People Whose Will to Live Was Stronger Than Circumstances

310 miles in the cold desert of Antarctica

In 1912, 3 Australian scientists went on an expedition to Antarctica. On their way back, one of them fell into a cleft along with his sleigh and most of their supplies, and he died. In order to return to the base, the 2 scientists who survived (Douglas Mawson and Xavier Meritz) had to walk 310 miles in the cold desert.They only had food for a third of their journey, so the scientists had to eat their own dogs. Meritz died of hunger and exhaustion. Mawson got terrible frostbite, his skin and hair shed, his feet were bleeding, and the wounds festered. But the scientist kept going and finally got to the base!However, there was another bad piece of news waiting for him there: the Aurora, the ship that was supposed to take him home, had left 5 hours earlier. Mawson had to wait for the next ship for 10 months.