– Foundation:
– Shackleton decided to build a hut at Cape Royds in 1908, twenty-three miles north of Hut Point.
– The whole shore party lived in the hut through the winter of 1908.
– Shackleton left instructions with Professor Edgeworth David on hut care before leaving.
– The hut had provisions and equipment for fifteen men for one year.
– A letter inside the hut invited any succeeding party to use the stores and hut.
– Later events:
– Scott did not use Shackleton’s hut during the Terra Nova Expedition.
– A former member of Shackleton’s expedition visited the hut during Scott’s 1910–1913 expedition.
– Raymond Priestley found the hut intact with fresh food.
– Five crates of whisky were discovered buried under the hut in 2006.
– One crate is undergoing restoration and whisky analysis in Canterbury Museum, New Zealand.
– Historic site:
– The Antarctic Heritage Trust (New Zealand) has custody of the site.
– Shackleton’s Hut was listed in the 2004, 2006, and 2008 World Monuments Watch.
– American Express funded the conservation in 2004 through the World Monuments Fund.
– By 2008, the hut was fully restored to its original condition.
– Designated as Historic Site or Monument (HSM 15) by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.
– See also:
– List of Antarctic Field Camps.
– References:
– Ernest Shackelton. South: The Story of Shackleton’s Last Expedition 1914–1917.
– “Shackleton’s whisky to be dug up.”
– Whisky on ice takes on new meaning. One News, Television New Zealand.
– World Monuments Fund – Scott’s Hut and the Explorers’ Heritage of Antarctica.
– Conqueror of Everest says he saw Shackleton’s ghost. The New Zealand Herald.
