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Lot 181
'ENDURANCE' EXPEDITION, 1914-1917 Private log book kept by Aubrey Howard Ninnis (1883-1956) aboard the S.Y. Aurora, with letters and photographs, 1914-1916
7 – 15 July 2025, 12:00 BST
Online, London, KnightsbridgeSold for £46,080 inc. premium
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'ENDURANCE' EXPEDITION, 1914-1917
Private log book kept by Aubrey Howard Ninnis (1883-1956) aboard the S.Y. Aurora during the 'Long Drift', with correspondence, photographs and other papers, comprising:
i) Log book signed and titled "Private Log" in ink on upper cover, with his address and forwarding address of Ethel Douglas, noting "This book is to be sent "private" to E.D..." on cover and on title page "...must be guarded by her as such & not given to anyone who may make the smallest use of it to the detriment of our Expedition...", comprising closely written daily entries from 26 December [19]14 to 10 May [19]16, giving a detailed account of his time aboard ship, describing his living quarters ("...a set of shelves... made as usual from biscuit cases..."), life on board and everyday duties, food ("...made an Antarctic rarebit, a terrible mess... We all enjoyed it thoroughly... penguin pie for lunch..."), much on photography and filming ("...fitted camera with orange screen today to tone down the snow glare... took some beauties..."), noting weather and sea conditions, the wildlife ("...2 penguins chased a pair of oilskin trousers that fell into the sea... they waddle around like old men..."), engineering challenges ("...Ice too dangerous to drive motor over snow..."), constant battles with the cold and tough conditions ("...blizzard is still operating... no view of the land..."), seeing Mount Erebus for the first time and the beauty of Antarctica ("...words can never describe it..."), finding Scott's hut ("...very sad to me for I came across the things that compelled the thought of Cpt. Scott... the bunk with the label upon it just plain Cpt. Oates, the bunk that brave men used..."), amusements ("...had a game of football with the penguins tonight – too funny for words. Cinema took it for record..."), on sledging with motors ("...no test had been made in actual Antarctic conditions..."), much on hunting penguin and seals, losing his possessions ("...the ice we travelled over yesterday... is all broken up and going out to sea, our 2 sledges as well... I've lost your photo..."), preparing a relief party "...real hard travel in bad weather... next year will be a terribly busy one, trying to meet Sir E. and assure his safe passage..." but trapped by a bad weather ("...food very short... fuel and oil will be practically exhausted..."), noting on 23 April "..Sun gone now for 5 months!...", recording the months trapped in the ice ("...Ice packed and very thick, yet we seem to be shifting N. all the time, slowly... about as strong as a matchbox compared to the terrible pressure of ice... the groan kept rising to a high shriek... and then the crack, crack of the squeeze would occur..."), his appearance ("...shock headed, much be-whiskered..."), promising her "...the Bull seal's flipper... have it made up into a small odds and ends bag for you...", on Shackleton ("...a thorough and a proper leader..."), the gradual thaw and breakout on 13 March 1916, return to Dunedin, and much else, 123 numbered pages, in a lined exercise book, two smaller loose pages on squared paper tipped in, dust-staining, marks and fraying, outer boards missing, spine worn, 4to (252 x 200mm.), Aurora, 26 December 1914 to 10 May 1916; with typed transcript
ii) Series of ten autograph letters signed ("A Howard Ninnis") to Ethel Douglas ("Dear Ethel", "My dear Ethel"), written in ink and pencil, all but the first written from New Zealand in 1916 on returning there after the long drift, on his determination to join the relief expedition ("...we have... to see the matter through and relieve the other poor chaps, forgetting all the little quarrels and small hates we once had... I do not go for fun, nor for mock heroism..."), his loneliness ("...just had to live inside one's self and think..."), on his exhaustion, giving news of Shackleton ("...safely at Falkland Islands and Ship's party at Elephant Island. Why are they separated and so late. Have they too had a series of mishaps..."), much on his part in the expedition ("...I did all the record keeping and measuring of ice etc... I fancy it may dawn some day upon the sneerers just what Atkins and I did for the few who were too lazy to do any extra... we often put our hands into the freshly killed seals to restore warmth to our hands... owe our immunity from scurvy and illness to this fresh meat... greater part of the photographic work also... Stenhouse was able to rely upon me... "), hoping to have charge of the Shore or Landing party, lack of funds ("...No money to do anything with out here..."), reports of the Elephant Island party ( "...News of Shacks today gives a fair idea of what occurred and what we narrowly escaped..."), on adverse opinions from home ("...all should sink their personal feelings till the end has been reached... the main object is the saving of life..."), conscious of the war ("...do not write anything in your letters to me that could benefit any enemy..."), his photography, commenting on news from home, and much else; with 7 envelopes, 47 pages, 8 of which carbon copies, dust-staining, marks, small tears, 4to (253 x 203mm.) and 8vo (204 x 127mm.), Otago Club, Dunedin, S.Y. Aurora, 21 May [1914], then 28 May to 6 November 1916; with typed transcript
