I have mentioned that I met a fellow teacher (Michelle O'Leary) here at McMurdo. (I'll be writing a journal about Michelle soon.) In addition to her normal duties here, she is also a tour guide for "Scott's Hut." She offered to take us on a private tour of Scott's hut on Christmas Day.
This hut, built in 1902 by Robert Falcon Scott's expedition is very close to McMurdo Station.
Scott's Hut
Scott's Hut at Hut Point (also known as Discovery Hut) was built by Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery Expedition in 1902. It is just a couple of hundred yards from McMurdo Station. It was used by four expeditions between its construction in 1902 and its last use by the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1915 where six men were stranded for about six months. When they finally left the hut, they left it and everything in it as it sits today. Untouched. It is really an amazing place to visit. I can't imagine so many men in such a small space in such an extreme environment for such a long time. These men had some meager supplies but relied on seal blubber for heat.
This seal was killed in 1914, still lays just outside of the hut.
A seal, killed for this purpose still lays just outside the door and a stack of blubber still sits inside the hut.
Inside Scott's Discovery Hut lays a 104 year old pile of seal blubber.
Several crates of dog biscuits are among the remaining supplies in Scott's Discovery hut.
Boxes of dog biscuits and tins of oatmeal, sugar, and cocoa sit on the selves in exactly the same places they have sat for the past 100 years. The freezing environment is the perfect conditions for all of these things to be almost perfectly preserved.
Oatmeal still sits on the shelves.
There are still chunks of seal meat in the skillet!
Seal meat is still in a skillet!
The walls inside of the Hut are darkened with the 100 year old soot from burning the seal blubber for heat and light.
Here is a link for more information about the hut:
https://www.nzaht.org/explorer-bases/scotts-hut-hut-point
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