NaturePlus: Antarctic conservation : Tags : ross_sea

The resourcefulness, creativity and determination of the Ross Sea Party

Posted by Conservators May 27, 2014

Author: Stefanie White

Date: 27 May 2014

Temperature: -13

Wind speed: 20 / 18 kts

Temp with windchill: -25

Sunrise: 9.30am

Sunset: 3.38pm

The Ross Sea Party of Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917) is one of the most fascinating groups of explorers to stay at, and make extensive use of, Discovery Hut. Their mission was to lay depots to aid Shackleton's planned traverse of Antarctica from the Weddell Sea to Ross Island via the South Pole. After laying depots, one group waited over two months at Discovery Hut for the sea ice to harden so to be able to walk back to Cape Evans and join the rest of the team. During these months the stranded men recovered from ill health and as they were also ill-equipped, improvised games and made tools out of salvaged materials.

Lamps that were made out of old food tins and fueled with seal blubber offered 'a flickering glimmer of light in the dark interior'.

Discovery Hut was an important staging post for the Ross Sea Party. Stranded inexperienced men with inadequate equipment and a determination to complete their mission were forced to improvise clothing and equipment in order to survive. Some of these artefacts are currently in the lab.

Clothing was repaired with materials and fabrics salvaged from inside the hut.

Jacket worn and heavily repaired by a member of the Ross Sea Party

An Improvised snow shoe made out of a plywood supply box

Snowshoes were made out of plywood from Venesta supply boxes that, in the example above, originally contained Spratt's Special Cabin Biscuits. The resourcefulness, creativity and determination of the Ross Sea Party is seen every day in the lab as we continue to conserve artefacts from Discovery Hut.

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Wool the Wonder Fibre

Posted by Conservators Jul 21, 2011

Author: Sarah

Date: 20 July 2011
Temperature: -14
Wind Speed: 20 knots
Temp with wind chill: -36
Sunrise: NA
Sunset NA

The use of wool as a textile and clothing fibre dates back many millennia. So it is not surprising to find wool being the predominant fibre of choice for the Antarctic explorer during Sir Ernest Shackleton’s and Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s expeditions in the Heroic period (1895-1915).

Many of the thermal clothing items that the explorers wore were commercially made and supplied by brands such as Wolsey and Jaeger. The Wolsey thermal top (pictured) is from Scott’s Terra Nova Hut, and is grubby from use and patched, most probably by a member of the Ross Sea Party.

Wolsey brand wool thermal top © AHT/ Sarah

When I was growing up in the 1970s seventies synthetic fibres were seen as the new miracle fibre for all manner of applications. In the 1980s synthetic fibres such as Polypro were used extensively for thermal underwear, despite the horrid smell they often attained after wearing when exercising and their slightly harsh nature.

I was greatly relieved, when I first started coming to Antarctica, when a friend told me to invest in a set of ‘new’ woollen thermals that were starting to appear in the New Zealand market in the late 1990s. Ahhh, the joys of a natural soft fibre that can be worn for many days when camping without getting smelly.

Now, in 2011, you can’t enter an outdoor gear supplier without finding merino wool thermal underwear adorning the shelves. It goes to prove that animals have adapted very well to their environments and natural fibres are still far superior to their synthetic counterparts when it comes to thermal insulation. The Heroic explorers were probably as comfortable as we are today in their thermal underwear.

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The Bare Essentials

Posted by Conservators Jun 16, 2011

Author: Sarah

Date: 15 June 2011
Temperature: -13 Deg C
Wind Speed: 35 knots
Temp with wind chill: - 27
Sunrise: N/A
Sunset N/A

In 1914 a group of men known as the “Ross Sea Party” landed at Cape Evans on Ross Island. The Ross Sea Party’s mission was to lay vital food and equipment depots for Shackleton’s Endurance Expedition which was planning to cross Antarctica.

A small science party was to remain ashore. Apart from some stores, very little equipment and no clothing was taken ashore. On 6 May 1914 the ship the Aurora was blown out to sea and could not return. The ten men ashore feared the worst, thinking all hands had been lost.

The men decided that their second planned trip to cache supplies for Shackleton must be completed despite their setbacks and lack of supplies. They had no way of knowing that the Endurance was also in terrible trouble, and the depots they would lay, which took a deadly toll, would never be used.
Lacking the appropriate clothing, the Ross Sea Party improvised sledging clothing from fabric and tents left behind by Scott’s 1910 expedition. Below is an image of a handmade jacket sewn from canvas material, that is also found in the hut as curtains, insulation and bags. Although sewn with a heavy hand, the jacket with its wooded toggle buttons is very well crafted. The wind proof trousers are made from green canvas, which is also found as tents, tarpaulins and bags inside the hut at Cape Evans.

The grimy, sooty nature of both articles of clothing tells the tale of the hardship that the Ross Sea Party went through. The men saved precious fuel for depot laying and burned seal blubber for heating and cooking, the greasy soot infiltrating all aspects of life in the hut.

2769 Views 0 Comments 0 References Permalink Tags: conservation, antarctica, shackleton, cape_evans, artefacts, clothing, ross_sea_party, canvas

Antarctic conservation

The resourcefulness, creativity and determination of the Ross Sea Party

Wool the Wonder Fibre

The Bare Essentials

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