Xavier Mertz
Encyclopedia
Xavier Mertz was a Swiss explorer, mountaineer and skier, from Basel
. He took part in the Far Eastern Party
, a 1912–13 component of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition
, which claimed his life. The Mertz Glacier
is named after him.
The son of a textile machinery manufacturer, Mertz studied patent law
at the University of Bern, and science at the University of Lausanne
, specialising in glacier and mountain formations. While a student, Mertz became active as a skier, competing in national competitions, and as a mountaineer, climbing many of the highest peaks in the Alps
. In early 1911, Mertz was hired by geologist and explorer Douglas Mawson
for his Australasian Antarctic Expedition. He was initially employed as a ski instructor, but in Antarctica Mertz instead joined Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
in the care of the expedition's Greenland Huskies
.
In the summer of 1912–13, Mertz and Ninnis were chosen by Mawson to accompany him on the Far Eastern Party, using the dogs to push rapidly from the expedition's base in Adélie Land
towards Victoria Land
. After Ninnis and a sledge carrying most of the food disappeared down a crevasse
311 miles (500.5 km) from the hut, Mertz and Mawson headed back west, gradually using the dogs to supplement their remaining food stocks. About 100 miles (160.9 km) from safety, Mertz died, leaving Mawson to carry on alone. The cause of Mertz's death has never been firmly established; the commonly accepted theory is hypervitaminosis A
(an excessive intake of vitamin A
) from consuming the livers of the Huskies. Counter-theories suggest he may have died from cold exposure, a change in diet, or psychological stresses.
, the son of Emile Mertz, who owned a large engineering firm in the city. With the aim of working in the family business, which manufactured textile machinery, Mertz attended the University of Bern, where he studied patent law
. While in Bern, he became active as a mountaineer and skier. Mertz competed in several national competitions; in 1906 he was third in the Swiss cross-country skiing
championship, and second in the German championship. In 1908, he won the Swiss ski jumping
championship, with a distance of 31 metres (101.7 ft). As a mountaineer, he was particularly prolific in the Alps
; he climbed Mont Blanc
—the highest peak in the range—and claimed several first ascent
s of other mountains. After he attained his degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Bern, Mertz studied science at the University of Lausanne
; he specialised in glacier and mountain formations, for which he received his second doctorate.
. Mawson, who had served as physicist during Ernest Shackleton
's 1908–09 Nimrod Expedition
, was planning his own Antarctic expedition. In his application letter, Mertz wrote that he hoped Mawson would be using skis, as "they have proved so good for the purpose & knowing that I am as good as any one on skys." While Mawson was intending to recruit only British subjects (chiefly Australians and New Zealanders), Mertz's qualifications prompted him to make an exception, and hire the Swiss as a ski instructor. First, however, he was given responsibility for the expedition's 49 Greenland Huskies
, aboard the expedition ship SY Aurora, bound for Hobart
.
On the Aurora, Mertz met Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
, a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers. Like Mertz, Ninnis was responsible for the expedition's dogs; Auroras captain, John King Davis
, regarded the pair as "idlers". "I wish we had some one on board who could look after [the dogs]," he wrote in his diary, "it is a great shame that they should suffer from neglect." On 2 December 1911, after final preparations and loading were completed in Hobart, the Aurora sailed south; she stopped briefly at Macquarie Island
, where a wireless
relay base was established, and reached the site of the expedition's main base at Cape Denison
in Adélie Land
, on the Antarctic continent, in early January.
In August, the preparations extended to laying depots; an early party established a depot 5.5 miles (8.9 km) to the south of the main hut—a grotto in the ice known as Aladdin's Cave—but returned without the dogs. Mertz and two others set off to rescue the dogs, but in heavy winds covered less than a mile in two hours, and returned to the hut. "If it depended only on me," Mertz wrote in his diary, after four days' more wind confined them to the hut, "we would be in our sleeping bags outside in the snow, and we would at least try to find the dogs. Mawson is definitely too cautious, and I wonder if he would show enough gumption during the sledging expedition." The following day Mertz was part of a party of three that made it to Aladdin's Cave to rescue the dogs; when strong winds confined them to the depot for three days they spent the time expanding the cave.
