Aurora left Hobart on 24 December 1914, having been delayed in Australia by financial and organizational problems. The arrival in McMurdo Sound on 15 January 1915 was later in the season than planned, but the party's commander, Aeneas Mackintosh, made immediate plans for a depot-laying journey on the Ross Ice Shelf, since he understood that Shackleton hoped to attempt the crossing during that first season.Fisher 1957, pp. 397–400. Neither the men nor the dogs were acclimatised, and the party was, as a whole, very inexperienced in ice conditions. The first journey on the ice resulted in the loss of ten of the party's 18 dogs and a frostbitten and generally demoralised shore party; a single, incomplete depot was their only achievement.Tyler-Lewis 2006, pp. 69–105.
