When presented with a box of fragments from a bottle bought back from Cape Adare (associated with the 1899 expedition led by Norwegian explorer Carsten Borchgrevink) I found myself asking if it was worth the time to painstakingly piece it back together.

Finally, after discussing it with our Programme Manager Lizzie, we decided that it was rare to find blue bottles at the historic huts and it would definitely add to the Cape Adare hut, and so I went ahead.

Glass bottle from around 1899 before treatment © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Now that it’s back together we can see that it was a chemical bottle, probably from Burroughs Wellcome.

The bottle after conservation © Antarctic Heritage Trust

For weeks now I’ve also been working on metal artefacts which are heavily corroded due to years of freezing then thawing during the summer, as well as being exposed to the salt-laden air.

Some of the objects made from thin tin-plated iron can be completely corroded through leaving no metal, just a fragile, crumbling layer of rust.

This was the case with the only film canister to survive from Herbert Ponting’s darkroom at Cape Evans. Usually the first step in conserving metals is to remove the corrosion, but by doing this half the artefact would disappear. So, you have to ask whether the rust is still part of the artefact and is it worth keeping?

Well, in this case I decided to keep as much of the object as possible given it is such a rare object. So I carefully removed the loose dust, applied a coating to the surface and then strengthened the rust by backing it with a layer of tissue paper and adhesive. It may no longer be the original metal, but it does show that the canister had a lid and what shape it was – or should that be ‘is’?

A can of film from Herbert Ponting’s darkroom at Cape Evans © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Group photo with HRH Prince Edward © Evelyn Ussher, Antarctica New Zealand

After a trip around the International Antarctic Centre (where there are wonderful exhibits to see and experience, including a penguin reserve and a simulated Antarctic storm), he came to meet us: a selection of young researchers from all different areas of the Antarctic community.

In the brief it said he wanted to meet ‘youth’ who had been to Antarctica. I don’t exactly qualify on either level (being 29, and still looking forward to my first trip to the ice, in February) but was exceedingly chuffed that from amongst the Antarctic Heritage Trust staff the privilege somehow fell to me!

There representing the Trust was the Executive Director Nigel and myself, who I was very pleased to have with me because I was – to be honest – rather nervous! But in the end I needn’t have worried because the prince himself was very cheerful and personable, and he chatted with our group for quite some time about his own experiences down south (having journeyed there in 1982).

He was especially enthused about the work being done and the need for the conservation work.  His family has been most supportive of this (his sister, Princess Anne, is patron of our sister trust UK AHT).

He described how powerful the experience of Antarctica was to him; ‘an assault on the senses’ and remarked how surprisingly quiet it was in the huts; a refuge against the bitter environment outside.

So what can I say for a fabulous day – but thanks AHT!  And hip hip hooray!

We are now in our last week at Scott Base before we head out to spend a month working and camping at the historic bases.  The large pile of crates full of untreated artefacts from Captain Scott’s 1910 – 13 expedition base has finally started to dwindle and what seemed initially to be an insurmountable quantity of work has been successfully completed.

So, we have had a chance to move onto what are affectionately termed ‘crate mysteries’.  One crate has been of particular interest as the contents were taken from in and around the bunk beds of expedition members Taylor (Geologist), Nelson (Biologist), Debenham (Geologist) and Day (Motor Mechanic). Although the objects of general use that we have treated have been interesting, there is something so much more emotive about objects that can be identified as the personal belongings of a particular individual.

All manner of paraphernalia was collected from the small shelf boxes (which can be seen in the photo below) secured to the bunk sides at the hut.

Taylor, Nelson, Debenham and Dav’s bunks, from around 1911 © Canterbury Museum

The large number of quill nibs is indicative of the amount of writing these men must have done, and the quantity of safety pins, needles and buttons hints that the need for clothing repair must have been frequent. Of these 4, Day left behind the most possessions, including his toothbrush and even small fragments of crackers that he may well have enjoyed in bed as a midnight feast! Of the numerous scraps of paper found, many held a multitude of surprises.

Day’s toothbrush, from around 1911 © Antarctic Heritage Trust

One was a ball of scrunched up foil, that when painstakingly flattened was found to be stamped with the word ‘Vinolia’. Research showed that it was packaging for soap. This particular brand of soap was considered a real luxury, and was even provided in the cabins of the first-class passengers aboard the ill-fated Titanic.

