In their own words

Captain Davis is the most experienced navigator of Antarctic seas living … He’s an expert on oceanographical work, especially in sounding and dredging in deep waters … He successfully navigated Aurora, landing Dr Mawson at his winter quarters through the stormiest oceans and one of the worst ice seasons ever recorded.

— Sir Ernest Shackleton, 1913

This was my main life’s work. It was a three-year assignment filled with the most extraordinary vicissitudes.

— Captain Davis speaking about the AAE in 1959 to Graham Perkin (From “A Red Beard In Frozen Wastes Of Antarctica” by Graham Perkin, The Age, 16 September 1959)