News Story Archives

Inspiring Explorers Expedition a Success

November 1, 2015 - Media Releases

The Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand’s Inspiring Explorers Expedition, an international centenary expedition to honour the legacy of the early Antarctic explorers, successfully crossed South Georgia Island.

The expedition,which took place 16-30 October 2015, was a new initiative for the Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand with the aim of inspiring explorers. The expedition followed in the footsteps of Ernest Shackleton (UK/ IRE), Tom Crean (IRE) and Frank Worsley (NZ).

The Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand chose three young explorers, Tom MacTavish (NZ), Sinéad Hunt (IRE) and James Blake (UK/NZ) to nominally represent the original expedition members’ nationalities.

The Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand’s Executive Director, Nigel Watson led the expedition accompanied by two professional guides from One Ocean Expeditions. Sharing the expedition is a key part of the experience for the three young explorers. The expedition was tracked via YB tracker https://my.yb.tl/aht2015 and posted on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Antarctic.Heritage.Trust.

All three young explorers plan to share their experiences further. The expedition team disembarked ship at King Haakon Bay and crossed South Georgia on skis retracing the original route in a multi-day traverse of the Island before re-joining the ship at Stromness.

The original expedition undertaken by Shackleton, Crean and New Zealander Frank Worsley was the final 36 hour act of desperation and bravado to raise the alarm to rescue the crew of Shackleton’s Endurance expedition marooned on Elephant Island.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Walking up hill

Dogs

October 28, 2015 - Antarctic Blog

By Sue Bassett

While Captain RF Scott wasn’t keen on the idea of using dogs as his main means of transport to the South Pole—largely because of the cruelty and sacrifice involved—he did take a team of 35 sledging dogs (and a collie bitch, ‘Lassie’) to Antarctica on his 1910–13 expedition.

Royal Geographical Society

Antarctic Heritage Trust – dogs

The sledging dogs were collected in Siberia, moved by dog-driver to Vladivostok, and transported by steamer to Lyttelton, New Zealand, via Sydney, to be loaded onto the ‘Terra Nova’ for the 5-week voyage to Antarctica. There they lived in the expedition hut’s stables at Cape Evans under the control of their handler, CH Meares. Each had a name and their antics, personalities, highs and lows are referred to frequently in Scott’s journals.

Later, Ernest Shackleton’s 1914–17 Ross Sea support party also had a small team of dogs at the hut. Ten members of the expedition were marooned at Cape Evans when their ship, ‘SY Aurora’, still containing most of their supplies and equipment, broke anchor and was swept away from shore. Ernest Joyce, who was the leader of the sledging party, and his team relied heavily on their surviving dogs to bring their weakened scurvy ridden bodies home after their journey across the Ross Ice Shelf to lay depots of stores.

Cantebury Museum

Samson, one of the dogs that went to the ice with Shackleton’s Ross Sea Party.

Nearly a century later, the degraded body of an unidentified sledging dog from one of these expeditions still lay chained to the northern wall outside the stables at the Cape Evans hut. There are photographs of the dog from the 1950s, when it was desiccated but still largely articulated within its coat. Since then, the ravages of the elements and disturbance by opportunistic skuas – scavenging seabirds, which live in abundance around Cape Evans – have resulted in decay and loss of the dog’s flesh and skin, and disarticulation and scattering of exposed skeletal material.

During the Trust’s recent work to carry out essential repairs to the stables, the dog’s remains were re-excavated and moved. As a protection against further deterioration, they were relocated inside the stables and laid out in one of the pony stalls. The dogs of both Scott’s and the Ross Sea Party’s expeditions were usually allowed to roam freely around in the stables so it is a fitting final resting place.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Lucy conserves the skeleton of a husky from the Ross Sea Party at Cape Evans. The skeleton was re-associated after several years of meltwater and wind erosion had begun to scatter the bones.

