with sled dogs in November 1912 to collect specimens, map the coast, and
claim territory. Douglas Mawson (pictured), Belgrave Ninnis and Xavier
Mertz had covered 311 miles (501 km) when Ninnis and a sled broke
through the snow lid of a crevasse and were lost. With few supplies
left, Mawson and Mertz made for the main base at Cape Denison, eating
the remaining sled dogs one by one. Mertz became sick, and died within a
week. For almost a month, Mawson pulled his sled alone across snow and
ice despite an illness that increasingly weakened him. He reached the
comparative safety of Aladdin's Cave—a food depot 5.5 miles (8.9 km)
from the main base—on 1 February, only to be trapped there for a week
while a blizzard raged outside. He arrived at the main base just hours
after the expedition ship, SY Aurora, sailed for Australia, fleeing the
encroaching ice. With a relief party, Mawson remained at Cape Denison
until the ship returned the next summer, 10 months later. In 1976 Sir
Edmund Hillary described Mawson's journey as "probably the greatest
story of lone survival in Polar exploration".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Eastern_Party>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1531:
According to traditional Catholic accounts, the image of the
Blessed Virgin Mary miraculously appeared imprinted on Juan Diego's
tilma.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe>
1862:
American Civil War: The USS Cairo was sunk in the Yazoo River,
the first armored ship sunk by a naval mine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cairo>
1915:
President Yuan Shikai of the Republic of China reinstated the
monarchy and declared himself Emperor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_Shikai>
1935:
The Nazi Lebensborn programme, which was later mistakenly
believed to engage in coercive breeding, was established to provide
assistance to the wives of SS members and unmarried mothers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebensborn>
1985:
Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashed after takeoff in Gander,
Newfoundland and Labrador, killing 256, including 248 members of the US
Army's 101st Airborne Division.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_Air_Flight_1285>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
profundify:
(in post-19th-century uses, humorous) To make profound; to make a
concept unnecessarily complicated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/profundify>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies,
and the importance of a work of art by the harm that is spoken of it.
--Gustave Flaubert
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gustave_Flaubert>
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