In September, Mertz, Ninnis and Herbert Murphy formed a survey party, man-hauling
to the south-east of Aladdin's cave. In strong winds, they travelled just 12.5 miles (20.1 km) in three days, before the temperature dropped to -34 °C and the wind speed increased to 90 miles per hour (73.9 kn), confining them to the tent. When a gap in the wind allowed, they hurried back to the hut.
, towards Victoria Land
. The party departed Cape Denison on 10 November, heading first to Aladdin's Cave, and from there south-east towards a massive glacier
encountered by Aurora on the outward journey. Mertz skied ahead, scouting and providing a lead for the dogs to chase; Mawson and Ninnis manoeuvred the two dog teams behind. They reached the glacier on 19 November; negotiating fields of crevasse
s, it was crossed in five days. The party made quick progress once on the plateau again, but they soon encountered another glacier, far larger than the first. Despite strong winds and poor light, Mertz, Mawson and Ninnis reached the far side on 30 November.
On 14 December, the party were more than 311 miles (500.5 km) from the Cape Denison hut. As Mertz skied ahead, singing songs from his student days, Ninnis, the largest sledge and the strongest dog team were lost when they broke through the snow lid of a crevasse. Together with the death of their companion, Mawson and Mertz were now severely compromised; on the remaining sledge they had just ten days' worth of food, and no food for the dogs. They immediately turned back west, gradually using the six remaining dogs to supplement their food supply; they ate all parts of the animals, including their livers. They initially made good progress, but as they cleared the largest glacier Mertz began to feel ill; he had lost his waterproof
overpants on Ninnis' sledge, and in the cold his wet clothes were unable to dry. On 30 December, a day Mawson recorded that the companion was "off colour", Mertz wrote that he was "really tired [and] shall write no more." Mertz's condition deteriorated over the following days—Mawson recorded he was "generally in a very bad condition. Skin coming off legs, etc"—and his illness severely slowed their progress. On 8 January, the pair about 100 miles (160.9 km) from the hut, Mawson recorded:
Mawson buried Mertz in his sleeping bag under rough-hewn blocks of snow, along with the remaining photographic plates and an explanatory note. Mawson staggered back into the Cape Denison hut a month later, missing the Aurora by a matter of hours; she had waited for Mertz, Mawson and Ninnis for three weeks until—concerned by the encroaching winter ice—Davis had sailed her out of Commonwealth Bay and back to Australia.
. At a speaking engagement upon his return to Australia, Mawson praised his dead comrades: "The survivors might have an opportunity of doing something more, but these men had done their all." At another, Mawson said that "Dr. Mertz was a Swiss by birth, but he was a man every Englishman would have liked to have called an Englishman ... He was a man of great feelings, generous—one of Nature's gentlemen." A telegram was sent on behalf of the Australian people to Emile Mertz, condoling him on his "great loss, but congratulating you on your son's imperishable fame."
The cause of Mertz's death is not certain; at the time, it was believed Mertz may have died of colitis
. A 1969 study by Sir John Cleland
and R. V. Southcott of the University of Adelaide
concluded that the symptoms Mawson described—hair, skin and weight loss, depression, dysentery
and persistent skin infections—indicated the men had suffered hypervitaminosis A
, an excessive intake of vitamin A
. Vitamin A is found in unusually high quantities in the livers of Greenland Dogs, of which both Mertz and Mawson consumed large amounts; indeed, as Mertz's condition deteriorated, Mawson may have given him more of the liver to eat, believing it to be more easily digested. This theory is the most widely accepted, but there have been counter-theories. Phillip Law
, former director of Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions
(ANARE), believed cold exposure could account for Mertz's symptoms. A 2005 article in The Medical Journal of Australia
by Denise Carrington-Smith, noting that Mertz was essentially a vegetarian, suggested that the sudden change to a predominantly meat diet could have triggered Mertz's illness. Combined with "the psychological stresses related to the death of a close friend [Ninnis] and the deaths of the dogs he had cared for, as well as the need to kill and eat his remaining dogs," this may have killed Mertz.
