Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration

by David Roberts

185 The team’s last outward march: Ibid., 91.

  185 “I have decided this”: Bickerton, “Log,” December 26, 1912, quoted ibid., 92.

  185 The men started back: Haddelsey, Born Adventurer, 93–94.

  185 “a narrow squeal”: Leslie Whetter to Robert Edgar Waite, March 3, 1913, quoted ibid., 105.

  185 During the next three weeks: Haddelsey, Born Adventurer, 94–99.

  186 “His diary becomes a dialogue”: Ibid., 99.

  186 On January 15, the men came: Ibid., 99–100.

  186 “I could have jumped”: Bickerton, “Log,” January 16, 1913, quoted ibid., 100.

  186 On the 17th, just as navigational: Haddelsey, Born Adventurer, 102.

  186 “We flung off our harnesses”: Bickerton, “Log,” January 17, 1913, quoted ibid., 102.

  187 “All was very quiet”: Bickerton, “Log,” n.d., quoted ibid., 103.

  187 “atrocious weather conditions”: HOB, 247.

  187 “Then Thank God”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 52.

  188 “There is still no news”: Ibid., 52–53.

  188 “There is still no sign”: Ibid., 53–55.

  188 “As day by day”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 147.

  189 “considered the best surgeon”: Kennedy, diary, January 21, 1912, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 314.

  189 Wild had been ordered: Wild, Memoirs, quoted in Butler, Quest, 150.

  190 The men set off: HOB, 301.

  190 weeklong detour: Ibid., 304–5.

  190 “The sound of their cries”: Sydney Jones, narrative, quoted in HOB, 305–6.

  190 Intending a visit: Ibid., 305–7.

  191 “We had pepper”: Dovers, diary, November 27, 1912, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 312.

  191 By December 3, the men had returned: HOB, 307–8.

  191 On top, the men found two: Ibid., 310.

  192 Jones calculated that: Jones, narrative, quoted in HOB, 310.

  192 “concluding,” as Mawson: HOB, 311.

  192 In late August, still under wintry: Wild, Memoirs, quoted in Butler, Quest, 141.

  192 “Many of the gusts”: Ibid., 142.

  193 Morton Moyes, another of Mawson’s: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 306–7.

  193 “As on the return”: Wild, Memoirs, quoted in Butler, Quest, 144.

  193 “Zip broke loose”: Wild, narrative, quoted in HOB, 289.

  193 On October 30, the four men: Ibid., 286–87.

  193 There they received a rude shock: Wild, Memoirs, quoted in Butler, Quest, 144–45.

  194 “I cannot go back”: Harrisson, diary, n.d.

  194 “I was extremely sorry”: Wild, Memoirs, quoted in Butler, Quest, 145.

  194 Only two days beyond the Hippo: Ibid.

  194 It would later be named: http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/display_name.cfm?gaz_id=537.

  194 “Cascades of shattered ice”: Charles Harrisson, report on an episode of the sledging journey, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 295.

  194 “To cross where we were”: Watson, diary, November 17, 1912, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 295.

  195 “the most wonderful sight”: Wild, Memoirs, quoted in Butler, Quest, 145.

  195 “The Denman Glacier moves”: Ibid., 145–46.

  195 “hauling up and lowering”: Ibid., 146.

  195 On November 26, a full day: Ibid.

  195 “We turn back tomorrow”: Ibid., 147.

  196 “Wild gave me his Diaries”: Moyes, diary, October 28, 1912.

  196 “George [Dovers] gave me”: Ibid., November 4, 1912.

  196 “Seems strange to lose”: Ibid., October 30, 1912.

  196 “Had a few ski runs”: Ibid., November 11, 1912.

  197 “Harrisson out 26 days”: Ibid., November 24, 1912.

  197 “Harrisson must be short”: Ibid., November 25, 1912.

  197 “Like to know where Harrisson is”: Ibid., November 30, 1912.

  197 “I. May have gone”: Ibid., December 3, 1912.

  198 “Harrisson with his dogs”: Morton Moyes, “Season in Solitary,” 21, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 307.

  198 Zigzagging to try: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 307–8.

  198 “The silence is so painful”: Moyes, diary, December 20, 1912.

  198 “Christmas Eve!”: Ibid., December 24, 1912.

  198 As John King Davis would point out: Davis, High Latitude, 225.

  199 “one of the most remarkable”: Byrd, “Our Navy Explores Antarctica,” 429–522.

  199 “Switzerland had to be killed”: Wild, Memoirs, quoted in Butler, Quest, 148.

  199 “started whining and crying”: Harrisson, diary, December 6, 1912, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 299.

