The Facsimilies

THE ROSS SEA SHORE PARTY 1914-17
R. W. Richards

In August 1914 Shackleton set sail for the Pole on board the Endurance. His expedition, with the rather imposing title of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, was to make a trans-continental journey from the Weddell Sea on one side of the continent to the Ross Sea on the other. Shackleton was doubtful if enough provisions could be carried by the trans-continental party for the complete journey so his plan called for a second ship to land a team in McMurdo Sound whose task it would be to lay food depots every 60 miles, as far south as the Beardmore Glacier. This party, on board the Aurora, sailed late in the same year. In January 1915 they landed at McMurdo. 

However, after a fearful storm their ship was ripped from its moorings and along with it went most of their supplies. Refusing to give up, the men scavenged enough from an earlier expedition and set out to do their work.

They trekked across some 2000 miles, always convinced that when they completed their task Shackleton would have sufficient supplies for the latter part of his journey. Three men died along the way.

The story of the Ross Sea Party’s struggles has been almost ignored - unfairly so. It is one of the really notable polar journeys; ten men marooned with none of their own fuel, clothes or stores, yet by improvisation managing to stock depots for a party that would never come.

R.W. Richards, a young Australian physicist, set down his personal story for the Scott Polar Research Institute. This is a facsimile copy of their Special Publication No. 2, long out of print. 

...in making this journey the greatest qualities of endurance, self-sacrifice and patience were called for, and the call was not in vain... Sir Ernest Shackleton

60pp, 240 x 165mm, hardback, jacketed, 2 photographs, 1 map
£14.95 Order


Voyages of the Morning - Gerald Doorly

In 1904, the Morning was sent to the Antarctic - largely as a result of the determination of Sir Clements Markham - to relieve Scott's ship, the Discovery. Doorly was then one one of the junior officers on the Morning but it was not until 1915 that he wrote about his impressions of Scott and of the other members of that early British national Antarctic Expedition. This is a lively and often very amusing account.

This is a reprint...of a rare Antarctic book published...in 1916. The reprint is a welcome one.
Ann Savours Mariner's Mirror

288pp, 205 x 135mm, hardback, illustrated £24.95 Order


With the Aurora in the Antarctic 1911–1914
John K Davis
With a new introduction by Beau Riffenburgh

Douglas Mawson who led the Australian Antarctic Expedition 1911–14, called it a stirring tale of exploration in what he referred to as ‘The Home of the Blizzard’. This expedition is well documented but much less well known is the story of the expedition’s ship, the Aurora, and its remarkable captain – John King Davis. Both Davis and Mawson cut their Antarctic teeth as members of Shackleton’s expedition of 1907–09 and, by the time he retired, Davis was one of the most experienced ice captains in the world. The Aurora was built in 1876 as an Arctic whaler. Although old and battered, captained by Davis it managed three Antarctic voyages in support of Mawson and his men. Known as ‘Gloomy Davis’ by his crew, he was a reticent man of principle and determination. His view of the captain’s role brought him into direct conflict with Mawson, with inevitable tensions for the expedition. Yet both men were crucial to the success of the expedition, both in terms of exploration and science.

Published in a small edition in 1919 it is now very scarce and we are delighted to be able to re-publish, in facsimile form, the original account of the ship’s exploits. The introduction by the well-known polar historian Beau Riffenburgh provides an excellent overview of both Davis and the expedition. This is a companion volume to our earlier book Trial by Ice – the Antarctic Journals of John King Davis, edited by Louise Crossley.

312pp + 1 fold-out map (includes 83 illustrations) hardback, blocked in gold on front and spine. £27.50 Order