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
. He took part in the Far Eastern Party
Far Eastern Party
The Far Eastern Party was a sledging component of the 1911–14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which investigated the previously unexplored coastal regions of Antarctica west of Cape Adare. Led by expedition commander Douglas Mawson, the party aimed to explore the area far to the east of their...
, a 1912–13 component of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition
Australasian Antarctic Expedition
The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was an Australasian scientific team that explored part of Antarctica between 1911 and 1914. It was led by the Australian geologist Douglas Mawson, who was knighted for his achievements in leading the expedition. In 1910 he began to plan an expedition to chart...
, which claimed his life. The Mertz Glacier
Mertz Glacier
Mertz Glacier is a heavily crevassed glacier in George V Coast of East Antarctica. It is the source of a glacial prominence that historically has extended northward into the Southern Ocean, the Mertz Glacial Tongue...
is named after him.
The son of a textile machinery manufacturer, Mertz studied patent law
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
at the University of Bern, and science at the University of Lausanne
University of Lausanne
The University of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of theology, before being made a university in 1890. Today about 12,000 students and 2200 researchers study and work at the university...
, specialising in glacier and mountain formations. While a student, Mertz became active as a skier, competing in national competitions, and as a mountaineer, climbing many of the highest peaks in the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
. In early 1911, Mertz was hired by geologist and explorer Douglas Mawson
Douglas Mawson
Sir Douglas Mawson, OBE, FRS, FAA was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer and Academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.-Early work:He was appointed geologist to an...
for his Australasian Antarctic Expedition. He was initially employed as a ski instructor, but in Antarctica Mertz instead joined Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis was a Lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers and an Antarctic explorer who was a member of Sir Douglas Mawson's 1911 Australasian Antarctic Expedition.-Antarctica 1911-1912:...
in the care of the expedition's Greenland Huskies
Greenland Dog
The Greenland Dog is a large breed of husky-type dog kept as a sled dog and for hunting polar bear and seal. This is an ancient breed, thought to be directly descended from dogs brought to Greenland by the first Inuit settlers.-Appearance:The Greenland Dog is a powerful, heavy-built dog...
.
In the summer of 1912–13, Mertz and Ninnis were chosen by Mawson to accompany him on the Far Eastern Party, using the dogs to push rapidly from the expedition's base in Adélie Land
Adélie Land
Adélie Land is the portion of the Antarctic coast between 136° E and 142° E , with a shore length of 350 km and with its hinterland extending as a sector about 2,600 km toward the South Pole. It is claimed by France as one of five districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, although not...
towards Victoria Land
Victoria Land
Victoria Land is a region of Antarctica bounded on the east by the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and on the west by Oates Land and Wilkes Land. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after the UK's Queen Victoria...
. After Ninnis and a sledge carrying most of the food disappeared down a crevasse
Crevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack in an ice sheet rhys glacier . Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the sheer stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rates of movement...
311 miles (500.5 km) from the hut, Mertz and Mawson headed back west, gradually using the dogs to supplement their remaining food stocks. About 100 miles (160.9 km) from safety, Mertz died, leaving Mawson to carry on alone. The cause of Mertz's death has never been firmly established; the commonly accepted theory is hypervitaminosis A
Hypervitaminosis A
Hypervitaminosis A refers to the effects of excessive vitamin A intake.-Presentation:Effects include* Birth defects* Liver problems* Reduced bone mineral density that may result in osteoporosis* Coarse bone growths...
(an excessive intake of vitamin A
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a vitamin that is needed by the retina of the eye in the form of a specific metabolite, the light-absorbing molecule retinal, that is necessary for both low-light and color vision...
) from consuming the livers of the Huskies. Counter-theories suggest he may have died from cold exposure, a change in diet, or psychological stresses.