iii) Collection of 56 photographs, taken by Ninnis or other crew members, many with pencilled captions on reverse, comprising: 9 Antarctic subjects ("Ship in ice Sept 1915", Scott's hut with stores piled up outside, penguins in the ice, penguins with the Aurora behind, "Pelting a bad tempered seal", "part of deck after snow fall", "Digging snow away...Oct or Nov 1915", [Ernest] Wild with dogs on deck); 17 of dogs ("Duke's smile", "Dasher – thought he would have to be killed once so badly bitten", "Hector", "taken from sledge... I came off immediately after", "Briton, a fine brindle dog", etc.), 30 landscapes (seascapes, Camps Bay, Mount Wellington, etc.), gelatin silver prints, various sizes, the majority c.65 x 65mm., largest 80 x 106mm., with signed portrait photograph of Ninnis in uniform, 110 x 75mm., a photographic portrait postcard of Ninnis and another of Ethel Douglas; together with 16 photographic postcards of Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition 1907-1909 (including one complete set), 4 American 'Tall Tale' postcards of enormous vegetables (inscribed and dated on reverse, 1909), 31 others (dogs, Oundle, Marseilles, Edinburgh)
i) Log book signed and titled "Private Log" in ink on upper cover, with his address and forwarding address of Ethel Douglas, noting "This book is to be sent "private" to E.D..." on cover and on title page "...must be guarded by her as such & not given to anyone who may make the smallest use of it to the detriment of our Expedition...", comprising closely written daily entries from 26 December [19]14 to 10 May [19]16, giving a detailed account of his time aboard ship, describing his living quarters ("...a set of shelves... made as usual from biscuit cases..."), life on board and everyday duties, food ("...made an Antarctic rarebit, a terrible mess... We all enjoyed it thoroughly... penguin pie for lunch..."), much on photography and filming ("...fitted camera with orange screen today to tone down the snow glare... took some beauties..."), noting weather and sea conditions, the wildlife ("...2 penguins chased a pair of oilskin trousers that fell into the sea... they waddle around like old men..."), engineering challenges ("...Ice too dangerous to drive motor over snow..."), constant battles with the cold and tough conditions ("...blizzard is still operating... no view of the land..."), seeing Mount Erebus for the first time and the beauty of Antarctica ("...words can never describe it..."), finding Scott's hut ("...very sad to me for I came across the things that compelled the thought of Cpt. Scott... the bunk with the label upon it just plain Cpt. Oates, the bunk that brave men used..."), amusements ("...had a game of football with the penguins tonight – too funny for words. Cinema took it for record..."), on sledging with motors ("...no test had been made in actual Antarctic conditions..."), much on hunting penguin and seals, losing his possessions ("...the ice we travelled over yesterday... is all broken up and going out to sea, our 2 sledges as well... I've lost your photo..."), preparing a relief party "...real hard travel in bad weather... next year will be a terribly busy one, trying to meet Sir E. and assure his safe passage..." but trapped by a bad weather ("...food very short... fuel and oil will be practically exhausted..."), noting on 23 April "..Sun gone now for 5 months!...", recording the months trapped in the ice ("...Ice packed and very thick, yet we seem to be shifting N. all the time, slowly... about as strong as a matchbox compared to the terrible pressure of ice... the groan kept rising to a high shriek... and then the crack, crack of the squeeze would occur..."), his appearance ("...shock headed, much be-whiskered..."), promising her "...the Bull seal's flipper... have it made up into a small odds and ends bag for you...", on Shackleton ("...a thorough and a proper leader..."), the gradual thaw and breakout on 13 March 1916, return to Dunedin, and much else, 123 numbered pages, in a lined exercise book, two smaller loose pages on squared paper tipped in, dust-staining, marks and fraying, outer boards missing, spine worn, 4to (252 x 200mm.), Aurora, 26 December 1914 to 10 May 1916; with typed transcript
ii) Series of ten autograph letters signed ("A Howard Ninnis") to Ethel Douglas ("Dear Ethel", "My dear Ethel"), written in ink and pencil, all but the first written from New Zealand in 1916 on returning there after the long drift, on his determination to join the relief expedition ("...we have... to see the matter through and relieve the other poor chaps, forgetting all the little quarrels and small hates we once had... I do not go for fun, nor for mock heroism..."), his loneliness ("...just had to live inside one's self and think..."), on his exhaustion, giving news of Shackleton ("...safely at Falkland Islands and Ship's party at Elephant Island. Why are they separated and so late. Have they too had a series of mishaps..."), much on his part in the expedition ("...I did all the record keeping and measuring of ice etc... I fancy it may dawn some day upon the sneerers just what Atkins and I did for the few who were too lazy to do any extra... we often put our hands into the freshly killed seals to restore warmth to our hands... owe our immunity from scurvy and illness to this fresh meat... greater part of the photographic work also... Stenhouse was able to rely upon me... "), hoping to have charge of the Shore or Landing party, lack of funds ("...No money to do anything with out here..."), reports of the Elephant Island party ( "...News of Shacks today gives a fair idea of what occurred and what we narrowly escaped..."), on adverse opinions from home ("...all should sink their personal feelings till the end has been reached... the main object is the saving of life..."), conscious of the war ("...do not write anything in your letters to me that could benefit any enemy..."), his photography, commenting on news from home, and much else; with 7 envelopes, 47 pages, 8 of which carbon copies, dust-staining, marks, small tears, 4to (253 x 203mm.) and 8vo (204 x 127mm.), Otago Club, Dunedin, S.Y. Aurora, 21 May [1914], then 28 May to 6 November 1916; with typed transcript
