View source for SY Aurora

{{Short description|Steam yacht built in 1876}}
{{Other uses|Aurora (disambiguation)}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin |display title=SY ''Aurora''}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=File:Aurora anchored to floe-ice off the West Base.jpg
|Ship caption=SY ''Aurora'' anchored to floe-ice during the [[Australasian Antarctic Expedition]]
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|government}}
|Ship name=
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|Ship builder= Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd. [[Dundee]], [[Scotland]]
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched= 1876
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|Ship fate= Declared lost by [[Lloyd's of London]], 2 January 1918
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=[[Steam yacht]]
|Ship tonnage = 580 [[gross register tonnage|grt]]; 380 [[net register tonnage|nrt]]<ref name = Davis>Davis, John King, ''With the "Aurora" in the Antarctic'', p. 177.  London:  Andrew Melrose.  1919.</ref>
|Ship length={{convert|165|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|30.5|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught={{convert|18.75|ft|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship hold depth=
|Ship sail plan=[[Barquentine]]
|Ship propulsion=*Compound Steam Engine
*Cunliffe and Dunlop of Glasgow
*98 [[Horsepower#Brake horsepower|bhp]]
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|}
[[File:Aurora cover Tasmania and Victoria Land 1912.jpg|thumb|A 1912 envelope from the Aurora to New Zealand postmarked Hobart, 17 March 1913. From the [[John Clemente]] collection.<ref name=spink>''The John Clemente collection of Tasmania postal history''. Spink, London, 2016, p. 87.</ref>]]
'''SY ''Aurora''''' was a 580-[[gross register tonnage|ton]]<ref name = Davis/> barque-rigged<ref>A.L. Rice D.Sc. (1986) British Oceanographic Vessels 1800–1950. Minerva Press, Brentwood, Essex CM13 1TF p.16 {{ISBN|0903874 19 9}}</ref> [[steam yacht]] built by [[Alexander Stephen and Sons]] Ltd. in [[Dundee]], Scotland, in 1876,<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Shipbuilding/Shipyards/Stephen&Sons-3.html| title=Alexander Stephen & Sons, Dundee Yard-list| publisher=Maritime History Virtual Archives| access-date=2 July 2012}}</ref> for the Dundee Seal and Whale Fishing Company. She was {{convert|165|ft}} long with a {{convert|30|ft|adj=on}} beam. The hull was made of oak, sheathed with greenheart and lined with fir. The bow was a mass of solid wood reinforced with steel-plate armour. The heavy side frames were braced by two levels of horizontal oak beams. Its primary use was whaling in the northern seas, and it was built sturdily enough to withstand the heavy weather and ice that would be encountered there. That strength proved useful for Antarctic exploration as well and between 1911 and 1917 it made five trips to the continent, for both exploration and rescue missions.

==Whaling==
Between the years 1876 and 1910, ''Aurora'' made the annual trip from [[Dundee, Scotland]] to [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's, Newfoundland]] to take part in the whale and seal hunt in the North Atlantic. There were a couple of notable events in this time. In 1884,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lindsay|first1=David Moore|title=A Voyage to the Arctic in the Whaler Aurora|url=https://archive.org/details/avoyagetoarctic01lindgoog|date=1911|publisher=Dana Estes & Company|location=Boston, US|edition=1st}}</ref> along with other whalers in the area ''Aurora'' made an attempt to rescue the controversial [[Augustus Greely|Greely Expedition]], and its captain, James Fairweather<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.explorenorth.com/whalers/features/whalecaptains1.htm|title=Whaling Captains listed in 'Arctic Whalers,' by Basil Lubbock – The Whalers' Heritage Project – ExploreNorth|website=explorenorth.com}}</ref> assisted with a repair to the US relief ship [[USS Bear (1874)|''Bear'']].<ref>Basil Lubbock (1937) ''Arctic Whalers''. Brown, Son & Ferguson, Ltd. Glasgow pp. 414–416</ref> In 1891, the ship came to the rescue of the crew of ''Polynia'' when it was crushed in sea ice.<ref>Basil Lubbock (1937) ''Arctic Whalers''. Brown, Son & Ferguson, Ltd. Glasgow p. 424</ref>