  199 One day Watson fell: Wild, Memoirs, quoted in Butler, Quest, 147.

  199 “a little bottle”: Watson, diary, December 25, 1912, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 302.

  199 “formally took possession”: Wild, Memoirs, quoted in Butler, Quest, 149.

  199 “Another year gone”: Moyes, diary, December 31, 1912.

  199 “If this proportion of blizzards”: Ibid., January 5, 1913.

  200 “A man can be lonely”: J. Moyes, Exploring the Antarctic, 52.

  200 “You are going dippy”: Ibid., 53.

  200 “I rushed outside”: Moyes, diary, January 6, 1913.

  200 “When he saw”: Wild, Memoirs, quoted in Butler, Quest, 150.

  200 “Feel like a 2-year old”: Moyes, diary, January 6, 1913.

  200 They packed up: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 316.

  200 “The Aurora should have been in”: Moyes, diary, January 31, 1913.

  200 “The food supply would have been”: Wild, “Report on Operations,” quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 317.

  201 Adding to the men’s anxiety: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 318.

  201 “had erected direction boards”: Wild, Memoirs, quoted in Butler, Quest, 152.

  201 “We surmise that one”: Harrisson, diary, February 16, 1913.

  201 On February 20, Wild and Dovers: Wild, “Report on Operations,” quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 318.

  201 “Started the [acetylene] gas”: Moyes, diary, February 16, 1913.

  201 “No ship yet.”: Ibid., February 22, 1913.

  6. DEAD EASY TO DIE

  202 “Should I or my party”: Douglas Mawson to J. K. Davis, n.d., Mawson Collection.

  203 In fact, just the previous year: Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, passim.

  203 On January 22, 1913, Davis: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 54.

  203 A first draft of Davis’s orders: Davis, draft note, January 22, 1913, Mawson Collection.

  204 “My darling, this expedition”: Cecil Madigan to Wynnis Wollaston, January 25–28, 1913, quoted in Hoerr, Clipped Wings, 206.

  204 “So the only thing”: Frank Bickerton to Dorothea Bussell, January 31, 1913, quoted in Haddelsey, Born Adventurer, 106.

  205 “We clear out”: Gray, diary, January 17, 1913.

  205 “As a matter of fact”: Ibid.

  205 “We went about our tasks”: Laseron, “South with Mawson,” 148.

  205 There was much to do: Ibid.

  205 Now Davis revised: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 54.

  205 “Our sleeping-bags”: Hurley, Argonauts, 96.

  206 “Through the glasses”: Ibid., 96–97.

  206 “Most of the ice”: Davis, High Latitude, 207.

  206 On January 29, the day before: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 57–58.

  207 But now, once again, the fiendish weather: Ibid., 59–61.

  207 They began to fear that the Aurora: Hurley, Argonauts, 98.

  207 “From masthead to waterline”: Ibid., 99.

  208 “As we drew away”: Ibid.

  208 “We were all heartily glad”: McLean, diary, February 8, 1913, quoted in Haddelsey, Born Adventurer, 107.

  209 The two men now had food: HOB, 164.

  210 That jaunt was a wild downhill: Ibid., 165.

  210 With only a spare tent cover: Ibid., 166.

  210 “Up
10 am”: MAD, 150.

  211 “On December 15th, we didn’t sleep”: Mertz, diary, December 16, 1912.

  211 “Now when I think”: Ibid.

  211 “Our only comfort”: Ibid., December 14, 1912.

  211 “Our companion, comrade”: HOB, 163.

  211 The two men now considered: Ibid., 166.

  211 On December 16, Mawson suffered: MAD, 151.

  211 “Johnson gave in”: Ibid.,

  212 “The dogs now do nothing”: Ibid.

  212 “As we could see nothing”: Mertz, diary, December 17, 1912.

  212 “How lunch would have tasted”: Ibid.

  212 “The course can be only”: MAD, 152.

  212 “Beyond the dismal whining”: HOB, 169–70.

  213 “To go forward”: Mertz, diary, December 18, 1912.

  213 That day, the character: HOB, 171.

  213 That same day, Mawson: Ibid., 172.

  213 “Splendid weather”: Mertz, diary, December 20, 1912.

  214 “In the snow-blind light”: HOB, 169.

  214 Hunger had become: Ibid., 170.

  214 “they were seized”: Ibid., 172.

  214 “ ‘Haldane’ collapsed”: Mertz, diary, December 21, 1912.

  215 On the 21st they reduced the load: MAD, 153.

  215 “a revolting and depressing operation”: HOB, 174.