An advert for Vinolia soap © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Another of the tiny fragments appears to have been torn from a book page and simply reads ‘pulling your leg!’ It’s nice to imagine why this was done, and why it was kept amongst a hoard of personal belongings. I can only deduce that there was an element of humour involved, indicating that despite the trials of Antarctic existence, there was still the opportunity for laughter.

Read more about the expedition members

Back in the 1980s an international treaty agreed that in order to maintain the pristine natural environment, all non-native species should be removed and banned from returning to Antarctica.

There is of course one very notable exception – humans are still allowed to come!

Back in the heroic era of Antarctic exploration (1895 – 1917) these kinds of environmental issues were not even considered. Both Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton brought husky dogs and ponies down to Antarctica by ship, to be used for sledge hauling on their respective expeditions.

Captain Oates and the ponies in the stables at Cape Evans, 1911 © Canterbury Museum

Out at the huts you can still see some vestiges of these animals. There are dog biscuits, dog harnesses and even the skeletons of a few of the dogs themselves.  I have recently been conserving a felt-lined pony blanket which remains, even to this day, covered in long creamy-coloured pony hairs. Last month we worked on 2 pony snow shoes which were special custom-made contraptions for Captain Scott’s ponies to try to prevent their hoofs from digging into soft snow surfaces.

Pony shoe used on Captain Scott’s 1910 - 13 expedition © Canterbury Museum

Although live reindeers were never, as far as I know, actually brought to Antarctica, the incredible insulating properties of reindeer fur (discovered by native human populations in the far North and used by explorers such as Fridtjof Nansen in the Arctic) were also exploited by the polar explorers of the Antarctica. Attached to most of the socks I have conserved recently I have found traces of reindeer fur, where it has become detached from the reindeer fur sledging shoes (Norwegian finnesko).

The discovery of such poignant little reminders of a bygone age is what makes my job so especially interesting.

One of the things commonly associated with people from the north of England is their love of tea, or as we say, ‘having a brew’! So it seemed fitting that an opened tin of tea leaves was one of the objects I conserved this fortnight. The tin was in very poor condition, with cracks in the heavily corroded metal and the base almost falling through completely; the contents were literally pouring through the gaps.

Various treatments were needed to stabilise the tin, including removing the corrosion, reattaching the sides together and introducing patches where metal fatigue had left large holes. I secured a nylon sack to the inside of the tin and the leaves poured in so that, even if it deteriorates in future, the contents will remain secure.

Captain Scott’s tea © Antarctic Heritage Trust

A disappointment though is that all traces of the original labeling have at some point been lost. There have been numerous examples of tea tins found at Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds, which were produced by Liptons, but this is the first example to be found at Captain Scott’s hut at Cape Evans and appears to be from a different manufacturer. We know that the variety is ‘blended black tea’, which is more oxidized than other tea varieties and contains more caffeine.

The original blend supplied to Scott’s 1910 expedition has been replicated by UK supermarket chain Tesco’s, and for every box of this brand of tea purchased, Tesco donate 5p towards the ‘Save Scott’s Hut’ campaign which directly benefits the Antarctic Heritage Trust and the conservation work we are currently undertaking. They also recommend that the ‘perfect’ cup of tea should be enjoyed to the strength that Captain Scott and his exploration party would have drunk theirs, and therefore, the tea should be properly brewed in a pot! For both us and Captain Scott, with a temperature of -28°C outside, there’s nothing quite like a nice hot brew for warming you up!

A few weekends ago I had a sudden urge to dig snow. Donning cold weather clothing, with saws and shovels in hand, I searched out a spot with thick windblown snow and began the construction of a Norwegian 75 block igloo along with one of the scientists, Mark.

The idea was to saw blocks from a snow quarry next to the building site, so you don’t need to carry the blocks very far, and stack them up in a spiral pattern.  Each layer of bricks has to overhang the last in order to get the correct profile to the roof. 4 hours and a couple of rebuilds later we had completed a charming little igloo which we have christened Trollheimen (meaning the Trolls’ home, in Norwegian) and with great pride, pushed a flag into the roof.

