THE AURORA

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7847, 8 July 1911, Page 16

THE A URORA

-DR MA'WSON’S ANTARCTIC SHIP. FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT LONDON, May 26. The Aurora, winch has been 'bought by Dr Mawtfon lor tho Australian Antarctic Expedition, and i«s now bound from Si. Jouiiti. Newfoundland, for London, is expected to arrive m the Thames in about a fortnight She is a sailing steamer, fitted with, an auxiliary screw, and is slightly smaller than the Terra Nova, out her disnlacemont is larger by nearly j-uj tons than that of the Nimrod. The vessel was built by Stephens, of Dundee, in loro; her length is breadth 30.6, and depth 18.9. The money requiroa to buy the ship, J-D12.00D, was raised by tho "Daily Mail" in three days. Tho vessel will be berthed in the Southwest India Dock, and the 'Port of London Authority has given ficc dockage for uio ship, and will also provide free warehouse room. Captain J. K. Davis, who commanded the Nimrod iu Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Furthest South Expedition, wiu superintend the Aurora’s litling-out and choose her crew'. Xt is -expected that she will leave London about the middle of duly for Australia. She will start for the far south about the middle of November, Hobart being her .las’, port of call. Dr Mawson left London yesterday to join the P. and O. boat at Marseilles for Australia- Miiilc ho is waiting for the Auror i h© will tour the country with the view' of making further financial arrangements

"Tha landing party which will go with the expedition, ’’ ho said, “will number twenty-five. Some have already been chosen in this country. Among them is Mr Wilde, who was with Sir Ernest Shaclcloton and also with Captain Scott. Another is Lieutenant Ninnis, of the Royal Fusiliers, who will do surveying work and look after the sledges. Lieutenant Watkins, the Brooklands flying man, is joining the expedition to take charge of the Vdcers monoplane, which we are taking out. For ice work we have secured an expert in Dr Mens, a' Swiss by birth, who won tho ski-jump championship in 1908 Most of the members of the party, however, are being chosen in Australia by a committee composed of the leading scientists of Australia and New Zealand.”