Aurora Australis was the "first book ever written, printed, illustrated and bound in the Antarctic". [1]
Aurora Australis was the "first book ever written, printed, illustrated and bound in the Antarctic". [1]
Aurora Australis was written during the British Antarctic Expedition (BAE) or the Nimrod Expedition (1908–09) led by Ernest Shackleton. Produced entirely by members of the expedition, the book was edited by Shackleton, illustrated with lithographs and etchings by George Marston, printed by Ernest Joyce and Frank Wild using a J. Causton & Sons printing press, and bound by Bernard Day. The production of Aurora Australis was one of the cultural activities Shackleton encouraged while the expedition team over-wintered at Cape Royds on Ross Island in the McMurdo Sound, to ensure that "the spectre known as 'polar ennui' never made its appearance". [2]
In the additional preface, Shackleton writes, "Since writing the preface for this book I have again looked over its pages, and though I can see but little not up to usual standard in bookmaking, the printers are not satisfied that it is everything that it ought to be. But the reader will understand better the difficulty of such a book quite up to the mark when he is told that, owing to the low temperature in the hut, the only way to keep the printing ink in a fit state to use was to have a candle burning under the inking plate; and so, if some pages are printed more lightly than others it is due to the difficulty of regulating the heat, and consequently the thinning or thickening of the ink."
Because the copies of Aurora Australis were unnumbered, it is unclear exactly how many were produced; it is believed that one hundred copies were created, of which less than seventy have been accounted for. [3] Copies of the book are often identified by the original stencils on the inside of the covers, which were made of boards from wooden supply boxes. [4] : 10 Shackleton may have originally intended to sell copies of the book on his return from the Antarctic, but instead they were all distributed among the members of the expedition and given to other "friends and benefactors of the expedition". [5]
The book is divided into ten sections, each a story or poem written by members of the crew. Illustrations are shown throughout. The sections are as follows:
An account of the first summiting of Mount Erebus by David and other members of the expedition.
A short, comedic poem detailing what a night watchman might observe while everyone else sleeps. It describes dogs snarling over a bone outside and the sleepers inside having terrible or sometimes amorous dreams.
A humorous account of being the messman for the expedition at Cape Royds. An anonymous member of the expedition team explaining how little attention or respect he paid to the duties of a messman before it became his job. He describes mealtimes and his duties surrounding them in detail, concluding that cooks deserve more respect than they generally receive and that the various scientists should be appreciated for volunteering to sweep the tent and take that duty off the messman's hands.
A present-tense account of a two-hour duty watch in the Pony Stables on Nimrod in harsh seas.
A poem about the journey to Antarctica aboard Nimrod.
When the sun returns from his tropical home,
And smiles on these desolate quarters,
May the ice hold fast till sledging is past,
Then 'What Ho'! for our wives and daughters.
A short story about a man speaking to an Emperor Penguin who informs him that he is intruding on a country estate and demands identification. The penguin speaks with a strong Scottish accent and accuses the narrator of stealing one of its eggs as Scott's party did, though the only thing in his pocket is a flask which he offers to the penguin. The penguin reluctantly agrees to let him go, and the narrator wakes, unsure whether it was a dream after all.
A short, admiring poem on Mount Erebus and the landscape around it.
A tale in the style of The Story of King Arthur and his Knights by Howard Pyle, recounting Shackleton's mythic rise to becoming expedition leader and mixing contemporary and archaic language for comedic effect.
"And so it came to pass that Shackleton, having got together his ship and men to work on the ship, and his steward to gather stores of food and raiment, did look around for men tried and trusted whom he might take with him to dwell in that distant land of snow and darkness.
"First did he choose one who was skilled in the arts of reading signs and portents in the clouds and in the stars, and of steering his way on land or on the water by means of a wondrous piece of metal marked with divers figures.
"Then he took one who had studied at the seats of learning and had knowledge of all kinds of sickness, and who could join together bones which were broken asunder.
"And because that they had been in the ship Discovery, and knew of the land and the people and the beasts that dwelt therein, he did take two from the ships of the Great King."
Concerns Rotifers and how they are able to survive in the cold of Antarctica.
A speculative short story which appears at first to be another memoir-like account of Antarctica, but which actually explores an expedition into a fictional world called Bathybia, a hot jungle with red foliage and terrifying spider-like creatures which attack the men, besides giant tardigrades with an anaesthetic bite. This, too, is revealed at the end to be a dream.
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Sir Douglas Mawson was a British-born Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Ross Island is an island in Antarctica lying on the east side of McMurdo Sound and extending 43 nautical miles from Cape Bird in the north to Cape Armitage in the south, and a similar distance from Cape Royds in the west to Cape Crozier in the east. The island is entirely volcanic. Mount Erebus, 3,795 metres (12,451 ft), near the center, is an active volcano. Mount Terror, 3,230 metres (10,600 ft) about 20 nautical miles eastward, is an extinct volcano. Mount Bird rises to 1,765 metres (5,791 ft) just south of Cape Bird. Ross Island lies within the boundary of Ross Dependency, an area of Antarctica claimed by New Zealand.
Nimrod was a wooden-hulled, three-masted sailing ship with auxiliary steam engine that was built in Scotland in 1867 as a whaler. She was the ship with which Ernest Shackleton made his Nimrod Expedition to Antarctica in 1908–09. After the expedition she returned to commercial service, and in 1919 she was wrecked in the North Sea with the loss of ten members of her crew.
Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David was a Welsh Australian geologist and Antarctic explorer. A household name in his lifetime, David's most significant achievements were discovering the major Hunter Valley coalfield in New South Wales and leading the first expedition to reach the South Magnetic Pole. He also served with distinction in World War I.
Alistair Forbes Mackay was a Scottish physician, biologist, and polar explorer known for being the first, along with Australians Douglas Mawson and Edgeworth David, to reach the South Magnetic Pole on 16 January 1909, during the British Antarctic Expedition of 1907–1909.
The DiscoveryExpedition of 1901–1904, known officially as the British National Antarctic Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since the voyage of James Clark Ross sixty years earlier (1839–1843). Organized on a large scale under a joint committee of the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), the new expedition carried out scientific research and geographical exploration in what was then largely an untouched continent. It launched the Antarctic careers of many who would become leading figures in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, including Robert Falcon Scott who led the expedition, Ernest Shackleton, Edward Wilson, Frank Wild, Tom Crean and William Lashly.
The NimrodExpedition of 1907–1909, otherwise known as the British Antarctic Expedition, was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton and his second time to the Continent. Its main target, among a range of geographical and scientific objectives, was to be first to reach the South Pole. This was not attained, but the expedition's southern march reached a Farthest South latitude of 88° 23' S, just 97.5 nautical miles from the pole. This was by far the longest southern polar journey to that date and a record convergence on either Pole. A separate group led by Welsh Australian geology professor Edgeworth David reached the estimated location of the South magnetic pole, and the expedition also achieved the first ascent of Mount Erebus, Antarctica's second highest volcano.
John Robert Francis Wild was an English sailor and explorer. He participated in five expeditions to Antarctica during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, for which he was awarded the Polar Medal with four bars, one of only two men to be so honoured, the other being Ernest Joyce.
The Ross Sea party was a component of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914–1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Its task was to lay a series of supply depots across the Great Ice Barrier from the Ross Sea to the Beardmore Glacier, along the polar route established by earlier Antarctic expeditions. The expedition's main party, under Shackleton, was to land near Vahsel Bay on the Weddell Sea on the opposite coast of Antarctica, and to march across the continent via the South Pole to the Ross Sea. As the main party would be unable to carry sufficient fuel and supplies for the whole distance, their survival depended on the Ross Sea party setting up supply depots, which would cover the final quarter of their journey.
Cape Royds is a dark rock cape forming the western extremity of Ross Island, facing on McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. It was discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition (BrNAE) (1901–1904) and named for Lieutenant Charles Royds, Royal Navy, who acted as meteorologist on the expedition. Royds subsequently rose to become an Admiral and was later Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, London. The cape is the site of Shackleton's Hut, the expedition camp of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907–09.
Aeneas Lionel Acton Mackintosh was a British Merchant Navy officer and Antarctic explorer who commanded the Ross Sea party as part of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–1917. The Ross Sea party's mission was to support Shackleton's proposed transcontinental march by laying supply depots along the latter stages of the march's intended route. In the face of persistent setbacks and practical difficulties, Mackintosh's party fulfilled its task, although he and two others died in the course of their duties. Mackintosh's first Antarctic experience was as second officer on Shackleton's Nimrod expedition, 1907–1909. Shortly after his arrival in the Antarctic, a shipboard accident destroyed his right eye, and he was sent back to New Zealand. He returned in 1909 to participate in the later stages of the expedition; his will and determination in adversity impressed Shackleton, and led to his Ross Sea party appointment in 1914.
Ernest Edward Mills Joyce AM was a Royal Naval seaman and explorer who participated in four Antarctic expeditions during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, in the early 20th century. He served under both Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. As a member of the Ross Sea party in Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, Joyce earned an Albert Medal for his actions in bringing the stricken party to safety, after a traumatic journey on the Great Ice Barrier. He was awarded the Polar Medal with four bars, one of only two men to be so honoured, the other being his contemporary, Frank Wild.
John King Davis was an English-born Australian explorer and navigator notable for his work capping 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.
The drift of the Antarctic exploration vessel SY Aurora was an ordeal which lasted 312 days, affecting the Ross Sea party of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–1917. It began when the ship broke loose from its anchorage in McMurdo Sound in May 1915, during a gale. Caught in heavy pack ice and unable to manoeuvre, Aurora, with eighteen men aboard, was carried into the open waters of the Ross Sea and Southern Ocean, leaving ten men stranded ashore with meagre provisions.
Backdoor Bay is a small bay lying at the east side of Cape Royds, along the west side of Ross Island, Antarctica.
This is an alphabetical index of all articles related to the continent of Antarctica.
Sir Philip Lee Brocklehurst, 2nd Baronet is known particularly as a member of the Nimrod Expedition in Antarctica of 1907–1909, led by Ernest Shackleton.
George Edward Marston was an English artist who twice accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton on expeditions to Antarctic, first from 1907 to 1909 on the Nimrod expedition, and then later from 1914 to 1917 on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which ended with the crew being marooned on Elephant Island.
South is a book by Ernest Shackleton describing the second expedition to Antarctica led by him, the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914 to 1917. It was published in London by William Heinemann in 1919.
