SY Aurora's Drift - Aftermath

Aftermath

On his arrival in New Zealand Stenhouse learned that nothing had been heard from Shackleton and the Weddell Sea party since their departure from South Georgia in December 1914; it seemed probable that both arms of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition were requiring relief. Stenhouse was informed by the expedition offices in London that funds had long since been exhausted and that money for the necessary work on Aurora would have to be found elsewhere. It was also evident that in the minds of the authorities the relief of Shackleton's party should have priority over the men marooned at Cape Evans.

This period of uncertainty lasted until Shackleton's sudden reappearance in the Falkland Islands, at the beginning of June. With a single mission in prospect the governments of Britain, Australia and New Zealand agreed jointly to finance the Ross Sea relief expedition, and on 28 June work on Aurora began. Stenhouse still assumed that as de facto captain of the vessel he would lead the relief party, but it became apparent that the committee charged with supervision of the refit were critical of Shackleton's initial organisation of the Ross Sea expedition. They wished to appoint their own commander for the relief expedition, and Stenhouse, as a Shackleton loyalist, was unacceptable. They also questioned whether Stenhouse had sufficient experience for command, citing his unfortunate choice of a winter berth. After months of uncertainty Stenhouse learned, through a newspaper account on 4 October, that John King Davis had been appointed as Aurora's new captain. Urged by Shackleton not to cooperate with this arrangement, Stenhouse turned down the offer that he should revert to chief officer and was discharged, along with Thomson, Donnelly and Hooke. Shackleton arrived in New Zealand too late to influence matters, beyond arranging his own appointment as a supernumerary officer on Aurora before her departure for Cape Evans on 20 December 1916. In 1920 King George V appointed Joseph Stenhouse an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), in acknowledgement of his service aboard Aurora.

On 10 January 1917, manned by an almost entirely new crew, Aurora arrived at Cape Evans and picked up the seven survivors of the shore party – Mackintosh, Victor Hayward and Arnold Spencer-Smith had died. This was the vessel's final visit to Antarctic waters; on return to New Zealand it was sold by Shackleton to a coal carrier. Aurora left Newcastle, New South Wales, on 20 June 1917 bound for Chile, and was never seen again, officially posted as missing by Lloyds of London on 2 January 1918. Among those lost was James Paton, who had acted as the ship's boatswain throughout the Ross Sea Party expedition and the drift, and on the subsequent relief mission.