==Australasian Antarctic Expedition==
In 1910, it was bought by [[Douglas Mawson]]'s deputy, Captain [[John King Davis]], for £6,000 for his [[Australasian Antarctic Expedition]].<ref>[http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/antarctic_ships/aurora.php ''SY Aurora – Ships of the Polar Explorers''], coolantarctica.com.</ref> On 2 December 1911 ''Aurora'' departed from [[Hobart]], Australia for [[Macquarie Island Station|Macquarie Island]], where a radio relay station was established. It left the island on 25 December, arriving at [[Cape Denison]] on 8 January 1912, where the [[Mawson's Huts|main base]] was built. It departed on 19 January, heading west to find a location for the western base, which was eventually sited in what is now known as Queen Mary Land, on 1 February 1912.  After the western party was established on the stable ice shelf, ''Aurora'' left on 20 February, arriving in Hobart on 12 March.

In December 1912, ''Aurora'' returned to Cape Denison to find that the sledging expedition of Mawson, [[Xavier Mertz]], and [[Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis]] was overdue. Davis had to pick up the party at the western base and risked the ship being iced in over the winter if he left it too long.  He waited until 8 February but just after leaving, he received a wireless message asking him to turn back as Mawson had reached the base. He turned ''Aurora'' around but severe weather prevented the landing boat being put ashore, so, on the evening of 9 February, Davis decided he must steam west to fetch the western base party. ''Aurora'' reached the western base on 23 February, loaded quickly and headed north, arriving in Hobart on 15 March.

Over the subsequent months, Davis raised extensive rescue funds, and had ''Aurora'' refitted. Departing from Hobart on 15 November 1913, ''Aurora'' collected the radio relay party under [[George Ainsworth]] at Macquarie Island, and sailed on to pick up the relief party at Cape Denison. It arrived in [[Commonwealth Bay]] on 3 December 1913 and left on 25 December. After an extensive coastal exploration and oceanographic work, it arrived back in Australia at Port Adelaide on 26 February 1914.

==Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition==
{{main|SY Aurora's drift}}
In 1914, Sir [[Ernest Shackleton]] tasked ''Aurora'' to help set up supply depots along the route for his [[Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition]]. After being delayed by [[sea ice]] in [[McMurdo Sound]] in January 1915, ''Aurora'' managed to make its way further south, and sent teams off to set up the depots. It eventually made its way to [[Discovery Bay (Antarctica)|Discovery Bay]] on 12 March 1915, where it anchored and continued to offload supplies. In May, ''Aurora'' was trapped in the ice, and was carried out to the sea, stranding the men that were setting up the depots. It remained trapped in the ice for the better part of a year, drifting some 1600 nautical miles. It was not until 12 February 1916 that the ship escaped from the ice, making it back to [[Dunedin]], [[New Zealand]] on 3 April.

===1917 Ross Sea Party rescue===
The Australian, New Zealand and British governments agreed to fund the refit of ''Aurora'' for the rescue of the [[Ross Sea Party]]. An Advisory Committee was established in [[Melbourne]], consisting of [[William Rooke Creswell|Rear Admiral Sir William Cresswell]], [[David Orme Masson|Professor Sir Orme Masson]], Captain J.R. Barter, [[John Bryan Stevenson|Commander John Stevenson]] and [[Thomas Griffith Taylor|Dr Griffith Taylor]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Relief of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party|journal=The Geographical Journal|volume=49|issue=3|pages=218–221|date=March 1917|doi=10.2307/1779498|jstor=1779498|last1=Mill|first1=Hugh Robert|bibcode=1917GeogJ..49..218M |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449310}}</ref>

Shackleton's expedition funds were fully expended. After his legendary ordeal on ''[[Endurance (1912 ship)|Endurance]]'' in the [[Weddell Sea]] sector, Shackleton arrived in [[New Zealand]] during December 1916. The three governments involved were adamant that he would not lead the rescue expedition and at their insistence [[John King Davis]] was appointed to captain ''Aurora''. After negotiation Shackleton sailed aboard ''Aurora'', but Captain Davis had total authority on the voyage. On 10 January 1917, the ship pulled alongside the pack ice near [[Cape Royds]] and worked its way to [[Cape Evans]]. One week later, the seven survivors of the original ten members of the ''Ross Sea Party'' were headed back to [[Wellington, New Zealand]] aboard ''Aurora''.