  215 On the 23rd, the men discarded: Ibid., 175.

  215 That day Mertz calculated: Mertz, diary, December 23, 1912.

  215 “Very hungry tonight”: MAD, 153.

  215 “I found two bits”: Ibid., 154.

  215 “At 1 am, Mawson woke”: Mertz, diary, December 25, 1912.

  216 On Christmas Day, the men covered: HOB, 176–77.

  216 The next day, however, they were slowed: Ibid., 177.

  216 In the high wind: MAD, 154.

  216 Yet another tribulation: Ibid., 178.

  217 “The drift is uncomfortable”: Mertz, diary, December 27, 1912.

  217 “I promised to do all I could”: MAD, 154.

  217 During these days, dog meat: HOB, 178.

  217 Only Ginger was still alive: MAD, 154–55.

  217 “As we worked”: HOB, 178–79.

  217 On the 29th, the men broke: MAD, 155.

  218 “The tent is too small”: Mertz, diary, December 29, 1912.

  218 Yet during the second shift: HOB, 179.

  218 Mertz’s diary entry for December 30: Mertz, diary, December 30, 1912.

  218 “Xavier off colour”: MAD, 156.

  218 “when I realized that my companion”: HOB, 179–80.

  218 “under wretched conditions”: Ibid., 180.

  219 “Now it’s 2 o’clock”: Mertz, diary, December 31, 1912.

  219 “he had found the dog meat”: HOB, 180.

  219 “Can’t be sure exactly”: MAD, 156.

  219 “It’s not good weather”: Mertz, diary, January 1, 1913.

  219 “Mertz boiled a small cocoa”: MAD, 156.

  220 “To convince himself”: HOB, 182.

  220 “Intended getting up”: MAD, 156–57.

  220 “I found that, like myself”: HOB, 181.

  220 “All will depend”: MAD, 157.

  220 By now, Mertz could not even eat: HOB, 181.

  221 “cooking more meat”: Ibid., 182–83.

  221 “The grade was slightly downhill”: Ibid., 183.

  221 “quite dizzy”: MAD, 157.

  221 The men had not gone far: HOB, 183.

  221 “Mertz was depressed”: Ibid.

  222 “Things are in a most serious state”: MAD, 157.

  222 “Starvation combined with superficial frost-bite”: HOB, 183–84.

  223 “Just as I got out”: MAD, 157–58.

  223 “he has several fits”: Ibid., 158.

  223 “At 8 pm he raves”: Ibid.

  223 “All that remained”: HOB, 185.

  223 “took the body of Mertz”: Ibid., 186.

  224 Beside the grave: MAD, 158.

  224 “For many days now”: Ibid.

  224 In 1969, eleven years after: Cleland and Southcott, “Hypervitaminosis A.”

  225 For centuries, the Greenland Inuit: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 277.

  225 Cleland and Southcott argued: Cleland and Southcott, “Hypervitaminosis A,” passim.

  225 “the most plausible cause”: Riffenburgh, Aurora, 276.

  225 “the actual final cause”: Douglas Mawson to Emile Mertz, May 16, 1914, quoted in Riffenburgh, Aurora, 276.

  225 Phillip Law, an Australian scientist: Ayres, Mawson, 80–81.

  226 “remodelling the gear”: HOB, 186–87.

  226 Bad weather: MAD, 158–59.

  226 “One annoying effect”: Ibid., 158.

  226 “Almost calm”: Ibid., 159.

  227 “From the start my feet”: HOB, 187.

  227 “However, there was nothing”: Ibid., 187–88.

  227 “Treading like a cat”: Ibid., 188.

  227 “So glorious was it”: Ibid.

  227 Mawson woke on January 12: MAD, 159.

  228 In the middle of the night: Ibid., 160.

  228 Slowly the weather improved: Ibid.

  228 “My heart leapt”: HOB, 188.

  228 “feet worse than ever”: MAD, 160.

  228 At 11 p.m. that night: HOB, 189.

  228 “If my feet do not improve”: MAD, 160.

  229 “We should be at the Hut now”: Ibid.

  229 On the 15th, Mawson managed: Ibid., 160–61.

  229 Mawson was up at 2 a.m.: Ibid., 161.

  229 “It clung in lumps”: HOB, 190.

  229 “I treated myself”: Ibid.

  229 “It takes quite a while”: MAD, 161.

  230 “A glance ahead”: HOB, 190.

  230 “Everything from below”: Ibid., 190–91.

  230 In late morning, he crossed: MAD, 161.

  231 Shortly before noon, on another uphill slope: HOB, 191.

  231 In mid-plunge: Ibid.

  232 “great effort”: Ibid., 192.

