Far Eastern Party

Route from Cape Denison across the Mertz and Ninnis Glaciers, 10 November 1912 – 8 February 1913 (1912-11-10 – 1913-02-08) (2 months and 29 days)
  Mawson, Mertz and Ninnis' outward progress until 14 December 1912
  Mawson and Mertz's return progress until 8 January 1913
  Mawson's return progress until 8 February 1913

The Far Eastern Party was a sledging component of the 1911–1914 Australasian Antarctic expedition, which investigated the previously unexplored coastal regions of Antarctica west of Cape Adare. Led by Douglas Mawson, the party aimed to explore the area far to the east of their main base in Adélie Land, pushing about 500 miles (800 km) towards Victoria Land. Accompanying Mawson were Belgrave Edward Ninnis, a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers, and Swiss ski expert Xavier Mertz; the party used sledge dogs to increase their speed across the ice. Initially they made good progress, crossing two huge glaciers on their route south-east.

On 14 December 1912, with the party more than 311 miles (501 km) from the safety of the main base at Cape Denison, Ninnis and the sledge he was walking beside broke through the snow lid of a crevasse and were lost. Their supplies now severely compromised, Mawson and Mertz turned back west, gradually shooting the remaining sledge dogs for food to supplement their scarce rations. As they crossed the first glacier on their return journey Mertz became sick, making progress difficult. After almost a week of making very little headway Mertz died, leaving Mawson to carry on alone.

For almost a month he pulled his sledge across the Antarctic, crossing the second glacier, despite an illness that increasingly weakened him. Mawson reached the comparative safety of Aladdin's Cave—a food depot five and a half miles (8.9 km) from the main base—on 1 February 1913, only to be trapped there for a week while a blizzard raged outside. As a result, he missed the ship back to Australia; the SY Aurora had sailed on 8 February, just hours before his return to Cape Denison, after waiting for more than three weeks. With a relief party, Mawson remained at Cape Denison until the Aurora returned the following summer in December 1913.

The causes of Mertz's death and Mawson's related illness remain uncertain; a 1969 study suggested hypervitaminosis A, presumably caused by the men eating the livers of their Greenland huskies, which are now known to be unusually high in vitamin A. While this is considered the most likely theory, dissenting opinions suggest prolonged cold exposure or psychological stresses. Explorer and mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary described Mawson's month-long journey as "probably the greatest story of lone survival in Polar exploration".[1]

  1. ^ Edmund Hillary (1976) in Bickel (2000), p. x.