South Magnetic Pole

One of the aims of Ernest Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-09 was to attempt to reach the South Magnetic Pole. This region of the Earth's surface had been a target for explorers ever since Sir James Clark Ross had reached the North Magnetic Pole in 1831. The German mathematician and magnetician Carl Gauss had calculated its presumed position and four 19th century expeditions had striven to reach it but had been unable to do so because it was (at that time) on the polar plateau behind a wall of mountains.

Then in September 1908 Edgeworth David, Alastair McKay and Douglas Mawson set out from Cape Royds in McMurdo Sound. David was 50 years old: initially he had planned only to sail south and return to Australia with the ship, but decided to remain and then to undertake the leadership of the Magnetic Pole journey. It was a gruelling journey of taking man-hauled sledges, weighing over 300 kilograms each, through a completely unknown region. Just as on Scott's expedition, and as Shackleton found on his attempt on the South Pole, their rations were inadequate for the effort they needed and to counter the cold. They also needed to reduce rations early into the expedition as it was taking longer than anticipated.

Quite early on, each member of the party began to suspect the other of not pulling 'their full weight' in the sledge harness. Christmas was celebrated with a cessation of the exhausting need to relay the sledges; there was no extra food. New Year, however, they toasted in with a mug of cocoa. Crevasses were a constant problem, but by early January they appeared to be on the plateau. The thin air made breathing more difficult. On 11 January David recorded the temperature at minus 12 degrees Fahrenheit (-24 degrees Celsius). Finally, on 15 January 1909, Mawson calculated that they were about 13 miles (approximately 21 kilometres) from their target. They depoted their heavy gear and the next day made a push for the Pole. At 72 degrees 25' S, 155 degrees 16' E longitude they were at the location Mawson had calculated for the South Magnetic Pole: the Union Jack was raised, the camera positioned and a trigger and string arrangement made so a photograph of the group could record the moment. Mawson stands on the right hand side of the image, David in the middle. The expedition returned to their depot and celebrated their achievement with a larger than usual, though still modest, serving of pemmican 'hoosh' (a thick stew made with pemmican,  a concentrated mixture of fat and protein,  and biscuit). Then they began the return journey to the coast and their rendezvous with the Nimrod.

By the end of the journey, McKay, one of the expedition's doctors, was prepared to declare David no longer competent of leading the party. His age was against him, and his condition deteriorating faster than that of the two younger men. It did not quite come to that as David resigned in favour of Mawson. At the time of the expedition the party believed that they had reached within 15 miles (approximately 24 kilometres) of the Magnetic Pole - close enough to claim that they had reached the area of oscillation.

This was a heroic journey of 2,028 kilometres pioneering a route and man-hauling their sledges: from the sea ice they had climbed up the Drygalski Ice Barrier and the Larson Glacier to the polar plateau at over 7,000 feet (2,140 metres). Their return was hastened by the need to be back at the coast to meet their relief party.

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