09/15/2026
Douglas Mawson left base with two companions.
Only one man came back.
It was 1912.
Mawson was leading an Australian Antarctic expedition.
His small Far Eastern Party included Belgrave Ninnis and Xavier Mertz.
Their goal was scientific exploration.
Instead, the journey became one of the most brutal survival stories in polar history.
Weeks into the expedition, disaster struck.
Ninnis disappeared into a hidden crevasse.
He took a sledge with him.
So did crucial supplies.
And most of the dogs' food.
Mawson and Mertz suddenly faced an enormous journey back with far less food than they needed.
They began retreating.
The surviving dogs were gradually killed for food.
Then Mertz became desperately ill.
His condition deteriorated.
He could barely continue.
In January 1913, Mertz died.
Now Mawson was alone.
Hundreds of kilometres of Antarctica still separated him from base.
He was weak.
His skin was deteriorating.
His feet were badly damaged.
His equipment was failing.
Then Mawson himself fell into a crevasse.
A rope attached to his sledge stopped him from disappearing into the darkness.
He climbed.
Slipped.
Tried again.
And eventually pulled himself out.
Then he kept moving.
Day after day.
Mawson reduced his equipment and dragged himself toward Cape Denison.
Eventually, the expedition huts came into view.
He had survived.
But there was one final twist.
The relief ship had departed only hours earlier.
A small group had stayed behind in case Mawson returned.
So instead of leaving Antarctica immediately, he remained for another winter.
The expedition had begun as scientific exploration.
It became something far more personal.
Three men left together.
One disappeared into the ice.
One died on the return journey.
Douglas Mawson continued alone.
There was no crowd watching.
No rescue team following his progress.
Just a man moving across Antarctica because the only other option was to stop.
And stopping meant dying.