Early life
Xavier Mertz was born in BaselBasel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, the son of Emile Mertz, who owned a large engineering firm in the city. With the aim of working in the family business, which manufactured textile machinery, Mertz attended the University of Bern, where he studied patent law
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
. While in Bern, he became active as a mountaineer and skier. Mertz competed in several national competitions; in 1906 he was third in the Swiss cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...
championship, and second in the German championship. In 1908, he won the Swiss ski jumping
Ski jumping
Ski jumping is a sport in which skiers go down a take-off ramp, jump and attempt to land as far as possible down the hill below. In addition to the length of the jump, judges give points for style. The skis used for ski jumping are wide and long...
championship, with a distance of 31 metres (101.7 ft). As a mountaineer, he was particularly prolific in the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
; he climbed Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc or Monte Bianco , meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the Alps, Western Europe and the European Union. It rises above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence...
—the highest peak in the range—and claimed several first ascent
First ascent
In climbing, a first ascent is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route...
s of other mountains. After he attained his degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Bern, Mertz studied science at the University of Lausanne
University of Lausanne
The University of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of theology, before being made a university in 1890. Today about 12,000 students and 2200 researchers study and work at the university...
; he specialised in glacier and mountain formations, for which he received his second doctorate.
Antarctic
In early 1911, Mertz went to London to meet with the Australian geologist and explorer Douglas MawsonDouglas Mawson
Sir Douglas Mawson, OBE, FRS, FAA was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer and Academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.-Early work:He was appointed geologist to an...
. Mawson, who had served as physicist during Ernest Shackleton
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...
's 1908–09 Nimrod Expedition
Nimrod Expedition
The British Antarctic Expedition 1907–09, otherwise known as the Nimrod Expedition, was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton. Its main target, among a range of geographical and scientific objectives, was to be first to the South Pole...
, was planning his own Antarctic expedition. In his application letter, Mertz wrote that he hoped Mawson would be using skis, as "they have proved so good for the purpose & knowing that I am as good as any one on skys." While Mawson was intending to recruit only British subjects (chiefly Australians and New Zealanders), Mertz's qualifications prompted him to make an exception, and hire the Swiss as a ski instructor. First, however, he was given responsibility for the expedition's 49 Greenland Huskies
Greenland Dog
The Greenland Dog is a large breed of husky-type dog kept as a sled dog and for hunting polar bear and seal. This is an ancient breed, thought to be directly descended from dogs brought to Greenland by the first Inuit settlers.-Appearance:The Greenland Dog is a powerful, heavy-built dog...
, aboard the expedition ship SY Aurora, bound for Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
.
On the Aurora, Mertz met Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis was a Lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers and an Antarctic explorer who was a member of Sir Douglas Mawson's 1911 Australasian Antarctic Expedition.-Antarctica 1911-1912:...
, a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers. Like Mertz, Ninnis was responsible for the expedition's dogs; Auroras captain, John King Davis
John King Davis
John King Davis, CBE was an English-born Australian explorer and navigator notable for his work captaining exploration ships in Antarctic waters as well as for establishing meteorological stations on Macquarie Island in the subantarctic and on Willis Island in the Coral Sea.-Early life:Davis's...
, regarded the pair as "idlers". "I wish we had some one on board who could look after [the dogs]," he wrote in his diary, "it is a great shame that they should suffer from neglect." On 2 December 1911, after final preparations and loading were completed in Hobart, the Aurora sailed south; she stopped briefly at Macquarie Island
Macquarie Island
Macquarie Island lies in the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between New Zealand and Antarctica, at 54°30S, 158°57E. Politically, it has formed part of the Australian state of Tasmania since 1900 and became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978. In 1997 it became a world heritage...
, where a wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
relay base was established, and reached the site of the expedition's main base at Cape Denison
Cape Denison
Cape Denison is a rocky point at the head of Commonwealth Bay in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who named it for Sir Hugh Denison of Sydney, a patron of the expedition...
in Adélie Land
Adélie Land
Adélie Land is the portion of the Antarctic coast between 136° E and 142° E , with a shore length of 350 km and with its hinterland extending as a sector about 2,600 km toward the South Pole. It is claimed by France as one of five districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, although not...
, on the Antarctic continent, in early January.
