Archive for category: News Story

By Josefin Jimenez

In most cases the historic food that comes off the ice is interesting, rather than appetizing. Even if it had not been 100 years old and come from a tin covered in corrosion and penguin remains the names ‘Bloaters’ and ‘Lunch Tongue’ are not something that would make most people reach for their knife and fork. Not in this day and age, anyway!

There have been a few exceptions though, such as tablets of compressed coffee that still smelled like the fresh beans, mango chutney from the Indian Condiment Manufacturer and, in one notable case, lard so white and fresh it might as well have been a tub of ice cream.

And, of course, the Lime Juice Nodules. The nodules came in square tins wrapped in paper and string, and were found underneath a bunk in the Southern Cross hut (first British Antarctic Expedition, 1898 ̶ 1900), believed to be stashed there as part of an emergency cache.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

A tin of Lime Juice Nodules, before treatment.

During conservation it was discovered that one of the tins was leaking and it had to be opened as part of its treatment. The nodules, previously believed to be either dried fruit or sachets of powder, turned out to be in fact chocolate-coated. Each was a square of dark chocolate individually wrapped in parchment paper, around a delicious filling of lime sugar-syrup, much like a modern sweet treat. Their smell was rich and strong and still quite tempting.

After extensive lab discussions we believe that the consistency would be similar to one of the Strawberry flavoured Cadbury Roses. To us it was quite mystifying why the expeditions would have left so many of these tins uneaten.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Cross section of a sampled Lime Juice Nodule, retained for analysis.

The Lime Juice Nodules were supplied by the Bovril Food Company, of British Beef Tea fame, and would have been intended as a remedy for scurvy, an antiscorbutic, but it is doubtful whether they would have worked effectively as such.Previously the remedy for scurvy would have been casually referred to as ‘lime juice’ although actually made from lemons, but a shift in production of antiscorbutics around this time likely meant actual limes were used, in the belief that the higher acidity would be a more effective cure. Unfortunately lime juice contains a considerably smaller amount of Vitamin C and is actually less effective. And as it was all referred to as ‘lime juice’, whether made with limes or lemons, these particular ones could be either.

Scott, for instance, some years later, did not believe that lemon juice would prevent scurvy, instead relying on fresh meat.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Repacking the Lime Juice Nodules into the tin after treatment ̶ as the chocolate threatened to melt at room temperature, treatment had to be carried out in short bursts between periods of cold storage.

And, as the Bovril Food Company also made Fluid Beef and Bovril enriched chocolate containing Albumen and Fibrine, maybe the taste was doubtful too.

By Sue Bassett

Conserving artefacts from the early British Antarctic expedition huts whilst actually living in Antarctica is without doubt a unique, ultimately challenging and wonderful experience for any conservator. Truth be known, it’s life-changing.

The Trust’s current artefacts conservation team, working on the contents of the earliest and most remote British hut in Antarctica, is based in Christchurch. This is because it was logistically simpler to transport frozen artefacts from Antarctica’s Cape Adare to New Zealand for treatment, and then refreeze them and take them back. The Christchurch location offers the team a different set of opportunities, such as weekends to explore NZ’s spectacular South Island and a workplace in the centre of one of the biggest rebuilding projects in the Southern Hemisphere. Following the demolition of about 75 per cent of Christchurch’s CBD in the aftermath of the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, the $40b rebuild of the city is now in full swing … on every street and on every corner, it seems.

As part of the inner city reinvigoration plan there is a Friday street-food market in Cathedral Square, alongside the tumbled ruins of the once majestic cathedral, so the team makes a point of going along for a coffee and a spot of lunch. We listen to the buskers and sometimes join the other clientele, mainly high-vis-clad construction workers and tradies, in reviving the community spirit with a leisurely round of quoits.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Quoits on a Friday in Christchurch’s Cathedral Square

And then it’s back to the lab to conserve … hang on … some century-old coffee, luncheon meat and quoits!  

