Breaking the Ice
Breaking the Ice: 1899-1900 The First Year in Antarctica was an exhibition at the Canterbury Museum in 2019, created by the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust (NZAHT).
As a part of the 2015-2016 restoration work on the Cape Adare huts, about 1500 artefacts were temporarily removed from the huts at Cape Adaire for conversation at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch. Special permission was required for that. The conversation work took 14 months, and was completed in July 2017. This exhibition was a rare opportunity to see the artefacts, before they are permanently returned to Antarctica.
The entrance to the exhibition.
Before the world had heard of Captian Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton, another explorer hatched a plan to spend a year in Antarctica. He was Carsten Borchgrevink.
His team provied it was possible for humans to survive the Antarctic winter. They also identified an access route onto the Ross Ice Shelf which would become the starting point for the first journey to the South Pole.
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This watercolur painting of a Treecreeper bird was painted by Dr Edward Wilson. It was found inside one of the huts in Cape Adare, and probably brought there by the Northern Party.
Wilson died with Scott on his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole.
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The expeditions needed to bring almost all their food with them.
This display contains varies items of food (clockwise from the top-left): two bottles of chutney, Worcestershire sauce, box of lime juice nodules, tin of marmalade, chocolate bar, chocolate box, lime juice leaflets, tin of coffee, cocoa postcard, cups and plate.
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The expeditions had to be self-sufficient, since no supply ships could visit them during winter. The continent was surrounded by thick sea ice during the long and dark winter.
This display contains various items (clockwise from the top-left): glue pot and brush, ink well and ink bottle, ball of string, Cribbage board, three Draughts pieces, buttons, sewing thread and needles, photographic plates and developing chemicals.
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Leather boots and snow shoe. The equipment was inadequate for the harsh environment, but it was the best that was available at the time.
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Woolen undershirt, long johns and socks. Felt boots in the next cabinet.
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The main attraction of the exhibition was the famous fruit cake. It was found inside one of the huts at Cape Adare: preserved for over a century by the cold weather. It is wrapped in paper and encased in a tin-plated iron alloy tin.
The cake was baked by Huntley & Palmers, England. It was probably left behind by Scott’s Terra Nova expedition, since there is documentation that such cakes were a part of their supplies. The main expedition that was making the trek to the South Pole was based in Cape Evans, but a Northern Party of six men went to Cape Adare to perform scientific studies.
The cake was carefully removed in order to treat the corroded metal tin. An existing tear in the wrapper was gently lifted back to reveal a perfect-looking cake inside. The case is now safely back inside the tin ready to return to Antarctica.
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The Northern Party arrived in Cape Adare on 17 February 1911, intending to stay for only one winter. But they ended staying for two winters until 30 September 1912, when they decided to not wait any longer for rescue. It took 38 days to walk over 700 kms south to Cape Evans. Upon arriving, they were told that Scott and his party did not return from their trek to the South Pole.