later, Ross: http://www.south-pole.com/p0000081.htm.
59 The written instructions: Branagan, David, 181.
60 “If you are not returned”: Ibid., 178.
61 “in the strange half-world”: Huntford, Shackleton, 246.
61 “The Professor dog tired”: MAD, 9.
61 “Prof broke attachment”: Ibid.
62 “He is so covered”: Ibid.
62 At the first promontory: Riffenburgh, Racing with Death, 20.
63 “His pockets are full”: MAD, 12.
63 On October 22, the three men: Ibid., 13.
63 On October 30, after twenty-five days: Branagan, David, 185.
64 The two younger men: Ibid., 185–86.
64 On October 31, the men dined: MAD, 16–17.
64 “On all occasions he has asked”: Ibid., 15.
64 “He is full of great words”: Ibid.
64 As the men trudged: Riffenburgh, Nimrod, 239.
65 “up at 10 p.m. very sleepy”: Branagan, David, 188.
65 “The Prof is certainly”: MAD, 24–25.
65 “a great billowy sea”: Branagan, David, 189.
66 “Country continued to grow worse”: Mills, Men of Ice, 33.
66 “twelve hours of continuous”: Ibid., 34.
66 “I had scarcely gone”: Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic (1909 edition), vol. 2, 145.
67 On December 12, despairing: Riffenburgh, Nimrod, 241; MAD, 29.
67 “not less than 660 lbs”: MAD, 30.
67 “I fell into one”: Ibid., 31.
67 “It was a job”: Mills, Men of Ice, 38.
67 “Very coarse pegmatites”: MAD, 31.
68 “The Prof was doggo”: Ibid., 32–33.
68 “Had lunch, saving cheese”: Ibid., 33.
68 As a kind of joke: Branagan, David, 191.
68 On December 27, to lighten: MAD, 33.
68 “Dip reading very little less”: Ibid., 35.
68 On December 28, Mawson told: Mills, Men of Ice, 41.
69 “The Prof is dreadfully slow”: MAD, 34.
69 “We are now almost mad”: Ibid., 36–37.
69 “planned menus for dinner”: Ibid., 39.
70 “The Professor is very nearly”: Mills, Men of Ice, 46.
70 “The Professor seems most affected”: MAD, 36.
70 “I think now, that we have”: Mills, Men of Ice, 46.
70 In a blizzard, Mawson: MAD, 38–39.
70 “Last night,” Mackay wrote: Mills, Men of Ice, 46.
70 The men had a s
trenuous debate: MAD, 40.
71 “Mac then protests”: Ibid., 40.
71 On January 15, Mawson got a dip: Branagan, David, 193.
71 The next day, they hauled: Ibid.
71 At 4:15 p.m., they hoisted: Ibid.
71 Mawson set up the expedition camera: Ibid.
72 “My feet and legs pain”: MAD, 41–44.
72 “I don’t feel so horribly exhausted”: Mills, Men of Ice, 50.
73 “Prof crampy about left calf”: MAD, 43.
73 From January 16 to 27: Mills, Men of Ice, 49–52.
73 “an awful day of despair”: MAD, 45.
73 “Prof’s burberry pants”: Ibid.
73 “Mac, it seems got on”: Ibid.
73 “Prof’s boots were frozen on”: Ibid., 46.
73 “The Prof was now certainly”: Ibid.
74 “I have deposed the Professor”: Mills, Men of Ice, 53.
74 “I said I did not like it”: MAD, 46.
74 “I joined him a few minutes later”: Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic (1909 edition), vol. 2, 203–4.
75 The relief ship: Davis, High Latitude, 93–94.
75 According to Davis, the instructions: Ibid., 99.
75 During the next several weeks: Ibid., 93–102.
76 “In order to carry out”: Ibid., 103.
76 Captain Evans was extremely agitated: Ibid., 103–4.
76 “There was nothing noteworthy”: Ibid., 104.
76 In their green, conical tent: MAD, 46.
76 “The Professor could not”: Mills, Men of Ice, 55.
77 On board the Nimrod: Davis, High Latitude, 104–5.
77 In the middle of the day: MAD, 46–47.
77 “Immediately on sighting”: Davis, High Latitude, 106.
