Safe Return Doubtful

by Graham Murphy

My first book “Safe Return Doubtful” was written about my expedition to Douglas Mawson’s Hut in Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica.

Mawson was one of the greats during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Explorers. There is a great deal written about his two years in Antarctica and I have just finished Peter FitzSimmon’s book on Mawson and it is a great read and a must to fully understand all of the Heroic Age explorers.

Tony Mowbray, well known Australian sailor and now my very good friend planned an expedition to sail to Commonwealth bay to Mawson’s Hut in 2003/4 in his very small 43 foot fibreglass yacht. I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of the five man team to go.

The tiny yacht was battered, turned upside down and struggled through the roughest ocean on earth to reach our destination, Mawson’s Hut.

This was my first time on a yacht. This was the first time I had ever been out of sight of land.

My book tells the incredible journey of getting to and home from the coldest and windiest place on earth. It talks about how I coped both physically and mentally. How I, along with my fellow team members, survived long agonising and freezing days steering the boat with waves constantly washing over you and knocking you to the ground. There was no heating on the boat, no bathing, very little fresh water with our back up contingency to melt ice to get us through.

This is a unique story and a great read that will take you along for the ride and experience the highs and lows of the expedition and the hardships encountered by all members.

Safe Return Doubtful retails for $29.99.

Book Testimonials

I just finished your book, WOW! What a story, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Aptly named Safe Return Doubtful as it certainly had its moments. All of the emails included gave it more transparency. This is a book that I would certainly recommend to all readers of adventure stories.

Paul Morrissey, Coonabarabran

You had me reading with growing delight from the first couple of pages. I laughed out loud at the line, “And what better time to be wearing clean underwear than when they pulled my limp, wet body out of the ocean? At least they’d know I’d had a good upbringing.” And it wasn’t my last – people looked at me funnily…
I really enjoyed reading about you adventures, and think you have a real talent for writing. You started out being funny and self-deprecating, and then you took me on a journey through adventure and excitement, especially when you got to Mawson’s Hut and described what you could see and all the history that surrounds it. The description of the iceberg and the pack ice that you couldn’t get through was very well done. And then the descriptions of the rough weather, terrible living conditions and your broken ribs – my heart was in my mouth for most of this.

David Bell, Canberra