Mount Erebus

Mt Erebus is the largest and most active volcano in Antarctica. It was discovered by Sir James Clark Ross in 1841, during his expedition of 1839-44, and named after his ship Erebus. Ross Island is composed of the outpourings of four volcanoes of which only Mt Erebus is still active. The volcano was climbed for the first time by members of Ernest Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition 1907-09.

In the early autumn of 1908 six men left Shackleton's base at Cape Royds: Sir T W Edgeworth David, Douglas Mawson, Alistair Mackay and a support party consisting of Jameson Adams, Eric Marshall, and Philip Brocklehurst. They set out with 10 days provisions on a man-hauled sledge. By the end of the first day they had climbed to 2,750 feet (838 metres) but from this point on conditions toughened. The slope steepened, the temperature dropped and sastrugi (hardened waves of compacted snow) lay across their path needing continually to be negotiated. At 5,630 feet (1,716 metres) they depoted the sledge and continued the climb with minimal supplies. The gradient steepened and the temperature continued to plunge. A blizzard swept across the slopes. Finally, on 10 March, they reached the summit at 12,448 feet (3794 metres) where photographs and measurements were taken and collections of minerals made. The volcano steamed clouds of sulphurous gas. Mawson and David completed a traverse of the active crater, taking levels for a geological section.

The men hurried their return down the mountain by sliding down the icy slopes on their bottoms and descended 5,000 feet (1,524 metres) to their depot in four hours. They reached the hut at Cape Royds the following day.

The ascent of Mt Erebus was one of the triumphs of Shackleton's expedition. In the scientific reports of the British Antarctic Expedition Edgeworth David and Raymond Priestly wrote a detailed scientific study of the volcano describing the four craters, the nearly 100 fumaroles and details of the lava lake in the active fourth crater. Lava bombs on the slopes were evidence of Erebus having erupted in very recent time. They also described the eruption of the 14 June later that year, but no lava flows were observed from the base at sea level.

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