Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration
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115 On one windy day: Ibid., 43.
115 Still the wind increased: Ibid., 43–44.
115 “I feel that I have not an officer”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 22.
115 “It is his one hobby”: Gray, diary, January 23, 1912.
116 “They are beautiful birds”: McLean, diary, January 14, 1912.
116 “I shall be glad now”: Gray, diary, January 5, 1912.
116 The unloading proceeded: HOB, 44.
116 “We have been quite”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 23.
116 “a great assortment of material”: HOB, 44.
117 the first crossing: Rosove, Let Heroes Speak, 56.
117 “long purple stockings”: McLean, diary, January 19, 1912.
117 The men sang “Auld Lang Syne”: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 121.
117 Last to leave was Mawson: Davis, High Latitude, 170.
117 “rather a pull”: Laseron, diary, January 19, 1912.
117 “we steamed away”: Mills, Wild, 139.
117 “The whole thing impressed me”: Gray, diary, January 20, 1912.
117 “I could have wept”: Ninnis, diary, January 19, 1912, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 121.
118 “They are a fine party”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 24.
118 As the Aurora steamed away: Wild, Memoirs, 123.
118 Once again Davis fumed: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 24.
118 “I only wish that our observations”: Ibid., 25.
119 “We have still about 200 tons”: Ibid., 26–29.
119 “At 8. o’clock last night”: Gray, diary, February 5, 1912.
120 “We have just got enough”: Ibid.
120 “but there is such a crowd”: Ibid.
120 “I am feeling very low”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 30–31.
120 “I do not know that”: Ibid., 31.
121 “I had hoped that”: Ibid., 32–33.
121 “Wild . . . reported that the land”: Ibid., 32.
122 The day after Wild: Wild, Memoirs, 125–26.
122 Knowing, however, that this desperate: Ibid., 126.
122 There followed a frenzy: Ibid.
122 “The party themselves do not seem to be”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 35.
123 “I am a very poor hand”: Mills, Wild, 142.
123 “In the event of the Aurora”: Davis, High Latitude, 223.
123 “Wild’s party is camped”: Wild, Memoirs, 126.
124 Back at Cape Denison: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 37.
124 “My first experience of a sleeping bag”: Hunter, diary, January 16, 1912.
124 “Come on, Joe”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 40.
125 The prefabricated hut: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 121–23.
125 “Not a very big room,” Laseron observed: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 37.
125 Since the Aurora had brought: HOB, 55.
125 “We, who were inexperienced”: Hurley, Argonauts, 47.
127 “Doctor Mertz was sitting”: Ibid., 47–48.
127 On January 30, for the first time: HOB, 58.
127 Frank Bickerton, the twenty-two-year-old: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 125.
127 “By the light of the ruby lamp”: Hurley, Argonauts, 49.
128 “Hannam is our ‘Ring Snorer’ ”: Hunter, diary, February 16, 1912.
128 “The first day that the stove”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 43.
128 As the months wore on: Ibid., 45.
129 “The rest [of the poems]”: McLean, diary, February 18, 1912.
129 Another of Mawson’s favorite works: Hunter, diary, May 14, 1912.
129 The small library: List of books, AAE.
129 “I have always thought”: Hunter, diary, January 30, 1912.
130 Some were mere shorthand: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 53.
130 Other nicknames for the physician: Hunter, diary, March 22, 1912.
130 Hurley became Hoyle: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 47.
130 The architect Alfred Hodgeman: Hunter, diary, March 22, 1912.
130 Bob Bage, a twenty-three-year-old: Ibid., April 17, 1912.
130 The overweight Walter Hannam: Ibid., April 24, 1912.
130 Leslie Whetter, clumsy and inclined: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 53.
130 “Close was a great reader”: Ibid., 52–53.
130 Of the thirty-eight huskies: HOB, 61.
131 “Basilisk was the king”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 46.
131 By early autumn: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 126–27.
131 Much closer to the huts: Ibid., 158–59.
132 “On the very first night”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 41.
132 The stove inside the hut: HOB, 71.
133 “One evening, when we”: Ibid., 65.
133 “The Doctor says”: Hannam, diary, March 15, 1912.
133 “I had to go on all fours”: MAD, 60–61.
