A Jaeger camel-hair woollen blanket-sleeping bag supplied to Douglas Mawson as a member of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914
The item is fashioned from three blanket panels, 1860 mm long and ranging from 810 mm wide at the base to 860 mm wide at the open end, hemmed with a heavy contrasting fabric trim and sewn together fully along one long and one short side, and for 1120 mm along the second long side. The balance of that side is open, and three large buttons are sewn near the inside edge of the bottom panel, enabling the panels to be fastened together; the top side is open. A small Jaeger label (30 × 77 mm) is sewn on the underside of the top panel.
A few light stains and occasional traces of silverfish activity; minor signs of use and age, but overall in excellent condition.
Mawson makes specific reference to the camel-hair woollen material supplied by Jaeger to the expedition (see the 1915 first edition of 'The Home of the Blizzard', Volume 2, Appendix VII, 'Equipment', page 313). 'With regard to the clothing, the main bulk was of woollen material as supplied by Jaeger of London. This firm is unexcelled in the production of camel's-hair garments and has supplied most polar expeditions of recent years with under-clothing, gloves, caps, and the like. From the same firm we also secured heavy ski-boots, finnesko-crampons, and the blankets which were used at Winter Quarters at both Antarctic Bases'. Mawson also notes there that 'Furs, which were obtained from Norway, were restricted to sleeping-bags', which were used on sledging journeys. The Hurley photograph reproduced opposite page 138 in Volume 1 of the first edition ('A corner of the hut - Bage mending his sleeping-bag ...') depicts Bage hand-sewing a reindeer-fur sleeping bag, with a blanket-sleeping bag hanging up at his back. An excellent illustration of one of them in use appears in the Army & Navy Co-operative Society Catalogue for 1907, reproduced online at the BushcraftUK website (simply search there for 'Jaeger'). Provenance: Sir Douglas Mawson; by descent (a tiny cloth surname-label of the relevant family is neatly sewn in on the bottom panel).
Item #117458
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