Constructing the igloo © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Crawling down through the little entrance, we quickly realised that there was no way on earth we would both be able to sleep inside. It was far too small. Hence the decision was made to build 2 slim tunnel-like bedroom extensions, one on either side of the living room.

Finally, a week later, we got up the courage to sleep inside our Troll hole. I found that the most taxing part of the whole procedure was actually inserting myself into the bright green double sleeping bag and then wiggling a bit like a Weddell seal, into the constricted little entrance to the bedroom.  Once inside, it felt ever so snug and I slept very comfortably indeed.  When I awakened in the morning, looking up, only 30 centimetres above my head was a beautiful forest of dainty little icy feathers hanging down from the ceiling.

A good night’s sleep © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Our  snow building activities attracted a lot of interest from other Scott Base residents, and Paul the electrician decided to come and keep us company and turn the area into a little igloo village by building his own. Being about 6 times larger and much fancier than our little creation, the neighbouring igloo almost put ours to shame.  But I like to compare our Norwegian snowy home with the Norwegian explorer Roald Armundsen’s dash to the pole.

Neighbouring igloos © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Trollheimen was fast to build and serves its purpose very well, without being over glamorous.  Armundsen was over a month faster to the pole than Captain Scott’s team. He achieved this using teams of huskies to pull his sleds in a traditional way as opposed to Scott who man-hauled his sledges after the two motorised vehicles he was attempting to use broke down and the ponies died in the inhospitable Antarctic climate.

Recently brought back from the Ice for conservation are several rolls of cine-film from Cape Evans (associated with Captain Scott’s 1910 expedition). They were taken from the darkroom belonging to the expedition’s photographer Herbert Ponting.

Photographer and camera artist Herbert Ponting hanging off the side of the ship trying to get the perfect shot © Canterbury Museum

The rolls had been carefully wrapped in tin foil and black paper to protect them from being exposed to light, but as yet we don’t know if they had been used to take photographs or developed. This is very exciting as they could provide us with new, un-seen footage of the expeditions.

At that time, celluloid film was made of cellulose nitrate, a plastic produced by reacting cotton fibres with nitric and sulphuric acids. However, it’s very unstable and as the film ages it degrades, becoming sticky and producing acid which destroys any images. And once it starts it’s impossible to stop or conserve.

The film we have is in good condition at the moment so until it can be processed we’re preserving it by storing it in the dark, and in a freezer.

A Kodak cannister of 12 exposures which would have been used by Herbert Ponting nearly a century ago © Antarctic Heritage Trust

The other early plastic artefacts that I have on my bench are small black tubes of medicinal pills found beside Dr Edward Wilson’s bunk at Cape Evans. They include ‘Argyrol’ (a trade name of an antiseptic made of protein and silver) and caffeine used as a stimulant. Produced by Burroughs Wellcome & Co they may well have come from one of a series of medical kits presented to high profile expeditions and influential people as a way of advertising the company.  Product placement even in the wilds of Antarctica!

Some of the Burroughs and Wellcome & Co medical vials from Captain Scott’s base at Cape Evans © Canterbury Museum

It’s a wonderful place to look around, particularly as the harbour is where so many of the ships set sail for Antarctic waters.  Between 1901 and 1911, 3 expeditions left from Lyttelton to explore Antarctica (Commander Scott in 1901, Ernest Shackleton in 1908 and Captain Scott in 1911) and today Canterbury is still a critical gateway to the Ice.

Statue of Captain Scott (sculpted by his wife Kathleen) in Christchurch, New Zealand © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Approached from above on the hill, Lyttelton (about a 20 minute drive from the centre of Christchurch) presents a great horseshoe shape. The town opens up as a patchwork of coloured houses set into the dense green slopes of a long-extinct volcano, which in turn curls around the busy port down below, packed with boats, ferries, shipping containers and timber piles.

Making our way towards the waterfront we made a beeline for the Lyttelton Museum where we were able to further explore the region’s polar and maritime history.  The Antarctic section has just been reopened after refurbishment, and we were able to see plenty of objects there, including a fabulous penguin egg (collected for scientific purposes!).

Many of the items originate from the estate of English-born Joseph Kinsey who owned a stevedoring company in Lyttelton, and acted as agent and attorney to many Antarctic voyages.