Adélie Land
Over the following winter, preparations were made for the summer sledging. Because the conditions—constant, strong winds and an excessive slope by the hut—prevented Mertz from conducting skiing lessons as regularly as intended, he focussed instead on helping Ninnis to care for the dogs. On days when the weather was good they drove the dogs around outside the hut, teaching them to run in teams; when the winds returned the pair fitted and sewed harnesses for each dog, and prepared their sledging food. By this time Mertz and Ninnis developed a close friendship, as the expedition's taxidermist Charles Laseron later wrote:In August, the preparations extended to laying depots; an early party established a depot 5.5 miles (8.9 km) to the south of the main hut—a grotto in the ice known as Aladdin's Cave—but returned without the dogs. Mertz and two others set off to rescue the dogs, but in heavy winds covered less than a mile in two hours, and returned to the hut. "If it depended only on me," Mertz wrote in his diary, after four days' more wind confined them to the hut, "we would be in our sleeping bags outside in the snow, and we would at least try to find the dogs. Mawson is definitely too cautious, and I wonder if he would show enough gumption during the sledging expedition." The following day Mertz was part of a party of three that made it to Aladdin's Cave to rescue the dogs; when strong winds confined them to the depot for three days they spent the time expanding the cave.
In September, Mertz, Ninnis and Herbert Murphy formed a survey party, man-hauling
Manhauling
Manhauling, often expressed as man-hauling, means the pulling forward of sledges, trucks or other load-carrying vehicles by human power unaided by animals or machines...
to the south-east of Aladdin's cave. In strong winds, they travelled just 12.5 miles (20.1 km) in three days, before the temperature dropped to -34 °C and the wind speed increased to 90 miles per hour (73.9 kn), confining them to the tent. When a gap in the wind allowed, they hurried back to the hut.
Death during the Far Eastern Party
On 27 October 1912, Mawson outlined the summer sledging program. Mertz and Ninnis were assigned to Mawson's own party, which would use the dogs to push quickly to the east of the expedition's base in Commonwealth BayCommonwealth Bay
Commonwealth Bay is an open bay about 48 km wide at the entrance between Point Alden and Cape Gray in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who established the main base of the expedition at Cape Denison at the head of the bay...
, towards Victoria Land
Victoria Land
Victoria Land is a region of Antarctica bounded on the east by the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and on the west by Oates Land and Wilkes Land. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after the UK's Queen Victoria...
. The party departed Cape Denison on 10 November, heading first to Aladdin's Cave, and from there south-east towards a massive glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
encountered by Aurora on the outward journey. Mertz skied ahead, scouting and providing a lead for the dogs to chase; Mawson and Ninnis manoeuvred the two dog teams behind. They reached the glacier on 19 November; negotiating fields of crevasse
Crevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack in an ice sheet rhys glacier . Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the sheer stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rates of movement...
s, it was crossed in five days. The party made quick progress once on the plateau again, but they soon encountered another glacier, far larger than the first. Despite strong winds and poor light, Mertz, Mawson and Ninnis reached the far side on 30 November.
On 14 December, the party were more than 311 miles (500.5 km) from the Cape Denison hut. As Mertz skied ahead, singing songs from his student days, Ninnis, the largest sledge and the strongest dog team were lost when they broke through the snow lid of a crevasse. Together with the death of their companion, Mawson and Mertz were now severely compromised; on the remaining sledge they had just ten days' worth of food, and no food for the dogs. They immediately turned back west, gradually using the six remaining dogs to supplement their food supply; they ate all parts of the animals, including their livers. They initially made good progress, but as they cleared the largest glacier Mertz began to feel ill; he had lost his waterproof
Waterproofing
Waterproof or water-resistant describes objects relatively unaffected by water or resisting the ingress of water under specified conditions. Such items may be used in wet environments or under water to specified depths...
overpants on Ninnis' sledge, and in the cold his wet clothes were unable to dry. On 30 December, a day Mawson recorded that the companion was "off colour", Mertz wrote that he was "really tired [and] shall write no more." Mertz's condition deteriorated over the following days—Mawson recorded he was "generally in a very bad condition. Skin coming off legs, etc"—and his illness severely slowed their progress. On 8 January, the pair about 100 miles (160.9 km) from the hut, Mawson recorded:
Mawson buried Mertz in his sleeping bag under rough-hewn blocks of snow, along with the remaining photographic plates and an explanatory note. Mawson staggered back into the Cape Denison hut a month later, missing the Aurora by a matter of hours; she had waited for Mertz, Mawson and Ninnis for three weeks until—concerned by the encroaching winter ice—Davis had sailed her out of Commonwealth Bay and back to Australia.