iii) Collection of 56 photographs, taken by Ninnis or other crew members, many with pencilled captions on reverse, comprising: 9 Antarctic subjects ("Ship in ice Sept 1915", Scott's hut with stores piled up outside, penguins in the ice, penguins with the Aurora behind, "Pelting a bad tempered seal", "part of deck after snow fall", "Digging snow away...Oct or Nov 1915", [Ernest] Wild with dogs on deck); 17 of dogs ("Duke's smile", "Dasher – thought he would have to be killed once so badly bitten", "Hector", "taken from sledge... I came off immediately after", "Briton, a fine brindle dog", etc.), 30 landscapes (seascapes, Camps Bay, Mount Wellington, etc.), gelatin silver prints, various sizes, the majority c.65 x 65mm., largest 80 x 106mm., with signed portrait photograph of Ninnis in uniform, 110 x 75mm., a photographic portrait postcard of Ninnis and another of Ethel Douglas; together with 16 photographic postcards of Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition 1907-1909 (including one complete set), 4 American 'Tall Tale' postcards of enormous vegetables (inscribed and dated on reverse, 1909), 31 others (dogs, Oundle, Marseilles, Edinburgh)
Footnotes
'A LITTLE WOODEN SHIP... SURROUNDED BY HEAVY PACK ICE... DRIFTING US ON AND ON TO OPEN SEA': Aubrey Howard Ninnis' comprehensive first-hand account written whilst stranded on board the Aurora during the ship's 'long drift' trapped in the Antarctic ice.
Howard Ninnis came from a family with a long association with polar exploration. His uncle, Belgrave Ninnis (1837-1922), served as surgeon with Nares on the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-1876 and his cousin, Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis (1887-1912) was killed when he fell into a crevasse on Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-1914. Ninnis served for 7 years on Admiralty service and was taken on by Captain Scott for the Terra Nova expedition but was paid off at Cape Town due to injury. In 1914 he joined Shackleton's Ross Sea Party, as a specialist engineer for the sledging vehicle, but soon took charge of the dogs with Ernest Wild (brother of Frank Wild), became wireless operator and, as our papers show, a keen expedition photographer.
Aurora had been tasked with laying supply depots along the route of Shackleton's famously ill-fated attempt to cross the Antarctic continent from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. The ship anchored in McMurdo Sound and the captain, Aeneas Mackintosh, took charge of the shore party with first officer Joseph Stenhouse assuming command of the ship in his absence. In March 1915, Stenhouse chose what he thought was a sheltered spot at Cape Evans, site of Scott's last expedition headquarters, but on the night of 6 May, the Aurora, with the remaining eighteen-strong crew aboard, including Ninnis, broke loose from its anchorage during a gale. Caught in heavy pack ice, she was carried into the open waters of the Ross Sea and Southern Ocean, leaving ten men from the shore party stranded with minimal supplies and equipment. It was not until March 1916, almost a year later, that the ship was released from the ice and the Aurora was able to make return passage for New Zealand. Ninnis returned on the Relief Expedition in January 1917 as purser, under the captaincy of John King Davis, and with Shackleton aboard, to rescue the seven surviving members of the shore party.
Our log was intended for the private viewing of his sweetheart, Ethel Douglas, explaining here that it was written up "...each Middle Watch..." from condensed notes in his diary. However, despite Ethel receiving the log and the fond letters the couple never married. Ethel remained in Egham, unmarried and working in the family bakers in the High Street. After accompanying Shackleton on his lecture tour in 1917, Ninnis served in the Navy Reserve for the remainder of World War I and latterly the Royal Australian Navy. He returned to New Zealand in 1924, married an Oamaru woman, Connie Brown, and remained there until his death in 1956.
As well as giving a first-hand account of the practical challenges of the expedition, this diary gives a crucial insight into the author's inner thoughts and preoccupations. Ninnis speaks of facing the many dangers in a state of constant anxiety, the lack of sleep, difficulties of being trapped with his fellow shipmates ("...no sensible conversations ever...") and how he passed the time ("...a great sameness about all our days out here, only the small details vary a little..."). It demonstrates the tense relations between himself and the other crew members, whom he found boisterous and highly irritating, something which did not make him popular among the crew and even led to one member stealing his property. The log and letters remain unpublished but were consulted by Richard McElrea and David Harrowfield for Polar Castaways, 2004, and by Kelly Tyler-Lewis for her account of the Ross Sea Party, The Lost Men, 2006. His more formal 'official' diary is held, with other papers, at the Royal Geographical Society.
Provenance: Aubrey Howard Ninnis (1883-1956); sent to Ethel Gertrude Douglas (1893-1973); her niece Cicely Douglas; thence by descent.