By Karin Murray-Bergquist
SY Aurora
 The story of the Aurora begins somewhat more placidly. Her sealing and whaling career brought her from the dockyards of Dundee, Scotland, to the ice north of Newfoundland, and she had some success at the hunt. Her attempted relief of the stranded Greely Expedition, on the other hand, came after another ship had arrived. Her assistance of the ice-bound Polyniagave her a mention in the folk song “Old Polina,” and this might have been her greatest claim to fame, if it were not for John King Davis.Davis was in charge of finding a ship for the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, led by geologist Douglas Mawson, and it was he who made the choice to purchase the already aged whaler. The 1911 trek was a scientifically productive but harrowing experience for those involved, and of Mawson’s sledging party of three men, he was the only one to survive. When he arrived at the base, the Aurora had departed due to the onset of winter, leaving a six-man team to wait for the sledging men. Although a wireless signal was sent, fierce winds prevented the ship from picking up the men, and so the exhausted and grieving Mawson resigned himself to wait. The ship returned the following austral summer.

Photos: Aurora, 1916, photographer unknown; Aurora, 1911-1914, Frank Hurley.