Legacy
In November 1913, a month before the Aurora returned for the final time, Mawson and the six men remaining at Cape Denison erected a memorial cross for Mertz and Ninnis on Azimuth Hill to the north-west of the main hut. The cross, constructed from pieces of a broken radio mast, was accompanied by a plaque cut from wood from Mertz's bunk. The cross still stands, although the crossbar has required reattaching several times, and the plaque was replaced with a replica in 1986. The first glacier the Far Eastern Party crossed on the outward journey—previously unnamed—was named by Mawson after Mertz, becoming the Mertz GlacierMertz Glacier
Mertz Glacier is a heavily crevassed glacier in George V Coast of East Antarctica. It is the source of a glacial prominence that historically has extended northward into the Southern Ocean, the Mertz Glacial Tongue...
. At a speaking engagement upon his return to Australia, Mawson praised his dead comrades: "The survivors might have an opportunity of doing something more, but these men had done their all." At another, Mawson said that "Dr. Mertz was a Swiss by birth, but he was a man every Englishman would have liked to have called an Englishman ... He was a man of great feelings, generous—one of Nature's gentlemen." A telegram was sent on behalf of the Australian people to Emile Mertz, condoling him on his "great loss, but congratulating you on your son's imperishable fame."
The cause of Mertz's death is not certain; at the time, it was believed Mertz may have died of colitis
Colitis
In medicine, colitis refers to an inflammation of the colon and is often used to describe an inflammation of the large intestine .Colitides may be acute and self-limited or chronic, i.e...
. A 1969 study by Sir John Cleland
John Burton Cleland
Sir John Burton Cleland CBE was a renowned Australian naturalist, microbiologist, mycologist and ornithologist.-Early Life and education:...
and R. V. Southcott of the University of Adelaide
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...
concluded that the symptoms Mawson described—hair, skin and weight loss, depression, dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
and persistent skin infections—indicated the men had suffered hypervitaminosis A
Hypervitaminosis A
Hypervitaminosis A refers to the effects of excessive vitamin A intake.-Presentation:Effects include* Birth defects* Liver problems* Reduced bone mineral density that may result in osteoporosis* Coarse bone growths...
, an excessive intake of vitamin A
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a vitamin that is needed by the retina of the eye in the form of a specific metabolite, the light-absorbing molecule retinal, that is necessary for both low-light and color vision...
. Vitamin A is found in unusually high quantities in the livers of Greenland Dogs, of which both Mertz and Mawson consumed large amounts; indeed, as Mertz's condition deteriorated, Mawson may have given him more of the liver to eat, believing it to be more easily digested. This theory is the most widely accepted, but there have been counter-theories. Phillip Law
Phillip Law
Phillip Garth Law AC, CBE, FAA was an Australian scientist and explorer who served as director of Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions from 1949 to 1966.-Early life:...
, former director of Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions
Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions
The Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions is the historical name for the Australian Antarctic Program administered for Australia by the Australian Antarctic Division .-The ANARE Name:...
(ANARE), believed cold exposure could account for Mertz's symptoms. A 2005 article in The Medical Journal of Australia
The Medical Journal of Australia
The Medical Journal of Australia is a peer-reviewed medical journal. It is the official journal of the Australian Medical Association, published by the Australasian Medical Publishing Company. The editor-in-chief is Annette G. Katelaris....
by Denise Carrington-Smith, noting that Mertz was essentially a vegetarian, suggested that the sudden change to a predominantly meat diet could have triggered Mertz's illness. Combined with "the psychological stresses related to the death of a close friend [Ninnis] and the deaths of the dogs he had cared for, as well as the need to kill and eat his remaining dogs," this may have killed Mertz.