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Packets of historic coffee, 1899

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Tin of historic preserved lunch tongues, before treatment

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Handmade rope quoit, after treatment

By Ciarán Lavelle

The men of Scott’s 1910 expedition would have been at the peak of their physical fitness on the eve of their expedition south. The harshness and physical demands of not just their sea journey but also their time in the icy south required a great deal of both mental and physical strength and stamina to face the trials and tribulations of such a harsh foreboding environment. In our modern fitness and gym-obsessed world it is interesting to think about these virile men and how they organised their own fitness regimes to keep their strength and stamina at the required level.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

The punching ball before conservation.

This highly degraded rubber object is a fascinating insight into one aspect of their potential fitness regime. Initially documented as being the bladder of a rugby ball it has captured the imagination of the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust team due to the nation’s obvious obsession with the sport. Unfortunately for those rugby enthusiasts among us our initial zeal was dashed as it was discovered that it is not in fact a rugby ball but a punching ball. Renewed excitement followed at the realisation that this may be the very punching ball described in Raymond E Priestley’s personal account of Scott’s Northern Party. Priestley recounts the importance of strenuous exercise for team mate Abbott who turned the old Southern Cross hut into his personal gym for Swedish exercises (our own resident Swedish teammate is still trying to figure out what exactly they are).

Priestley has this to tell us about the ball itself:

‘We had brought a punching-ball with us from the Terra Nova, and for some time this afforded us quite a lot of exercise, but so soon as the temperature fell the rubber of the ball became brittle and useless and a puncture soon followed. It was no use attempting to mend this, and so we did the next best thing. The ball was stuffed with seaweed and from the Gibson Quilting, and though it was very lifeless it was very lifeless it was still of some use.’

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Ciarán creating a protective mount for the punching ball.

The historical account of the damage the ball has suffered links up with the physical condition of the remaining fragments of the ball. Although the majority of the ball has been lost, what remains is a fragile and brittle jigsaw. The nature of the degraded rubber limits what we can do to the object and since the damage is historical it was decided that stabilisation and display of the object in a way that it can be identified as a punching ball was the best option. The fragments were sandwiched between two layers of a netting and each fragment was sewn into its own individual pocket so as to keep them contained and protected.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

The punching ball after conservation.

The end result is that we can display the ball in a way that it can be identified while being protected from further loss from fragmentation. Now when I look the ball I can picture fragments of seaweed and rubber falling to the floor as the members of Scott’s Northern Party took their turn to pummel it by candlelight in the gloom of the Southern Cross hut so as to keep fighting fit in the freezing Antarctic cold.

By Josefin Jiménez

The work to conserve the artefacts from Cape Adare, the base established by Carsten Borchgrevink’s British Antarctic Expedition (Southern Cross) 1898 ̶ 1900, has just begun. Due to Cape Adare’s inaccessible location the artefacts won’t be conserved on the ice at Scott Base this winter but have instead been frozen and transported to Christchurch for treatment.

The team is made up of four conservators, some of whom are old hands with AHT and some of whom are new faces.

Sue Bassett, lead conservator, has led AHT Winter teams through 2013 and 2014, has experience with many interesting conservation projects in Australia and elsewhere, and has a passion for Antarctic history.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Sue has selected the first batch of iron alloy objects that will undergo desalination! Objects include stove parts, dog chains, hooks and shackels.

Stefanie White, objects conservator, has also wintered in Antarctica twice before, working with AHT in 2013 and 2014 on objects from Captain RF Scott’s Discovery hut and Terra Nova hut.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

The newcomers to the Trust are Ciarán Lavelle, objects conservator, and Josefin Jiménez, paper conservator. Both have been following the project with interest for some time and are delighted to join the team. 

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Ciaran Lavelle

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Josefin conserves the deteriorated labels on bottles of pickel and L&P’s worcestershire sauce

Surprisingly the team has a strong Irish connection as both Stefanie and Ciarán are Irish and Josefin, albeit Swedish, has been living and working in Dublin for a year before coming to New Zealand.

It is going to be an exciting year with many fantastic objects to uncover. It is already amazing to see the new objects emerge and, as Borchgrevink’s hut is located in the middle of the world’s largest Adelié penguin colony (population 750,000), some of them are quite literally emerging … from vague shapes covered in guano and feathers, into recognisable historic artefacts (with a very distinct aroma).