People of Aurora: Clarence Petersen de la Motte
AAE position: Third Officer of S.Y. Aurora
IN THEIR WORDS
The total number of people on board the Aurora, including Sir Ernest Shackleton, was twenty-five and I was fortunate in having one of the officers who had served with me on previous Antarctic voyages. C. P. de la Motte, who had been Third Officer in the Aurora in 1911, was now my Chief Officer. – J.K. Davis, High Latitude, speaking of the 1916–17 Ross Sea relief expedition
Born in 1892, de la Motte hailed from Bulli, New South Wales. His early maritime training was on the New Zealand barque Northern Chief. He obtained his second mate’s certificate in March 1911, after which he served for eight months as fourth officer on S.S. Warrimoo, of the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand. De la Motte served as third officer through all five cruises of Aurora from 1911 to 1914.
He served as Chief Officer under Davis on the 1916–17 relief expedition that rescued marooned members of Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition from Ross Island, for which he was awarded the King’s Polar Medal.