78 “abnormally lean”: Frederick Pryce Evans, narrative of BAE, quoted in Riffenburgh, Nimrod, 273.
78 In Shackleton’s absence: Davis, High Latitude, 107–8.
3. CAPE DENISON
79 “February 4.—Cannot write”: Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, 353.
79 By December 1, three of them: Rosove, Let Heroes Speak, 152.
79 But before the men could make: Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, 310.
80 “We have shot our bolt”: Ibid., 343.
80 Experts have wondered: Huntford, Shackleton, 271–73.
80 “Shackleton had set”: Ibid., 273.
80 Shackleton had left orders: Ibid., 286.
81 During the return journey: Ibid.
81 By February 25, Marshall: Shackleton, Heart of the Antarctic, 362–63.
81 “If the ship was gone”: Ibid., 364.
82 “Mackay fell”: Mills, Men of Ice, 72.
82 “Edwardian England knew how”: Huntford, Shackleton, 294.
82 “the greatest geographical event”: Ibid., 298.
82 In November, Shackleton was knighted: Ibid., 315.
82 Met at the railway station: Ayres, Mawson, 29.
82 “I say that Mawson”: Sydney Morning Herald, March 31, 1909, quoted ibid., 29.
83 During 122 days: Ayres, Mawson, 28.
83 Theirs would remain the longest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_Mackay.
83 On a visit to England in 1911: Branagan, David, 223–25.
83 According to Mawson’s biographer: Ayres, Mawson, 70.
83 It seems likely that the true: Branagan, David, 225.
84 Barton’s even gloomier assessment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9jXbD5hZFI.
84 As one of the experts who examined: Branagan, David, 224–25.
84 Upon regaining the Nimrod: Ayres, Mawson, 28.
84 Meanwhile, he dipped his toe: Ibid., 37–41.
85 He had made many visits: Ibid., 29–30; P. Mawson, Mawson of the Antarctic, 47.
85 “He had turned and smiled”: P. Mawson, Mawson of the Antarctic, 47.
85 “dark-haired, ivory-skinned”: Ayres, Mawson, 29.
85 Almost six feet tall: McEwin, An Antarctic Affair, 27.
86 “Who’s that?”: Flannery, This Everlasting Silence, 1, 16.
86 “Her flashing black eyes”: Ibid., 2.
86 Once again taking a leave: Ayres, Mawson, 31–32.
87 “On no account see Scott”: Ibid., 32.
87 “a professed liar”: Huntford, Shackleton, 304.
87 Supported by his patrons: Ibid., 308–9.
87 “I have no connection”: Ayres, Mawson, 32–33.
87 Yet at the same time, Mawson: Ibid., 39.
88 “He offered me not less”: MAD, 53.
88 “I did not like Dr. Wilson”: Ibid.
89 “I have decided to go to the coast”: Ibid., 54.
89 “there was little hope”: Ibid.
89 The last straw came: Ayres, Mawson, 45.
89 “When it comes to the moral side”: Douglas Mawson to H. R. Mill, July 18, 1922, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 58.
90 “One day he telephoned me”: P. Mawson, Mawson of the Antarctic, 47.
90 “While the family were making music”: Ibid.
90 “My Dear Dr Delprat”: Douglas Mawson to Guillaume Delprat, December 7, 1910, quoted in Flannery, This Everlasting Silence, 7–8.
90 Mindful of the mining tycoon’s: Ibid., 8–9.
91 “I fully approve of you”: Guillaume Delprat to Douglas Mawson, December 8, 1910, quoted ibid., 10–11.
91 They were formally engaged: P. Mawson, Mawson of the Antarctic, 48.
93 In his official account: HOB, 2.
93 After endless machinations: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 62–63.
94 “looked thinner”: P. Mawson, Mawson of the Antarctic, 51.
94 “I think we shall all be glad”: Ibid.
94 With Davis at the helm: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 72.
94 Ninnis, the young lieutenant: Ibid., 52–53.
94 Mertz, a lawyer from Basel: Ibid., 67.
95 “The only two idlers in the ship”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 11.