Heroic Explorers Inspire a New Generation

October 17, 2015 - Media Releases, News Story

The Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Inspiring Explorers Expedition 2015 to South Georgia Island left on 16 October 2015. TV3’s Isobel Ewing interviewed inspiring explorer Tom MacTavish in his home town of Moeraki, New Zealand, and looked back at what Shackleton, Crean and Worsley accomplished 100 years ago, crossing South Georgia Island to rescue the men of the Endurance.

On 13 October 2015 a function was held at the British High Commission in Wellington, New Zealand to farewell the Trust’s expedition. Hosted by the British High Commissioner and the Consulate General of Ireland, TVNZ was there to capture the story.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Inspiring explorers

Prime Minister Launches Conservation Plan

March 17, 2015 - Hillary's Hut, Media Releases

Today, New Zealand Prime Minister Rt Hon John Key has launched the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Conservation Plan for Hillary’s Hut, in front of more than 125 Antarcticansat Parliament.

Hillary’s Hut, ‘Hut A’, forms part of New Zealand’s first scientific facility at Scott Base. It is the original remaining building established with the support of the New Zealand Government for the country’s involvement in the Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955-58 and International Geophysical Year 1957-58. It is designated as a Historic Monument under the Antarctic Treaty in recognition of its importance in the history of exploration and science in Antarctica.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

NZ flag

The event was hosted by Hon Maggie Barry, Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage and included surviving members of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955-58 and International Geophysical Year 1957-58and members of Sir Edmund Hillary’s family.

This conservation work is of great significance to New Zealand’s history. “Sir Ed was the patron of the Antarctic Heritage Trust up until his passing. We are honoured to have the opportunity,in partnership with Antarctica New Zealand, to conserve the origins of Scott Base once we secure the necessary funding,” says Nigel Watson, Executive Director, Antarctic Heritage Trust.

The Conservation Plan was written by a team of authors under the leadership of Conservation Architect Chris Cochran, and peer reviewed by international experts.

In 2012 the Trust signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Antarctica New Zealand to manage this conservation work, including all fundraising for the site. Work will commence in the Antarctic summer of 2016-17 subject to the Trust securing funds.

Hillary Tractor Secured in Public Private Partnership

March 13, 2015 - Hillary's Hut, Media Releases

A Ferguson tractor, used by Sir Edmund Hillary’s party at the newly-constructed Scott Base during the British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955 –58,has been secured for public ownership through a public private partnership between Canterbury Museum, the Antarctic Heritage Trust and the Commodore Hotel Christchurch.

Museum Director Anthony Wright says the tractor, part of a private collection auctioned in Christchurch this morning, is one of the most significant items from this era to have come on the market in the last 20 years. Canterbury Museum already holds the world’s most comprehensive collection of items from the heroic age of Antarctic exploration and discovery and many items from the Trans-Antarctic Expedition including a Tucker Sno-cat and one of the tractors used by Hillary’s polar party which was the first motorised vehicle to reach the South Pole overland.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Hillary tractor

The tractor will be put on display at the Commodore Hotel as an attraction for hotel guests, many of whom are en route to Antarctica, until the Museum has space to show it in an expanded Antarctic exhibition. The tractor will also be made available to the Museum’s long-term partner, the Antarctic Heritage Trust,to support their marketing and fundraising activities including their project to conserve Hillary’s hut in Antarctica.

“It’s fantastic that the Museum has been able to secure this outstanding item of national importance for permanent public ownership with the help of private partners,” says Mr Wright. “The Museum will benefit in the short-term by having the tractor cared for and displayed at the Commodore until we have sufficient space to exhibit it in the Museum.”

The Museum used funding from the M. C. Richards Bequest,left to the Museum specifically to acquire Antarctic objects, to purchase the tractor. The Commodore Hotel has contributed to the acquisition cost as a gift to the people of Canterbury through the Museum. The commercial terms of the agreement between the Museum, the Antarctic Heritage Trust and the Commodore Hotel are confidential.

