Editing Douglas Mawson (section)

== Australasian Antarctic Expedition ==
[[File:Mawson and sledge, Adelie Land, Antarctica, 1912.jpg|thumb|left|Mawson rests at the side of his sledge, Adelie Land, Antarctica, 1912.]]
[[File:Dr. Mawson's sledge, right side, background out. Wellcome M0000975.jpg|thumb|left|Photo of Douglas Mawson's sledge]]
Mawson turned down an invitation to join Robert Falcon Scott's [[Terra Nova Expedition]] in 1910; Australian geologist [[Thomas Griffith Taylor]] went with Scott instead. Mawson chose to lead his own expedition, the [[Australasian Antarctic Expedition]], to [[George V Land]] and [[Adélie Land]], the sector of the Antarctic continent immediately south of Australia, which at the time was almost entirely unexplored.
<!-- Almost, because Dumont d'Urville had visited in 1837 -->
The objectives were to carry out geographical exploration and scientific studies, including a visit to the [[South magnetic pole]].
Mawson raised the necessary funds in a year, from British and Australian governments, and from commercial backers interested in [[Antarctica#Economy|mining]] and [[Whaling in Australia|whaling]].<ref name=bbc-2014/>

The expedition, using the ship {{ship|SY|Aurora}} commanded by Captain [[John King Davis]], departed from [[Hobart]] on 2 December 1911, landed at&nbsp;[[Cape&nbsp;Denison]] (named after [[Hugh Denison]], a major backer of the expedition) on [[Commonwealth Bay]] on 8 January 1912, and established the Main Base. A second camp was located to the west on the ice shelf in [[Queen Mary Land]]. Cape Denison proved to be unrelentingly windy; the average wind speed for the entire year was about {{convert|50|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}, with some winds approaching {{convert|200|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}. They built [[Mawson's Huts|a hut]] on the rocky cape and wintered through nearly constant [[blizzard]]s. Mawson wanted to do aerial exploration and brought the [[Air-tractor sledge|first aeroplane]] to Antarctica. The aircraft, a [[Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplane]],<ref>[http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/artefacts/display_artefact.cfm?artefact_id=1118 CDWS-1 Air tractor tail]</ref> was to be flown by [[Francis Howard Bickerton]]. When it was damaged in Australia shortly before the expedition departed, plans were changed so it was to be used only as a tractor on skis. However, the engine did not operate well in the cold, and it was removed and returned to [[Vickers]] in England. The aircraft fuselage itself was abandoned. On 1 January 2009, fragments of it were rediscovered by the Mawson's Huts Foundation, which is restoring the original huts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.antarctica.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/114782/MawsonsHut_low.pdf|title=Mawson's Huts Historic Site Management Plan 2013-2018|last=Australian Antarctic Division|date=2013|publisher=Australian Antarctic Division|access-date=21 May 2019|archive-date=15 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415204912/http://www.antarctica.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/114782/MawsonsHut_low.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Mawson's exploration program was carried out by five parties from the Main Base and two from the Western Base. Mawson himself was part of a three-man sledging team, the [[Far Eastern Party]], with [[Xavier Mertz]] and [[Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis|Lieutenant Belgrave Ninnis]], who headed east on 10 November 1912, to survey [[George V Land]]. After five weeks of excellent progress mapping the coastline and collecting geological samples, the party was crossing the [[Ninnis Glacier]] 480&nbsp;km east of the main base. Mertz was skiing and Mawson was on his [[sled]] with his weight dispersed, but Ninnis was jogging beside the second sled. Ninnis fell through a [[crevasse]], and his body weight is likely to have breached the snow bridge covering it. The six best dogs, most of the party's rations, their tent, and other essential supplies disappeared into the massive crevasse. Mertz and Mawson spotted one dead and one injured dog on a ledge {{convert|165|ft}} below them, but Ninnis was never seen again.<ref>[https://www.south-pole.com/p0000099.htm Douglas Mawson 1882-1958] www.south-pole.com</ref>