  232 “an assortment of ‘tabloid’ drugs”: Ibid., 141.

  232 Yet on their doomed return: Huntford, Scott and Amundsen, 539.

  233 “remembering how Providence”: HOB, 192.

  233 “Fired by the passion”: Ibid., 192–93.

  233 “Numb with cold”: Ibid., 193.

  234 “Never have I come so near”: Ibid., 191.

  234 “I thought of Providence”: MAD, 161–62.

  234 “Had we lived”: Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, 417.

  234 “It is impossible to say”: MAD, 162.

  234 After his hellish experience: Ibid.

  234 “I was confronted”: HOB, 193.

  235 “I sank to knees”: MAD, 162.

  235 “Now ration is being reduced”: Ibid.

  235 “zigzagging about I found”: Ibid.

  235 “I stopped awhile”: Ibid., 162–63.

  235 Twice that day he broke through: HOB, 193–94.

  235 “I decided to turn in early”: MAD, 163.

  236 “I had never expected”: HOB, 194.

  236 “a wretched overcast day”: Ibid., 195.

  236 Desperate to improve his marches: MAD, 163.

  236 “Everything became blotted out”: HOB, 195.

  237 On the 24th, to his incredulous delight: MAD, 164–65.

  237 “violent blizzard”: Ibid., 165.

  237 “I cannot sleep”: Ibid.

  237 Despite a continuing blizzard: Ibid.

  237 Somehow, Mawson managed to sledge: HOB, 197.

  237 Not until after midnight: MAD, 165.

  238 On the morning of January 27: Ibid.

  238 On the 28th, although snow: HOB, 197.

  238 “My spirits rose”: Ibid.

  238 “about twenty small chips”: Ibid., 197–98.

  239 Once again, Mawson crawled out: MAD, 168.

  239 “something dark loom[ing]”: HOB, 198.

  239 “As I left the depot”: Ibid.


  240 He covered another eight miles: MAD, 168.

  240 “Am now on ice”: Ibid.

  240 “Before giving up”: HOB, 199.

  240 The next morning, before emerging: Ibid.

  241 “on first bit of half snow”: MAD, 168.

  241 At the end of the day’s march: Ibid.

  241 “This work took an interminable time”: HOB, 199–200.

  241 It was not until past noon: MAD, 170.

  241 “At 7 p.m. that haven”: HOB, 200.

  242 “My new crampons”: MAD, 170.

  242 In the night, a fierce gale: HOB, 200.

  243 He ransacked the grotto: MAD, 170.

  243 On February 3, he emerged: Ibid.

  243 “This is most exasperating”: Ibid.

  243 “Blowing quite as hard”: Ibid.

  243 “disappointed to find”: HOB, 200–1.

  243 “With good crampons”: MAD, 170–71.

  243 “Perfected second pair”: Ibid., 171.

  243 The wind fell quickly: Ibid.

  244 “(1) Had the ship gone?”: Ibid.

  244 While Mawson had been preparing: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 61.

  244 One mile down the slope: MAD, 171.

  244 “a speck on the north-west horizon”: HOB, 201.

  244 “the boat harbour burst into view”: MAD, 171.

  244 The first to reach him: Ibid.; Bickel, Mawson’s Will, 211.

  7. WINTER MADNESS

  246 “I briefly recited the disaster”: MAD, 171.

  246 Before parting, Captain Davis: HOB, 202.

  246 “Arrived safely at Hut”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 61.

  247 “Thank God Mawson”: Ibid.

  247 “As we neared those”: Davis, High Latitude, 215.

  247 “Why did they recall us”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 61.

  247 “We tried to be patient”: Frank Bickerton, “Australian Antarctic Expedition,” quoted in Haddelsey, Born Adventurer, 111.

  247 “Anxious to get off”: MAD, 174.

  247 “Of course I did not like”: Ibid.

  248 “This party are in perfect safety”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 61–62.

  248 “Well, next morning”: MAD, 174.

  248 “The strain of the last fortnight”: Crossley, Trial by Ice, 62.

  248 That evening, Hannam received: Ibid.

  248 “Of the four happy members”: Madigan, diary, February 13, 1913, quoted in Haddelsey, Born Adventurer, 112.

  249 “It was several weeks”: HOB, 316.

  249 “I am invaliding yet”: MAD, 174.

  249 “For the first few weeks”: P. Mawson, Mawson of the Antarctic, 92.

  249 Mawson later told his friend: Ayres, Mawson, 87.

  249 “George . . . announces in his positive way”: Harrisson, diary, February 19, 1913.