World-leading Project Saves Heroic Antarctic Legacy

January 28, 2015 - Media Releases

The world’s most extreme conservation project has saved three historic buildings and thousands of artefacts once used by Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton.

The milestone was reached this Antarctic summer after a decade of extensive conservation work by the Antarctic Heritage Trust (New Zealand).

Over the life of the project 62 specialists from 11 countries have undertaken cutting edge heritage conservation unprecedented in its scale and complexity in the polar regions, to conserve Scott’s and Shackleton’s Antarctic legacy.

The three heroic-era buildings and their artefact collections were in danger of loss after a century of extreme environmental conditions. To combat this, and in a world-first, the Antarctic Heritage Trust has been working year round in Antarctica with the support of Antarctica New Zealand.

Working from purpose-built conservation laboratories, artefact conservators, have meticulously conserved 18,202 individual artefacts including food supplies, clothing, equipment and personal items left behind in the historic huts. Heritage carpenters have repaired and weatherproofed Scott’s huts at Cape Evans and Hut Point and Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds, improving environmental conditions.

During the conservation work previously undiscovered artefacts have been found including most famously crates of Scotch whisky and brandy at Shackleton’s historic base, unseen photographs and a notebook from Scott’s historic hut at Cape Evans.

While ongoing maintenance of the buildings and artefacts from Scott’s and Shackleton’s bases remain a priority, the Antarctic Heritage Trust will now begin conservation work on the first building on the continent at Cape Adare and, upon securing funding, the original building, built for the Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1955-58, at New Zealand’s Scott Base.

“The dedication of the conservation teams and the passion for the legacy that they are saving has been the key to the project’s success.We are particularly grateful for the support of the New Zealand Government and supporters worldwide. With ongoing care these sites will stand for current and future generations,”said Nigel Watson, Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Executive Director

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Cape Royds

Midwinter

June 18, 2014 - Antarctic Blog

By Sue Bassett

Midwinter is upon us, for those in the southern hemisphere at least. For those of us in Antarctica, midwinter is traditionally a time of celebration and feasting. We’ve reached our shortest day—our darkest day—and now we move towards the return of the light and the return of the sun in a couple of months’ time. Definitely a milestone to be celebrated!

Antarctic Heritage Trust – midwinter

But where did this ‘tradition’ begin, on a continent with a very short history? Certainly not with the members of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition who, in 1898, became the first expeditioners to winter in Antarctica after being trapped in the ice aboard their ship ‘Belgica’. For them it was all doom and gloom, with tales of ‘dreary, cheerless days’, of hardship, extreme discontent, illness and tragedy. Midwinter was described as ‘the darkest day of the night; a more dismal sky and a more depressing scene could not be imagined’. And, to add ‘another cloud to the hell of blackness’, their beloved cat, Nansen, succumbed to the long darkness at midwinter, and died.

Credit unknown

Nansen, the ‘Belgica’ cat

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!

Let There Be Light … and Heat!

June 11, 2014 - Antarctic Blog

By Meg Absolon

Let there be light… and heat!

The flick of the switch is usually all it takes for us to enjoy a good read on the couch in a warm room on a cold winter evening. There may be a wood fire or central heating, an electric blanket, underfloor heating or even a lovely heated towel rack in the bathroom. A microwave is a handy way to warm the hot chocolate and the light dimmers can create some ambiance. And everything smells as good as the roast that comes out of the oven. Ahhh…

Back to reality. Lucky for me, my reality is most of the above combined with corrosion removal during the day. And I’ve just completed conserving a fabulous large Homelight Lamp Oil fuel can from Discovery Hut which was a provision of the British Antarctic Expedition.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Homelight lamp oil can

The same brand of oil was also sent down in this beautiful wooden box.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Wooden box

I’ve also recently worked on small oil cans containing oil in remarkably good condition. There were many types of oils and fuels, including calcium carbide for acetylene lighting, brought down on the historic expeditions to create heat and light for the long winters, with seal blubber as the final resort.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Small oil can

At Scott Base today we have all the heat and lighting required to live an exceptionally comfortable winter existence provided mostly by diesel fuel generation with an impressive 22% of delivery by wind power. Plus a toasty gas powered ‘log’ fire to read Scott’s Journal in front of.

