8:30am I am waiting bundled up for the tour to begin.
Presented by one of my co-workers, a group of 6 of us headed out towards the
ice pier and Hut Point. It was a sunny day with a bit of wind but picturesque.
After walking for about 15 minutes we arrived at Scott’s Hut which is a prefab
structure built in February of 1902. Our greeter was the carcass of a seal that
is roughly 100 years old laying outside the hut.
The hut was untouched from 1917 until 1956 when US explorers dug it out and found how well preserved it was. It has remained much the same. There is a New Zealand team that is refurbishing some of the artifacts found inside. We had to clean our boots off before entering and we were issued flashlights. We saw things like dog biscuits, pots and pans, mittens, socks, tools, and some really old meat hanging on the walls. After signing the visitors log we headed up Hut Point to the a wooden cross erected in 1902 to commemorate Seaman George
T. Vince, the first man to lose his life in McMurdo Sound, following a
fall into the water from a steep, icy slope nearby during a blizzard.
Also above the hut is the Our Lady of the Snows Shrine, a madonna statue
that commemorates Richard T. Williams, a Seabee tractor driver who drowned
off Cape Royds in January 1956 when his 30- ton tractor broke through
the sea ice. I visited this yesterday when I walked back out here for the second time.
A little history about the hut...
In January 1902, the British Royal Navy's Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his crew of 50 men arrived aboard the 700-ton vessel Discovery. During this expedition, Scott's party built the "Discovery Hut" (often called Scott's Hut) near the site of McMurdo Station as a land base for sledging treks on the island and onto the ice shelf. Scott also named many prominent features including Mt. Discovery and the Royal Society Range (for his sponsors). An attempt to reach the South Pole by sledge accomplished a farthest south of 82o71' on 30 December 1902. Before the polar attempt, a three-man party made a 6-week mid-winter sledging journey around the south side of Ross Island to Cape Crozier to collect emperor penguin eggs.
The next occupants of the "Discovery Hut" were Ernest Shackleton and three companions in 1909. In 1907 Shackleton arrived aboard the Nimrod at the Bay of Whales on the Ross Ice Shelf to begin an expedition to the South Pole. Decided this location was too dangerous for the approach, Shackleton sailed further south. On 3 February 1908, he landed at the Cape Royds where he built his base. After an exhausting man-hauling sledge journey of 17 weeks that included discovery and ascent of the Beardmore Glacier, he and his three companions came within 97 nautical miles of the Pole; to have gone farther with their depleted rations would have meant death on the return trek. They returned to the "Discovery Hut", barely reaching the site in time to catch the Nimrod on 1 March 1909 as it prepared for the return to England.
Scott returned to McMurdo Sound in January 1911. Unable to get to his former base at Hut Point because of the ice pack, he landed at a point 20 kilometers to the north, which he named Cape Evans in honor of his second- in-command. The objective of his expedition was again both scientific and to reach the Pole. During this expedition (British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-1913), the "Discovery Hut" served as a supply depot for the journey south. An advance sledging party placed supply depots along the way, as far as the polar plateau beyond the head of the Beardmore Glacier. Shetland ponies and Siberian huskies were used during the first half of the journey. One by one, the ponies were shot and used for meat for the dogs and men. The journey was completed by man-hauling the sledges. After 2-1/2 months, they reached the Pole on 18 January 1912, only to find that Amundsen's party had preceded them by more than a month.
A great quick tour before heading to work. As I mentioned I went out again yesterday to Hut Point and visited the Our Lady of the Snows Shrine.
Pictures can be found at... https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.682778010679.2143181.44801562&type=1&l=e2a7b5abca
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