Alistair Mackay | |
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| Born | Alistair Forbes Mackay (1878-02-22)22 February 1878 Carskey,Argyllshire, Scotland |
| Died | c. (aged 35) |
| Education | George Watson's College |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation(s) | Physician,biologist,polar explorer |
| Known for |
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| Awards | Silver Polar Medal (1909) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Branch | British Army,Royal Navy |
| Service years | 1902–1906 (navy) |
| Unit | South African Constabulary |
| Wars | Second Boer War |
Alistair Forbes Mackay (22 February 1878 –c. February 1914) was a Scottish physician, biologist, andpolar explorer known for being the first, along with AustraliansDouglas Mawson andEdgeworth David, to reach theSouth Magnetic Pole on 16 January 1909, during theBritish Antarctic Expedition of 1907–1909.
Mackay joined theBritish Antarctic Expedition of 1907–1909—led byErnest Shackleton—as anexpedition doctor. They arrived on theNimrod atCape Royds inAntarctica in February 1908, and set up camp in a small expedition hut that would house the 15-man party through the winter. In March, along withDouglas Mawson andEdgeworth David, Mackay made up the party who undertook the first ascent ofMount Erebus.[1]
The following spring when Shackleton set off to attempt to reach theSouth Pole, he despatched Mackay, Mawson and David northward to reach theSouth Magnetic Pole, which lay approximately 650 kilometres (400 mi) north-north-west ofRoss Island. The trek commenced on 5 October, with the men hauling their own sleds and relaying the loads which meant that every kilometre gained by the sledges involved them travelling three kilometres (1.9 mi) by foot.[2]
For ten weeks, the men followed the coast north supplementing their stores with a diet of seals and penguins. They then crossed theDrygalski Ice Tongue and turned inland. They still faced a 700-kilometre (435 mi) return journey and established a depot to enable them to transfer their load to one overladen sled and to remove the need to relay. On 16 January 1909, they arrived at the South Magnetic Pole, took possession of the region for the British Crown. Mackay suggested three cheers for the King.[3]
David had been appointed leader of the expedition by Shackleton, but by end of January with all three of the party experiencing severe physical deterioration, David was increasingly unable to contribute. On 31 January, with Mawson out of earshot, Mackay exerted his authority as the party's doctor and threatened to declare the professor insane unless he gave written authority of leadership to Mawson. Mawson reluctantly took command but by 30 February, he acknowledged in his diary that "the Prof was now certainly partly demented". That day the party reached the coast line with perfect timing as within 24 hours they were collected by theNimrod for the return trip to Cape Royds.[4]
The trio had covered a distance of 1,260 miles (2,030 km), which stood as the longest unsupported sled journey until the mid-1980s.
Mackay was also the ship's doctor on the ill-fatedKarluk expedition in 1913 led byVilhjalmur Stefansson to explore the regions west ofParry Archipelago for theGovernment of Canada. After theKarluk, captained byRobert Bartlett, was stranded, crushed, and sunk bypack ice, Mackay and three other members of the crew died of exposure while struggling across the Arctic ice to reachWrangel Island orHerald Island.
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