95 The proximity of males and females: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 77.
95 Then several of the dogs: Ibid., 81.
95 “a mysterious hysterical disease”: Ibid., 96, 453; Landy, “Pibloktoq (Hysteria) and Inuit Nutrition,” 237–39.
95 In any event, by the time: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 102.
96 “I remember feeling”: Frank Wild to Maggie Wild, October 13, 1911, quoted ibid, 91.
97 Discovered accidentally in 1810: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macquarie_Island.
97 On the afternoon of December 2: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 102.
97 Besides the thirty-eight huskies: HOB, 14.
97 Realizing that even an overloaded: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 101–2.
97 “If the skipper had a proper name”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 12.
98 “The mate was deaf”: Ibid.
98 On the first day out of Hobart: Davis, High Latitude, 163–64.
98 “The crew are about the worst”: Charles Laseron, diary, December 25, 1911.
98 “The cook we have signed on”: Percy Gray, diary, December 3, 1911.
98 “I shall be very sorry”: Gray, diary, December 18, 1911.
99 “The mate could navigate”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 12–13.
99 “I have found this bloody island”: Hunter, diary, December 13, 1911.
99 On December 9, the worst: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 103.
99 “They were staggered by its beauty”: Ibid., 106.
100 “I felt that had I sufficient”: Hurley, Argonauts, 24.
100 “Fortunately we were not moving”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 13.
100 “I received a verbal trouncing”: Hurley, Argonauts, 25.
101 His biographer, Alasdair McGregor: McGregor, Hurley, 10–11.
101 “I found a new toy”: Hurley, Argonauts, 10.
101 By 1911, Hurley was recognized: McGregor, Hurley, 28–31.
102 “I am certain that”: Margaret Hurley to Douglas Mawson, October 6, 1911, quoted ibid., 32.
102 Mawson was
sufficiently alarmed: McGregor, Hurley, 32–33.
102 “evidently a recent victim”: HOB, 21.
102 “a human figure appeared”: Ibid.
103 After several aborted efforts: Ibid., 22.
103 In charge of the Macquarie party: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 214–15.
103 In Hasselborough Bay, the two: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 14.
103 Meanwhile, Frank Hurley set off: Hurley, Argonauts, 25.
104 “They slaughtered every flipper”: Ibid., 28–30.
104 The first night, the trio bivouacked: Ibid., 31.
105 On the second day, the men: Ibid., 32–33.
105 “peck[ing] viciously at our legs”: Ibid., 34.
105 It was not until the third afternoon: Ibid., 35–38.
106 During Hurley’s absence: HOB, 24–25.
106 On top of Wireless Hill: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 111.
106 “The sheep allowed themselves”: Frank Stillwell, general letter, January 6, 1912, quoted ibid., 112–13.
106 “The last few days”: Flannery, This Everlasting Silence, 24.
107 “their cheers echoing to ours”: HOB, 27.
107 “It was difficult at first”: Ibid., 28.
107 “I jumped up on deck”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 15.
108 Mawson and Davis’s intention: Ibid.
108 But between Oates Land: Rosove, Let Heroes Speak, 109–13.
108 In January 1840, Wilkes thought: Ibid., 35–37.
108 At almost the same time in early 1840: Ibid., 30–32.
109 Astonishingly, on January 29: Ibid., 32.
109 Five days after leaving Macquarie: HOB, 31.
109 “The tranquility of the water”: Ibid., 32.
109 The icebergs soon gave way: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 16–17.
110 It would take another year: HOB, 37.
110 New Year’s Day: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 17.
110 “We were all very much puzzled”: Ibid., 18.
111 “What an extraordinary thing”: Ibid., 19.
111 One of the chief objectives: HOB, 40.
111 “I feel that we must take chances”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 19.
111 Privately, he began to reconfigure: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 115–16.
111 It was only on January 6: Ibid., 116.
112 “The coroners verdict”: Kennedy, diary, January 6, 1912.
112 At noon on January 8: HOB, 40.
112 “Advancing towards the mainland”: Ibid., 41.
112 “We had come to a fairyland”: Hurley, Argonauts, 44–45.
113 “Accidentally hit Bickerton in the eye”: Kennedy, diary, January 8, 1912.
4. THE HOME OF THE BLIZZARD
114 “By the time we had reached”: HOB, 42.