The Voyages

The fourth scientific base

The AAE’s scientific effort was based in four separate places. Three of its bases were on solid foundations – at Cape Denison and on the Shackleton Ice Shelf and Macquarie Island. The fourth was on the rolling deck of that redoubtable former whaler-sealer Aurora.

Diagram showing the streaming of the Monagasque trawl and the winding gear on the deck of the Aurora.From the AAE Reports, Series A, Volume II, page 166

Diagram showing the streaming of the Monagasque trawl and the winding gear on the deck of the Aurora.From the AAE Reports, Series A, Volume II, page 166. © Australian ANtarctic Division.

Where the shore parties were to explore the land and ice around their bases, Davis and his men had the task of exploring over a much larger area in the Southern Ocean. This was then as it is now the least-known of Earth’s ocean waters. The 1872–1876 Challenger expedition had been the major Antarctic oceanographic venture up to then, but the seas crossed by the AAE had never before been subjected to dedicated marine science study.

View on the fo'c'sle head of the 'Aurora' looking aft. In the foreground on the left is a large drum on which is wound a multi-strand wire used for lowering the reversing waterbottles for obtaining water samples, and deep-sea temperatures. Captain Davis i

View on the fo'c'sle head of the 'Aurora' looking aft. In the foreground on the left is a large drum on which is wound a multi-strand wire used for lowering the reversing waterbottles for obtaining water samples, and deep-sea temperatures. Captain Davis is seen holding the Ekman reversing Waterbottle whilst Hunter with the aid of a pocket lens is reading the temperature recorded on the Richter thermometer. The waterbottle has just been hauled to the surface by the wire which passes from the drum over the metre wheel slung from the davit. Further aft on the port side one of the sailors is seen in the act of attaching to the Lucas sounder the belt which communicates the drive from the winding engine, which is just out of sight behind the big reel on the left of the picture. From AAE Scientific Report Series A Vol 2 Part III. Australian Antarctic Division.

Douglas Mawson knew the importance of studying the ocean. His integration of Southern Ocean research into his essentially land-based program gave the AAE its deserved reputation as the most comprehensive Antarctic scientific expedition to that time.

Another Yorkshire-born Australian, Charles Hedley – long a campaigner for more government support for marine science – was an ardent supporter of Aurora’s work. Practical support for Davis as master of Aurora came from the Norwegian master of the new Australian government fisheries vessel Endeavour, Harald Cristian Dannevig, who had hosted Frank Wild as a trainee aboard his ship during 1911.