Cultural Object
Aurora (1876 - 1917)
- From
- 1876
- To
- 1917
- Functions
- Antarctic exploration and Ship
Summary
Aurora was a barque-rigged whaler built in Dundee in 1876. During her first 34 years she was involved in the whaling and sealing trades in northern waters. Aurora was chosen as the expedition vessel for Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911 - 1914. Her master John K. Davis oversaw her refit for the Expedition, including modifications to her rigging and the installation of two sounding machines. Expedition members were landed at Macquarie Island and at Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica, in December 1911. Between then and returning to Antarctica to relieve member s of the Expedition in January 1913, Aurora was engaged in scientific cruises in sub-Antarctic waters with a program of taking soundings and (not always successful) trawling. Most members of the Expedition were taken off: five remained for another winter because Mawson and his sledging party had not returned to base. Davis commanded a last voyage for the Expedition in late 1913 to take on board the six over-wintering expeditioners (including Mawson). During the return journey to Australia, where they reached Adelaide in February 1914, the crew conducted a program of soundings, dredging and trawling. In 1914 Aurora took the Ross Sea Party of Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Transantarctic Expedition to Cape Evans in Antarctica. Davis commanded Aurora a final time to take off the members of the Cape Evans party in January 1917. Aurora was lost at sea in mid-1917 while taking a cargo of coal to Chile. Mount Aurora, Aurora Glacier and other geographic features in Antarctica were named in honour of the ship.
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- Davis, J. K., With the Aurora in the Antarctic, 1911 - 1914 (London: Andrew Melrose, 1919), 183 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Dartnall, H. J. G., 'Antarctic vignettes VII: unsung heroes - researching the crew of the S.Y. Aurora 1911 - 1914', Papers and proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 148 (2014), 11-5. https://doi.org/10.26749/rstpp.148.11. Details
- Davis, J. K., 'The soundings of the Antarctic ship Aurora between Tasmania and the Antarctic continent 1912', Geographical Journal, 42 (4) (1913), 361-2. Details
- Quilty, P. G.; and Goddard, P. H., 'The lower deck on Aurora H. V. Goddard's diary, 1913-14', Polar record, 40 (3) (2004), 193-203. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003224740300336X. Details
See also
- Bechervaise, John, 'Davis, John King (1884-1967), Antarctic Navigator' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds, vol. 8 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1981), pp. 238-239. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080262b.htm. Details
- Davis, J. K., High latitude ([Parkville, Vic.]: Melbourne University Press, 1962), 292 pp. Details
- Davis, John King: edited by Crossley, Louise, Trial by ice: the Antarctic journals of John King Davis ( Bluntisham, Huntingdon: Norwich, Norfolk: Bluntisham Books: Erskine Press, 1919), 195 pp. Details
- Mawson, Douglas, The home of the blizzard: being the story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911 - 1914, 2 vols (London: J.B. Lippincott: Heinemann, 1915). Details
- Mawson, Douglas, The Home of the Blizzard: the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 (Kent Town, SA: Wakefield Press, 1996), 534 pp. Details
- Rice, A. L., British oceanographic vessels 1800 - 1950 (London: Ray Society, 1986), 193 pp. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 23 April 2024