Problems in Australia
Mackintosh and the nucleus of the party arrived in Sydney, Australia, late in October 1914. They were shocked to find that Aurora was in no condition for an Antarctic voyage, and required an extensive overhaul. Furthermore, Shackleton had apparently misunderstood the terms under which he had acquired the vessel from Mawson—even the registration of the ship in Shackleton's name had not been properly completed. Mawson had reclaimed much of the equipment and stores that had been aboard; essential navigational instruments, as well as basic necessities in the ship's living quarters, all needed replacing. To compound the problem, Shackleton had reduced the funds available to Mackintosh from £2,000 to £1,000, expecting him to bridge the difference by soliciting for supplies as free gifts and by mortgaging the ship. There was no cash available to cover the wages and living expenses for the party.
Shackleton was now beyond reach, aboard Endurance en route for Antarctica. Supporters of the expedition in Australia, notably Edgeworth David who had served as chief scientist on the Nimrod expedition, were concerned at the plight in which Mackintosh's party had been placed. They helped to raise sufficient funds to keep the expedition alive, but several members of the party resigned or abandoned the venture. Some of the last-minute replacements were raw recruits; Adrian Donnelly, a locomotive engineer with no sea experience, signed as second engineer, while wireless operator Lionel Hooke was an 18-year-old electrical apprentice.
Despite all these difficulties, progress was sufficient for the Aurora to set sail from Sydney on 15 December 1914, bound for Hobart, where she arrived on 20 December to take on final stores and fuel before departing south. On 24 December, three weeks later than the original target sailing date, the Aurora finally sailed for the Antarctic, arriving off Ross Island on 16 January 1915. Mackintosh decided to establish a shore base at Cape Evans, Captain Scott's headquarters during the 1910–13 Terra Nova Expedition, and to find a safe winter mooring nearby for Aurora.
Read more about this topic: Ross Sea Party
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