When a Face Opening Froze: Reading Edgeworth David’s Antarctic Knitted Balaclava
Research and writing: DDUJA KNIT
What happens when you try to remove a hat and your beard comes away with it? On 8 January 1909, geologist Tannatt William Edgeworth David wrote that the beards of his Antarctic sledging party had frozen to their windproof helmets and balaclavas. Douglas Mawson’s cheek and the tip of David’s nose were frostbitten.[2] The account records an encounter between a face covering, wind, breath and ice; it does not measure a garment’s thermal performance.
The National Museum of Australia preserves a grey-brown wool balaclava David used on Shackleton’s 1907–09 Nimrod expedition, object 2024.0001.0224.[1] The record does not establish that this surviving object was the particular balaclava mentioned on 8 January. Object and diary belong to the same expedition, but identifying one garment on one day would exceed the evidence.
A professor and the northern party
University of Sydney archives record that David was born in Wales and became professor of geology in 1891.[4] On Shackleton’s 1907–09 expedition he led the northern party with Mackay and his former student Mawson toward the South Magnetic Pole.[1][5] This was distinct from the geographic South Pole and Shackleton’s southern party. David’s first-person account appeared in volume II of The Heart of the Antarctic in 1909.[2][3]
Queensland Maritime Museum has displayed a David balaclava and a letter to his wife.[5] Although that exhibition also discusses Shackleton’s later expedition, the National Museum’s balaclava belongs to the 1907–09 Nimrod journey. Australian War Memorial records document David’s later military service; they supply no maker or knitting pattern for this headwear.[6]
Face edge, neck and two flaps
The National Museum describes plain stitching over most of the wool balaclava, ribbing around the face and neck, and a front flap with a slightly larger back flap below the chin.[1] The object measures 450 × 245 × 245 mm and weighs 171.5 g. These are measurements of a preserved object, not a cast-on count or gauge.
The change of stitch structure at the face opening is the first boundary to observe. The catalogue does not state how many stitches were picked up, when shaping occurred, or how the edge stretched in use. The neck has another ribbed area. The flaps reach below the chin, but the record does not say whether David tucked either inside outer clothing. Sketching the relationship among these three parts could guide a new design; it would not reconstruct David’s pattern.
What the diary can and cannot tell us
On 30 December 1908 David described breath freezing and cementing windproof helmets to beards. On 8 January 1909 he wrote of frostbitten hands, beards frozen to both helmets and balaclavas, and frostbite on Mawson’s cheek and his own nose.[2] The first passage names helmets; the second names helmets and balaclavas. Neither proves that the same knitted object was worn on both days. Both make moisture, icing and removal of a close face covering relevant to its use.
We cannot claim that the museum balaclava prevented or caused frostbite. David did not compare this ribbing with another design. The surviving construction is a set of observable decisions, not evidence of an invented protective performance.
Three lines to draw before knitting
The five photographs show the northern party’s setting, not five views of the preserved balaclava. The National Museum’s collection page shows the object itself. We do not reproduce its three object photographs because their individual reuse terms remain unconfirmed. Clothing visible in the expedition photographs must not be identified as this accessioned object.
Before using a modern balaclava pattern, draw the face edge, its transition to the neck and the different reach of the two flaps. The museum record makes these useful questions while leaving gauge, shaping sequence and layering unanswered.
Sources
- National Museum of Australia, object 2024.0001.0224 — user, expedition, construction and measurements.
- David’s northern journey account — 1908 and 1909 entries; scanned original volume II.
- Biodiversity Heritage Library rights record — 1909 volume and public-domain status.
- University of Sydney Archives — birthplace and career.
- Queensland Maritime Museum — exhibition objects.
- Australian War Memorial — later military service.