Field Supplies
Antarctic Heritage Trust Conservator, Nicola Stewart talks about the myriad of supplies needed for a month camping out at Shackleton’s Nimrod hut at Cape Royds and Scott’s Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans.
On board the ship Nimrod as it took Shackleton and his men to Antarctica in 1907 were food and supplies to last them for two years. Among these were 125 tins of Hartleys apricot jam, 195 tins of marmalade, 144 tins of Heinz kidney soup, 48 bottles of tomato ketchup and 48 of chutney, 380 packets of soap, hockey sticks and a printing press.
As soon as we arrived at Scott Base we got busy staging the supplies and gear that we would be needing for a month camping out at Shackleton’s Nimrod hut at Cape Royds and Scott’s Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans.
Conor sorting out food supplies in camp NS © AHT/Nicola Stewart
Like Shackleton this included bottles of ketchup (two not 48) and chutney (just 4) but no tins of kidney soup! Also, carpentry tools, frozen vegetables, computers, hand sanitizer and materials to carry out our conservation work.
This year the sea ice is not suitable for us to get to the huts by vehicle so all our travelling between the huts and Scott Base will be by helicopter. This means weighing and packing our cargo into big plastic cubers to be transported slung under the helicopter.
Finally, on Friday 24 December we successfully arrived at Cape Royds and immediately started setting up our comfortable camp for the next couple of weeks.
Helicopter landing supplies at the camp near Shackleton’s hut © AHT/Nicola Stewart
