Douglas Mawson first visited Antarctica in 1907 when he was part of a two-year scientific expedition with Sir Ernest Shackleton. Mawson went back to Antarctica in 1911 as leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. While on a trek north, and a long way from their base camp, his two companions died. First B. E. S. Ninnis fell through a hidden crevasse into a seemingly bottomless abyss, taking with him the sled carrying most of the food and tents, and the six fittest dogs. They were never seen again. Less than a month later, X. Mertz died. We now know that he had been poisoned by the livers of the dogs they had to eat to survive. Mawson survived these terrible conditions, with his skin peeling off in large patches, and managed to walk the rest of the 506 km back to the expedition’s base hut at Cape Denison. Despite his hardships, Mawson later returned to Antarctica and continued to discover large areas of the continent.