After a brief service, Mawson and Mertz turned back immediately. They had one week's provisions for two men and no dog food but plenty of fuel and a [[Primus stove]]. They sledged for 27 hours continuously to obtain a spare tent cover they had left behind, for which they improvised a frame from skis and a [[theodolite]]. Their lack of provisions forced them to use their remaining [[sled dog]]s to feed the other dogs and themselves:<ref name=MawsonHomeBlizzard>{{cite book
|publisher=Project Gutenberg
|editor1=Geoffrey Cowling
|editor2=David Widger
|year=2009
|orig-year=Autumn 1914
|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6137/6137-h/6137-h.htm#2HCH0013
|title=The Home of the Blizzard: Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911–1914
|author= Mawson, Sir Douglas
|location=London, UK
}}</ref>
{{blockquote|text=Their meat was tough, stringy and without a vestige of fat. For a change we sometimes chopped it up finely, mixed it with a little [[pemmican]], and brought all to the boil in a large pot of water. We were exceedingly hungry, but there was nothing to satisfy our appetites. Only a few ounces were used of the stock of ordinary food, to which was added a portion of dog's meat, never large, for each animal yielded so very little, and the major part was fed to the surviving dogs. They crunched the bones and ate the skin, until nothing remained.|author=Mawson |title=Chapter XIII. "Toil and Tribulation" p. [https://archive.org/details/homeofblizzardbe00maws/page/170/mode/1up 170] |source=''Home of the Blizzard'' (1914)}}

There was a quick deterioration in the men's physical condition during this journey. Both men suffered [[dizziness]]; [[nausea]]; [[abdominal pain]]; [[irrationality]]; mucosal fissuring; skin, hair, and nail loss; and the [[yellowing]] of eyes and skin. Later Mawson noticed a dramatic change in his travelling companion. Mertz seemed to lose the will to move and wished only to remain in his sleeping bag. He began to deteriorate rapidly with diarrhoea and madness. On one occasion Mertz refused to believe he was suffering from [[frostbite]] and bit off the tip of his own little finger. This was soon followed by violent raging—Mawson had to sit on his companion's chest and hold down his arms to prevent him from damaging their tent. Mertz suffered further seizures before falling into a coma and dying on 8 January 1913.<ref>Bickel, Lennard (2000). ''Mawson's Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written'', Hanover, New Hampshire: Steerforth Press. {{ISBN|1-58642-000-3}}</ref>

It was unknown at the time that high levels of [[vitamin A]] are toxic to humans, causing [[liver]] damage, and that [[husky]] liver contains extremely high levels of Vitamin A.<ref>{{multiref2|1={{cite journal |last1=Carrington-Smith |first1=Denise |title=Mawson and Mertz: A re-evaluation of their ill-fated mapping journey during the 1911–1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition |journal=Medical Journal of Australia |date=December 2005 |volume=183 |issue=11–12 |pages=638–641 |pmid = 16336159 |s2cid = 8430414 |doi=10.5694/j.1326-5377.2005.tb00064.x |url=https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2005/183/11/mawson-and-mertz-re-evaluation-their-ill-fated-mapping-journey-during-1911-1914}}|2={{cite journal |last1=Cleland |first1=John |last2=Southcott |first2=R. V. |title= Hypervitaminosis A in the Antarctic in the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911–1914: A possible explanation of the illnesses of Mawson and Mertz |journal=Medical Journal of Australia |date=June 1969 |volume=1 |issue=26 |pages=1337–1342 |doi=10.5694/j.1326-5377.1969.tb62397.x |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.5694/j.1326-5377.1969.tb62397.x |url-access= subscription}}}}</ref> With six dogs between them (with a liver on average weighing {{convert|1|kg|spell=in|disp=or}}), it is thought that the pair ingested enough liver to cause the toxicity syndrome [[hypervitaminosis A]], which can be fatal. Mertz may have eaten more of the liver because he had been used to a vegetarian diet, and so may have found the tough muscle tissue difficult to eat, thus being exposed to greater toxicity than Mawson.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nataraja |first1=Anjali |title=Man's best friend? |journal=BMJ |date=1 May 2002 |volume=324 |issue=Suppl S5 |url= https://www.bmj.com/content/324/Suppl_S5/0205158|pages=0205158 |doi=10.1136/sbmj.0205158 |url-access=subscription |department=BMJ Student |access-date=11 November 2009}}</ref>

Mawson continued the final {{convert|161|km}} alone. During his return trip to the Main Base he fell through the lid of a crevasse, and was saved only by his sledge wedging itself into the ice above him. He managed to climb out using the harness attaching him to the sled.