==Fate==
''Aurora'' was last seen in 1917, when it departed [[Newcastle, New South Wales]], bound for [[Iquique]], Chile with a cargo of coal. [[Lloyd's of London]] posted the ship as missing on 2&nbsp;January&nbsp;1918; it was believed it was a casualty of World War I, possibly being sunk by a mine laid by the German [[merchant raider]] [[SMS Wolf (1916)|''Wolf'']]. One of ''Aurora's'' [[Lifebuoy|lifebelts]] was recovered from the [[Tasman Sea]] between [[Sydney]] and [[Brisbane]] six months after its disappearance.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4624431|title= Mystery of the sea. Loss of the Aurora. Victim of the Wolf.|journal=The Argus|date=5 November 1921|page=4}}</ref>

== Message on a bottle ==
In 1927, a G. Bressington was walking along the beach near [[Tuggerah, New South Wales]] and noticed an old wine bottle partly buried in the sand. Upon examining the bottle he saw an engraving of the picture of a ship and on the other side the following message: "Midwinter's Day, 1912, Shackleton Glacier, Antarctica. 'Frank Wild, A. L. Kennedy, S. Evan Jones, C. Arch. Hoadley, Charles T. Harrisson, George Dovers, A. L. Watson and Morton H. Moyes".<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29674289|title = The Mercury (Hobart, Tasmania)|date = 26 May 1927|work = Strange Sea Story|access-date = 30 October 2014}}</ref>

The story of the bottle is that it was one of three given to Sir Douglas Mawson when his expedition left England in 1911. The bottles were given by Mr J. T. Buchanan who had them left over from the [[Challenger expedition|''Challenger'' expedition]] and wished the party to drink them on Explorer Day. Mawson passed one bottle on to [[Frank Wild]], who led the Western Base Party whilst ''Aurora'' was under the command of John King Davis. When the wine was drunk on the day, the party's artist Harrisson engraved a picture of ''Aurora ''on one side and the names of the party on the other. It is thought the bottle was still aboard ''Aurora '' when it left Newcastle in 1917.

==Tributes==
A number of Antarctic features are named for ''Aurora''.  These include:
*[[Aurora Glacier (Antarctica)|Aurora Glacier]]
*[[Aurora Heights]]
*[[Aurora Peak]]
*[[Aurora Subglacial Basin]]
*[[Mount Aurora]]

==Captains==
This is a partial list of [[Captain (nautical)|captains]] of ''Aurora'':
*Alexander Fairweather (1880–1882) <ref>{{cite book|last1=Rycroft|first1=Nancy|title=Captain James Fairweather Whaler and Shipmaster|date=2005|publisher=Fairweather Books|location=Ripponden, West Yorkshire, England|isbn=0955173906|page=53}}</ref>
*James Fairweather (1883–1888)
*Jackman (c. 1895)
*[[John King Davis]] (1911–1914, 1916–17)
*Lieutenant [[Aeneas Mackintosh|Æneas Mackintosh]] R.N.R. (1914)
*[[Joseph Stenhouse|J R Stenhouse]] (1914–1916)

==See also==
*[[List of Antarctic exploration ships from the Heroic Age, 1897–1922]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Aurora (ship, 1876)|''Aurora'' (ship, 1876)}}

{{Australasian Antarctic Expedition}}
{{Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition}}
{{Polar exploration|state=collapsed}}
{{1917 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aurora, SY}}
[[Category:Exploration ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Whaling ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Dundee]]
[[Category:Missing ships]]
[[Category:1876 ships]]
[[Category:Steam yachts]]
[[Category:Ships lost with all hands]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1917]]