Archive for category: Antarctic Blog

By Ciarán Lavelle

They came from the North and they came prepared, well they came with everything they thought they needed, only stopping short of a kitchen sink. The men of the early exploration of the Antarctic continent were no doubt confident that they were going to have a cold time of it. And a good cup of tea and coffee was an essential to beat back the chill of the icy landscape. When it comes to tea the British know how to plan with a large collection of tea and coffee remaining in their original ration tins. The Cape Adare hut contains many fine examples of the hardwearing workman like iron-enamelled cups for everyday use from which the explorers imbibed this important heat infused nectar. These sturdy cups have suffered corrosion and enamel loss but still look much like they would have when their owners would have been huddled round drinking the steaming contents to the chorus penguin hoards nestled in the landscape around the small hut. The results of the removal of the iron corrosion and stabilisation of the cup before preparing for the cups return to the Antarctic climate can be seen in the pictures below.

Although drinking tea and coffee was no doubt a common place necessity this did not mean they couldn’t drink it in style. In the hut there can be found beautiful examples of fine bone china tea cups. Unfortunately the more fragile fine bone china mugs have not survived the trials and tribulations of the Antarctic environment as well as their metal cousins. This fine bone china mug came across our desk in multiple fragments leaving me with an inviting 3D jigsaw to reconstruct.

The task of the conservation process is to reconstruct it so it can be reversed in the future if it is needed so great care is taken and deliberation is needed to decide on the best adhesive to use.

In the end we were able to bring back to life evidence of essential fine dining accompaniment. And as I look at the cup I can imagine a gruff beaded man in well-worn extreme weather clothing sitting in that small cramped candle lit hut sipping from the cup like a fine European gentle man, pinkie raised, enjoying a bit of high tea on his icy sea.

By Josefin Jimenez

For the past weeks, as the paper conservator, I have been working on a collection of bottles of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce found in the loft of the Southern Cross expedition hut at Cape Adare in Antarctica. Some 30 bottles were found in the loft, in addition to others found in the dining area. Food for the expedition, even if in ample supply, was of little variety and Borchgrevink himself wrote: “Seal beef and roasted penguin flesh became a frequent repast as we grew frightfully tired of tinned food”.

Whether or not this went down well with a dash of Worcestershire sauce remains unsaid.

Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce was established in 1839 so would have been a household name by the time Borchgrevink went to Antarctica. The bottles themselves are beautiful objects and it’s stunning to see them emerge from the debris.

When they arrive to the lab they are covered in grit and penguin feathers and often the sauce has spilled and dribbled from the bottle. Traditionally, the bottles were labelled with a decorative printed label and then wrapped in paper for transport. In some cases only traces of paper remain on the glass; at others, the spills have so impregnated the paper that it is no longer possible to distinguish the paper from the glass.

But for a few of them, where the wrapper has remained, lifting the wrapper reveals a label of startlingly vivid orange colour and delicate blue printing and borders.  Much of the printing is often lost but in good examples the following can be read:

‘Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire Sauce Pronounced by Connoisseurs as The Only Good Sauce For enriching Gravies, and for use in Game, Steak, Cold Meats, Soup & Curries. It forms an agreeable addition to SALAD & CHEESE. As spurious imitations of this are offered to the public, ensure with each purchase that the name of LEA & PERRINS is on the Wrapper and Labels as well as on each Bottle and Patent Stopper. Manufactured solely by LEA & PERRINS, WORCESTERSHIRE, and sold by CROSSE AND BLACKWELL, and the Warehousemen, London: JOHN DUNCAN’S SONS, NEW YORK, and vendors of sauces generally throughout the world.’

By Stefanie White

Looking through the magnification lens, I take a breath through my respirator and reach for the micro spatula. The belt is encrusted with layers of dried penguin guano and dirt. It stinks. With the spatula, I lift thin sheets of the encrustations to reveal a stained leather surface. Tweezers hold penguin feathers fast and I remove them from within the encrustation with some force. And then finally I role cotton swabs dampened in deionised water across the leather surface and begin to reveal the original surface. The process is slow, deliberate, meditative and satisfying in that oddly pleasurable way.

As time passes, I notice the wear marks in the belt and notice which punch hole was used most often. I think about the size of the owner’s waist. I see handmade punch holes and contemplate the dramatic weight loss the owner must have experienced while based at Cape Adare. I think about why the owner left his belt behind … perhaps he forgot it, perhaps he suffered from T3.  The buckle is interesting. It’s square, elegant and made out of nickel.

As I swab, I tune into the New Zealand radio playing in the background and into conversations happening in the lab. I continue to swab and swab and swab the leather belt. And then from beneath the residue of the penguin guano, I see something. I see a gold printed letter. I turn and shout to my colleagues ‘The owners name is on the belt’ and together we decipher the printed letters.

George Murray Levick was a naval surgeon and zoologist on Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition of 1910-13. Being a part of the Northern Party, he spent the summer of 1911-1912 at Cape Adare.  Levick and possibly all members of the Terra Nova expedition were gifted a leather belt by the leather manufacturing company Leckie and Co. based in Walsall, England. They received this gift especially for this British Antarctic Expedition. The discovery of the gold printed letters was a highlight this week in the lab. The discovery is one-of-a-kind as no other belt survives. Information previously unknown was uncovered and it’s always exciting for a conservator to be able to attribute an owner’s name to an artefact.

By Sue Bassett

During the decade of work by the Trust’s on-ice conservation teams, many personal insights have been gained into the lives of the early expeditioners. Some of the paper items from Captain RF Scott’s hut at Cape Evans provide good examples.

In addition to a range of adventure stories and military novels, there are a surprisingly large number of paperback romances … and, judging by the degree of wear and sooty fingerprints, they were rather well read!

The stories seem to reflect the sensibilities of the era and are of variable quality – although almost all seem to feature prolonged bouts of blushing between the chief protagonists. One of the best (or worst) involves a hero called Dr Love who finds he has feelings for an impoverished actress and resolves to free her from the profession. The end pages are unfortunately missing, so we can only hope that it ends as a proper romance should.

Many of the magazines, too, combine stories of popular interest with the frivolous and banal (not to mention articles on fashion for the ladies). To Scott’s men, who often had to survive gruelling conditions, such throwaway reading matter was likely valued as a diversion. Along the same lines are two scrapbook-style montages tacked to the wall in the officers’ sleeping area. One comprises a wonderful selection of images—all cut from magazines—mainly of women with big hats, parasols and big hair, all surrounding a large central image of a very well-fed cat. The other, a firm favourite of ours, is a collection of cut-out pictures of dogs pasted to the back of a plywood crate lid … presumably by someone very fond of man’s best friend and perhaps also missing his pooch back home.

The midwinter tradition should probably be credited to Robert Falcon Scott, who on his first expedition just four years later describes the festivities of midwinter 1902 in some detail. There were decorations ‘with designs in coloured papers and festooned with chains and ropes’ and ‘the tables were loaded with plum puddings, mince pies, and cakes’. There were speeches, presents, sing-songs, champagne, and great revelry, with which, Scott records, ‘we agreed that life in the Antarctic regions was worth living’.

As we at Scott Base hung the decorations, opened gifts and tucked into our 9-course midwinter dinner, shared with some good friends from neighbouring McMurdo Station, we couldn’t have agreed more. Salute!