When Mawson finally made it back to [[Cape Denison]], the ship ''Aurora'' had left only a few hours before. It was recalled by [[wireless communication]], only to have bad weather thwart the rescue effort. Mawson and six men who had remained behind to look for him wintered a second year until December 1913. In Mawson's book ''Home of the Blizzard'', he describes his experiences. His party, and those at the Western Base, had explored large areas of the Antarctic coast, describing its [[Antarctica#Geologic history|geology]], [[Antarctica#Flora and fauna|biology]] and [[Climate of Antarctica|meteorology]], and more closely defining the location of the [[South magnetic pole]]. In 1915, the [[Royal Geographical Society]] awarded him their [[Founder's Medal]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/C5962519-882A-4C67-803D-0037308C756D/0/GoldMedallists18322011.pdf |title=List of Past Gold Medal Winners |publisher=Royal Geographical Society |access-date=24 August 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927221002/http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/C5962519-882A-4C67-803D-0037308C756D/0/GoldMedallists18322011.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2011  }}</ref> and in 1916 the [[American Geographical Society]] awarded him the [[David Livingstone Centenary Medal]].<ref name=honorslist>[http://www.amergeog.org/honorslist.pdf "The Cullum Geographical Medal"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326222952/http://www.amergeog.org/honorslist.pdf |date=26 March 2009 }}. American Geographical Society. Retrieved 17 June 2010.</ref>

The expedition was the subject of [[David Roberts (climber)|David Roberts]]' book ''Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration''.

=== ''Home of the Blizzard'' ===

In his book ''The Home of the Blizzard'', Mawson talked of "Herculean gusts" on 24 May 1912 which he learned afterwards "approached two hundred miles per hour".<ref name="HoB XI">{{cite book |last1=Mawson |first1=Douglas |title=The home of the blizzard: Being the story of the Australasian Antarctic expedition, 1911–1914 |date=1930 |publisher=Hodder and Stoughton |volume=I |location=London |chapter=XI. Spring Exploits |pages=120–135 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/homeofblizzardbe00maws/page/94/mode/1up}}</ref>{{rp|94}} Mawson reported that the average wind speed for March was {{convert|68|mph}}; for April, {{convert|52.5|mph}}; and for May, {{convert|67.799|mph}}.<!--unable tlcate these figures at given page, nor in either vol of book. Please supply correct pp. if you can--><ref>Mawson, D. ''The Home of the Blizzard'', Vol I. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott. No date.{{not in source|date=March 2024}}
* {{cite book |last1=Mawson |first1=Douglas |title=The home of the blizzard: Being the story of the Australasian Antarctic expedition, 1911–1914 |date=1915 |publisher=Lippincott |location=Philadelphia |pages=99–110 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/homeofblizzardbe01maws/page/102/mode/2up |chapter=VI: Autumn Prospects}}{{not in source|date=March 2024}}</ref> These [[katabatic wind]]s can reach around {{convert|300|km/h|mph|abbr=on}} and led Mawson to dub Cape Denison "the windiest place on Earth".<ref>Trewby, M., ed., (2002). ''Antarctica. An encyclopedia from Abbott Ice Shelf to Zooplankton'' Firefly Books Ltd. {{ISBN|1-55297-590-8}}</ref><ref>[https://mawsonshuts.antarctica.gov.au/ "Home of the Blizzard".] ''Australian Antarctic Division''. Retrieved 5 November 2011.</ref>