X-Nico

3 unusual facts about SY Aurora


Arnold Spencer-Smith

The circumstances of the expedition, after the depletion of the shore party following the loss of SY Aurora in May 1915, meant that Spencer-Smith was required for the main depot journey to the Beardmore Glacier during the 1915–16 summer season, irrespective of his physical limitations.

Personnel of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

All the Weddell Sea party were rescued, but several members of the Ross Sea party perished after their support ship Aurora broke free from its mooring and drifted, leaving the shore party stranded.

SY Aurora

An Advisory Committee was established in Melbourne, consisting of Rear Admiral Sir William Cresswell, Professor Sir Orme Masson, Captain J.R. Barter, Commander John Stevenson and Dr Griffith Taylor.


Curzon Islands

The islands were roughly charted in 1912 by Captain J.K. Davis of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition ship Aurora and named by Mawson for Lord Curzon, the President of the Royal Geographical Society, 1911–14.

Frank Wild

In 1911 he joined Douglas Mawson’s Aurora expedition and was in charge of the western base on the Shackleton Ice Shelf.

Mauger Nunatak

It was named by the New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (1961–62) for C.C. Mauger, a crew member of the Aurora, the vessel which transported the Ross Sea party of Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–17) from Australia to the Ross Sea.


see also