Mawson's Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written PDF
Preview Mawson's Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written
THE GREATEST POLAR SURVIVAL STORY EVER WRITTEN BY LENNARD BICKEL FORWARD BY SIR EDMUND HILLARY Copyright © 2000 Lennard Bickel ALL RIGHTS RESERVED For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to: Steerforth Press L.L.C. 25 Lebanon Street Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bickel, Lennard. Mawson's will: the greatest polar survival story ever written / Lennard Bickel; foreword by Sir Edmund Hillary. — 1st ed. p. cm. Originally published: New York : Stein and Day, 1977. ISBN 1-58642-000-3 (alk. paper) 1. Mawson, Douglas, Sir, 1882–1958 — Journeys. 2. Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–1914) [1. Antarctica — Discovery and exploration — Australian.] I. Title. G875.M33 B53 2000 919.89 — DC21 99-059210 Manufactured in the United States of America ISBN-13: 978-1-58642-000-0 FIFTH PRINTING To Frances Craighead, who opened a door Contents Foreword by Sir Edmund Hillary Prelude The Two Tents The Cruel Continent The Assault The Rejected Invitation 1 Driven Westward 2 The Kingdom of Blizzards 3 The Winter of Intent 4 Outward Bound 5 Discovery and Death 6 In Peril on the Ice 7 Diet of Dog 8 Cross in the Snow 9 One Pair of Feet 10 Corpse in a Crevasse 11 A Colored Bag 12 Aladdin's Beacon 13 A Winter to Wait 14 Sequel: The Contract Stands Author's Note Foreword T he heroic period of Antarctic exploration occurred in the score of years at the beginning of this century—a surprisingly short time ago when you think of how long man has been exploring his planet. It was in that time that men first commenced their resounding battles, with all the incredible discomforts and hardships of the southern continent, and the period was dominated by the names of Amundsen, Scott, and Shackleton—and mighty men they were, too. But there were others like these great heroes, who were undertaking comparable feats of courage and leadership, who never achieved quite the same stature in the public mind because their objectives did not include that magic goal—the South Pole. Outstanding among these men were two Australians, middle-aged Professor Edgworth David and Dr. Douglas Mawson (later Sir Douglas). Their 1908 man-hauling sledge journey to the South Magnetic Pole along with the Sydney medico Dr. Alistair MacKay was a tremendous undertaking; it was on the return journey of some hundreds of miles of desperate travel back to the seacoast that Mawson showed to the full the strength, vitality, and leadership that were so pronounced a part of his character. But Mawson had an even greater test ahead of him. From 1911 to 1913 —at the same time as the Scott tragedy was coming to its sad conclusion— Mawson led his Australasian Antarctic Expedition into the unknown country west of Cape Adare. It was an expedition that carried out a notable amount of scientific research, which earned it a place among the great
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