133 “To illustrate the pace”: Hurley, Argonauts, 57.
134 “Then with practice”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 55.
134 “Day by day throughout March”: Ibid.
134 “for a sustained velocity”: Ibid.
134 “In such a position”: HOB, 69.
135 “No sooner would one”: Ibid.
135 During the first month and a half: Ibid., 70.
135 “Articles of value”: Ibid., 80–81.
135 “whirlwinds of a few yards”: Ibid., 77–79.
136 “On such occasions”: Ibid., 77.
136 On February 29, he took: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 128.
136 “Heavy pulling, drift”: MAD, 60.
137 “I have never met”: Eric Webb to A. G. E. Jones, May 20, 1980, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 128.
137 “I had just erected”: Hurley, Argonauts, 58–59.
138 “Leaving the door”: HOB, 84–85.
138 “Poor Hodgeman”: Laseron, diary, April 5, 1912.
138 “no doubt disgusted”: HOB, 72.
139 “We dwelt on the fringe”: Ibid., 88.
139 Eighty-five years later: Wendler, et al., “On the Extraordinary Katabatic Winds of Adélie Land,” 4473.
139 Every morning precisely: Mawson, “Report of Main Base.”
140 “The nightwatchman is to sift”: Mawson, “Instructions to Night Watchman.”
140 “A final duty is that of emptying”: Mawson, “Messman’s Duties.”
140 “The ‘pièce de résistance’ ”: Mawson, “Cook’s Notices.”
140 “No unnecessary refinements”: HOB, 59.
141 “To our sweethearts and wives”: Harrisson, diary, n.d.
141 “Dinner is ready”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 68–69.
141 The monthly issue: Hunter, diary, June 29, 1912.
141 The most spirited wagers: Ibid., May 1, 1912.
141 “No one washes”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 65.
142 “Three months without a bath”: Hunter, diary, March 15, 1912.
142 “Tonight I have had”: Hannam, diary, February 14, 1912.
142 John Hunter recorded: Hunter, diary, July 14, 1912.
142 “the life and soul”: Laseron, diary, February 16, 1912.
142 “Hurley caused some amusement”: Hunter, diary, March 18, 1912.
142 “On February 17, after dinner”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 47.
143 “At dinner Hurley”: Hunter, diary, March 10, 1912.
143 Thirty-two years old, from an affluent: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 89.
143 What Mawson probably did not know: Watson, The Spy Who Loved Children; Rossiter, Lady Spy, Gentleman Explorer.
143 “Herbert fidgets”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 70.
144 Along with the gramophone: McLean, diary, June 6, 1912.
144 “Today is best described”: Ibid., March 27, 1912
144 “Breakfast, 9 am”: MAD, 94.
145 “was a marvel”: HOB, 111–12.
145 “ ‘Championship’ ”: Ibid., 100.
145
“I don’t know what we should do”: Hunter, diary, April 9, 1912.
145 Walter Hannam opened: Hannam, diary, passim.
145 Mawson himself began: MAD, 77.
146 “an exhilarating”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 57–58.
146 “This adhered firmly”: HOB, 86.
147 The masts had been shipped: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 158–59.
147 “Given a few days”: Hannam, diary, April 21, 1912.
147 In the wind, the construction project: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 159.
147 “something over 17 stone”: Hannam, diary, July 6, 1912.
147 Instead it fell: MAD, 102
147 “Had a very bad turn”: Hannam, diary, March 25, 1912.
147 His most oft-repeated: Ibid., passim.
147 On May 15, Mawson told Hannam: Ibid., May 15, 1912.
148 But on February 14, they established: HOB, 349.
148 The linkage worked so well: George Ainsworth, “A Land of Storm and Mist,” in HOB, 381.
148 It was not until September 12: Ibid., 377.
148 On October 13, dubbed: MAD, 121–22.
148 Between March and October: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 60
149 In May 1912, for thirty-one: HOB, 94–95.
149 “The day’s tasks are ended”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 62.
149 “The whole world is asleep”: HOB, 104.
150 “We have made a successful landing”: Flannery, This Everlasting Silence, 29.
150 “I have concluded”: Ibid., 46.
151 “It is one of the Doc’s”: Hunter, diary, September 30, 1912.