Can You Still Tell a Man by His Shoes?

June 11, 2014 - Antarctic Blog

By Stefanie White

My grandmother, my mother and even my best friend have been heard announcing the old view that ‘you can tell a man by his shoes’ implying that shoes can portray a man’s moral character. Today that view may be mostly obsolete, especially in the Antarctic.

In the Antarctic, where there is little room for fashionable and aesthetic footwear, our shoes and boots are practical. Designed for Extreme Cold Weather, they are big, sometimes knee high, and insulated with high soles and thick layers of fleece. With wear and tear, we repair them and with decreasing temperature and new demands, we alter them.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Stefanie (front), with Meg, Sue and Aline holding their practical Antarctic boots.

This was also the case for Scott and his men. They patched, re-stitched and altered their boots often adding hobnails to increase grip for walking on ice and stuffing insulating sennegrass inside to help overcome freezing temperatures.

One may interpret that these men stayed true to their old boots, maintaining and caring for them. These men were professional and practical yet display chaotic domestic habits in the scruff and buildup of dirt on the boot soles. Perhaps, pronate distortions in the boots tell that they were sometimes stressed and exhausted with sore and cold feet.

It was sometimes the case that the historic explorers wore less practical and fancier shoes. Uncovered from under Wilson’s bed, in Scott’s Terra Nova Hut at Cape Evans, a black patent leather pomp, with a decorative grosgrain bow, was found. This rather fancy shoe is completely unsuitable for the harsh Antarctic conditions and may perhaps lend a tale about a man’s more sensitive character. The owner of this shoe was a man with grounded feet; a man with a sense of vanity, style and perhaps even artistic humour.

Overall, we can be sure of one thing: Practical and durable boots are a necessity for surviving the harsh Antarctic conditions and equally as important is the superficial and impractical accessory that can sometimes lift a man’s moral and make him feel at home.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

A dress shoe, found at Scott’s Cape Evans hut.

Antarctic Heritage Trust – boot

Dog Biscuits

March 7, 2014 - Antarctic Blog

By Meg Absolon

I’ve been very fortunate since arriving on the Ice to be working in the on-site conservation laboratory at Hut Point, which is situated directly behind Scott’s Discovery Hut (1901-04). Stefanie and I have been conserving food boxes from an internal wall made from stacked supply boxes.

This wall was built during Shackleton’s British Antarctic Expedition (1907-09) when they used Discovery Hut as a staging point for depot laying. The Hut is described by various expeditioners as a dark and cold place to spend time and Shackleton’s men wished to enclose a cosy space around the stove to make the quarters more habitable. The supply boxes used were predominately Special Cabin Biscuits and Special Dog Biscuits made by Spratts Patent Limited of London, who also supplied the army and navy.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Meg documenting the supply box wall

Every time we walk into the Hut we get the chance to imagine the many stories and desperate situations the men who passed through Discovery Hut experienced. It’s incredibly exciting conserving the boxes that make up the internal wall in the Hut as we discover new and different details every day.

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Box with paw print

Dogs are also part of the amazing history of the Hut, with Scott taking 23 dogs for hauling sledges on his National Antarctic Expedition. In 1908, during Shackleton’s Expedition, three puppies ended up at Hut Point. It was decided to leave the puppies in the Hut for nearly a month while depots were laid for Shackleton’s push to the Pole. Dr Eric Marshal recorded that 24lbs of mutton was chopped up for the puppies as well as dog biscuits and snow left for their survival. The men returned to find the puppies had eaten all the mutton but not the biscuits.