A fascinating character and local entrepreneur, Kinsey was also an amateur photographer, philanthropist, mountaineer and choral enthusiast.  Scott, Wilson and Shackleton all spent time relaxing at Kinsey’s house before heading south and valued him highly for his acumen and friendship.  His hospitality in this regard was typical of the friendly welcome and generosity that New Zealand showed the adventurers; with the people of Canterbury rallying behind the expeditions and donating provisions such as coal, clothing, vegetables and, on one occasion, 45 live sheep! Captain Scott wrote about Kinsey, ‘His interest in the expedition is wonderful, and such interest on the part of a thoroughly shrewd business man is an asset of which I have taken full advantage.  Kinsey will act as my agent in Christchurch… His kindness to us was beyond words’ (Extract from Scott’s Last Expedition vol. I, p. 6.).

Standing by the port on a weekend afternoon it is fun to imagine the tens of thousands who gathered here in 1901 to see the Discovery pull away from shore and bid her farewell.

‘It is most difficult to speak in fitting terms of the kindness shown to us in New Zealand…On every side we were accorded the most generous terms by the firms or individuals with whom we had to deal with in business matters.’ Commander Scott, 1901

Commander Scott and his men onboard their ship Discovery moored at Lyttelton harbour in 1901 © Antarctic Heritage Trust

When I first looked at a map of Ross Island, Antarctica, I was surprised to see that the historic huts of Captain Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton at Cape Evans and Cape Royds are only about 5 kilometres apart. They are both built by the seashore of McMurdo Sound, convenient locations for the expedition members when they were off-loading the ships. For us living at Scott Base (New Zealand’s science base) the huts can be easily visited in a day by hagglund (an all terrain vehicle) - provided the sea ice is thick and strong enough to drive across.

Last weekend we took a trip to see the historic huts. It was a visit which both Fran and I have been looking forward to impatiently since arriving.

I have seen so many photos of the huts that when the time came to visit them I had the impresion they might seem somehow familiar. In reality, the huts and settings are quite different from expected.

Shackleton’s 1908 hut at Cape Royds is smaller, more sheltered and much cosier than I ever thought possible in Antarctica. Whereas the hut at Cape Evans, built by Captain Scott in 1911, is much larger and the outlook is more open than the impression I had from the photographs. Standing in front of the hut, the vista is wide open, over the Ross Sea towards the Royal Society mountain range and Mount Erebus (the southernmost active volcano) towers behind.

Inside the galley area at Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1908 base (note the ‘graffiti’ was written by the original expedition members) © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Inside Scott’s hut it is quite messy, which gave the slightly eerie feeling that the survivors of the expeditions were in such a hurry to leave Antarctica on their ship, the Terra Nova, that they didn’t have a chance to tidy up. Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds on the other hand is much more orderly and still feels almost lived in.

Captain Scott’s 1910 base at Cape Evans with Mount Erebus in the background © Antarctic Heritage Trust

I don’t know which of the 2 huts I like the best at the moment but I am sure that after living at both for 3 months, by the end of the summer I will have made up my mind.

The Antarctic winter (Feb – Oct) is drawing to an end; the planes are due to start arriving regularly this week, and Scott Base’s Winter-Over team (a skeleton crew who man the science base over winter) are busy packing up their belongings ready for their departure.

As a treat, we, the newer residents here at Scott Base, decided to make a farewell meal for them. Our chef Barry managed to cope with his team of 6 culinary amateurs, and together we made a fancy 3-course dinner. There were compliments from the Winter-Over team, the wine flowed and everyone was in good cheer, so I believe we can class the evening as a roaring success!

The New Zealand Scott Base team celebrating the end of winter © Antarctic Heritage Trust

The cooking theme for Lucy and me has, however, extended beyond the Scott Base kitchen and out into the summer lab, as a significant amount of the objects we have treated so far have been culinary in nature.

We have conserved pots, pans, sieves, saucers and knives from Captain Scott’s 1910 expedition, all of which have suffered various degrees of deterioration. We have even had a couple of really nice corkscrews with goat horn handles to work on.

Lucy working on a corkscrew from Captain Scott’s 1910 expedition © Antarctic Heritage Trust

It’s good to know that when Scott’s Antarctic team sat down to a celebratory meal they were able to crack open a bottle of wine and make a toast to friendship and safe journeys, just as we have done this week.