151 “We now like”: Laseron, diary, February 18, 1912.
151 Madigan’s decision to accept: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 90.
151 It was Madigan who coined: Ninnis, diary, April 1, 1912, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 150.
152 “Cecil had been ‘Maddy’ ”: D. Madigan, Vixere Fortes, 249.
152 “with his usual clumsiness”: Ibid., 263.
152 “was as loyal as”: Ibid., 265.
152 “treated them like children”: Ibid., 266.
152 “His temperament was naturally equable”: Ibid., 266.
152 “irremediably prosaic”: Ibid., 266–67.
153 “Hurricane gusty”: MAD, 60–61.
154 “but I was sorry to see”: Ibid., 78.
154 “First are the accomplished”: Ibid.
154 “At breakfast Whetter”: Ibid., 88.
154 The next day, Mawson observed: Ibid., 89.
155 “Whetter was sick”: Ibid., 90.
155 “We then had a long talk”: Ibid., 92.
155 “Whetter has apparently drunk”: Ibid., 97.
156 On the Belgica expedition: Cook, Through the First Antarctic Night, passim.
156 “Whetter of course”: Hunter, diary, March 22, 1912.
156 “Whetter is a conundrum”: Ibid., June 15, 1912.
156 “Whetter was incurably lazy”: D. Madigan, Vixere Fortes, 268.
157 “He appears to have changed”: Mawson, notes on Whetter.
157 “At something to 4 pm”: MAD, 115.
158 “I gave quite a long address”: Ibid., 116.
158 According to historian Beau Riffenburgh: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 415.
158 “Whetter cooks but”: MAD, 90.
158 “Close has been laid up”: Ibid., 97.
158 “Close has put in much time”: Ibid., 101.
159 “He cannot yet read”: Hunter, diary, April 7, 1912.
159 “his deep breathing exercises”: Ibid., May 3, 1912.
159 “Poor old John Close”: Ibid., May 17, 1912.
159 “little acetylene bombs”: Ibid., May 3, 1912.
159 “There was one member”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 54–55.
160 “rather vanished from sight”: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 415.
5. THE PAINFUL SILENCE
163 The prefabricated building: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 140.
163 “Mr. Wild”: Mills, Wild, 143.
163 “Mawson not only was driven”: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 194.
163 Wild had grown up: Butler, Quest, 3.
163 “As far back”: Wild, Memoirs, quoted ibid., 136.
164 At the age of sixteen, Wild: Butler, Quest, 8.
164 he would not marry: Ibid., 22.
164 He stood only: Ibid., 3, 8–9.
164 “It was more than affection”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 153–54.
165 “refused to do any work”: Wild, Memoirs, quoted in Butler, Quest, 136.
165 But on March 13, just as a prolonged: Ibid., 131–32.
165 “This bad weather had its compensations”: Ibid., 131.
165 The one serious oversight: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 141.
166 “If we were to fall”: Morton Moyes, “There Was No Ship,” quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 141.
166 Instead of Mawson’s day-long program: Frank Wild, “Report on Operations,” quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 194.
166 “Two medals were struck”: Ibid., 197.
166 “though diverting”: Sydney Jones, loose notes, June 30, 1912, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 197.
166 Instead, Wild devised golf balls: Ibid.; Kennedy, diary, May 17, 1912.
166 According to twenty-two-year-old: Kennedy, diary, April 8, 1912.
166 Eager to make the best use: Wild, Memoirs, quoted in Butler, Quest, 132.
167 “and we all had falls”: Ibid.
167 “We crossed one”: Ibid.
167 The weather was so fiendish: Ibid., 135.
167 “When it is understood”: Ibid., 133.
167 On the move again: Ibid.
168 On March 21, a seven-day storm: Ibid.
168 In the end, Wild’s team: Ibid., 134.
168 “Unable to stand”: Kennedy, diary, April 5, 1912.
169 The most persistent source of conflict: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 194–95.
169 “Wondering when the buckets of kerosene”: Moyes, diary, August 11, 1912.
171 November 6 was fixed: HOB, 136.
171 “Should I or my party”: Douglas Mawson to J. K. Davis, loose note, Mawson Collection.
