With
The 'Aurora' In The Antarctic 1911-1914
Douglas Mawson led the Australian
Antarctic Expedition aboard the 'Aurora'. Mawson's subsequent popular official
account of the expedition - 'The Home of the Blizzard' offered an extensive overview,
but even so failed to provide much detail about the ship's actual voyages. Davis
the ship's captain fills the gap in the literature by providing the present record
of the ship's life. Published Melrose 1919, it is a rare book worth £1200
for a good copy.
Trial by Ice. The Antarctic Journals of
John King Davis.
(Ed by Louise Crossley)
John King Davis
was probably the greatest of the captains in the age of Antarctic exploration,
and he was obsessed with the Antarctic. His seven voyages from 1907 to 1930 gave
him an unrivalled experience in ice navigation. Known by his crew as 'Gloomy Davis'
he believed in stern discipline and that it was the captain, not the expedition
leader, who was in charge of the ship. His caution and pessimism often brought
him into conflict with expedition leaders such as Douglas Mawson.
Taken from
his previous journals, this is Davis's account of the major Antarctic voyages.
It offers and interesting counterpoint to the diaries of Mawson and it gives a
very personal view of Davis's feelings about the frozen continent that dominated
so much of his life. Published by Bluntisham in 1997.