171 “the most popular man of the party”: Hunter, diary, April 17, 1912.
172 “What a God forsaken country”: Hunter, diary, and Laseron, diary, November 14, 1912, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 254.
172 Sixty-seven and a half miles: Hurley, Argonauts, 71.
172 Even before reaching Cape Denison: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 87.
172 To vary the regimen: HOB, 142.
172 The staple main course: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 87.
173 “if the weather was good”: Ibid.
173 Made of japara: Ibid., 85.
173 the three-man tent combined: HOB, 140.
173 The tent was supported: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 85–86.
174 “First, enough large blocks”: Ibid., 86.
174 “an amazing field of huge”: Hurley, Argonauts, 77.
174 “suddenly I dropped through”: Ibid., 78–79.
175 On December 12, at a spot: Bage, narrative, quoted in HOB, 214.
175 They called it the Lucky Depot: Hurley, Argonauts, 81.
175 Finally, on December 21, the men knew: Bage, narrative, quoted in HOB, 216; Hurley, Argonauts, 80.
175 “What a temptation to go on”: Hurley, Argonauts, 80–81.
175 “It was . . . Midsummer Day”: Bage, narrative, quoted in HOB, 217.
175 On December 27, they regained: Hurley, Argonauts, 81–82.
176 “a record for man-hauling”: HOB, 219.
176 But slowly the men’s optimism: Ibid., 219–20.
176 On January 4, the men reached: Ibid., 220.
176 By January 8, all the men had left: Bage, narrative, quoted in HOB, 220.
176 “Matter of life and death”: Webb, diary, January 8–9, 1912.
176 “I’ve dined in many places”: Hurley, Argonauts, 86–87.
&
nbsp; 177 “There was only one thing”: Bage, narrative, quoted in HOB, 220.
177 “the worst day’s march”: Ibid., 221.
177 Two days later, guessing: Ibid., 222.
177 “The most memorable day”: Webb, diary, January 10, 1912.
177 “Never had I seen the Antarctic appear”: Hurley, Argonauts, 93.
177 “We three had never thought”: Bage, narrative, quoted in HOB, 223.
178 “The information brought back”: HOB, 223.
178 “A refuge from the hurricane”: Ibid., 120–21.
179 On November 17, 25 miles out: Ibid., 224.
180 “was quite a knife-edge”: Ibid., 226.
180 “I cannot say”: Madigan, narrative, quoted in HOB, 227.
180 Then, on December 2, the trio: Ibid., 229–31.
180 Back on land on December 17: Ibid., 231–32.
181 some 270 miles: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 143.
181 “a narrow ridge of hard snow”: Madigan, narrative, quoted in HOB, 235.
181 Like Bage’s party, Madigan’s: Ibid., 236–38.
181 “by this I mean”: Davis, High Latitude, 196.
181 It was only ten hours later: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 140.
181 “We were laden with mail”: Davis, High Latitude, 197.
182 Of the keenest interest: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 252.
182 “Australia had lost”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 141.
182 “Dr Mawson is out 66 days”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 51.
182 It was not until December 3: Haddelsey, Born Adventurer, 77.
183 “Very soon the engine”: HOB, 243–44.
183 “We were very sorry”: Frank Bickerton, “Western Sledging Journey,” quoted in Haddelsey, Born Adventurer, 78–79.
183 “by lunch time I felt”: Bickerton, “A Log of the Western Journey,” December 5, 1912, quoted in Haddelsey, Born Adventurer, 79.
183 Six miles out from Cathedral Grotto: Haddelsey, Born Adventurer, 79–80.
184 “did not appear”: Bickerton, “Log,” December 5, 1912, quoted ibid., 80.
184 The leader’s first guess: Ibid.
184 Forty-nine years would elapse: Haddesley, Born Adventurer, 80.
184 Since then, Antarctica: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 282.
184 One of them, retrieved in 2003: http://www1.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/jul/HQ_04232_meteorite.html.
184 “This is a dismal”: Bickerton, “Log,” quoted in Haddelsey, Born Adventurer, 86.
184 During their first week: Haddelsey, Born Adventurer, 83.
184 Then, on December 12, a mishap: Ibid., 86–87.
185 On five successive days: Ibid., 90–91.