Journal

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.

Scott's Discovery Hut
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.

Seal
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.
Seal blubber
Inside Scott's Discovery Hut lays a 104 year old pile of seal blubber.
Dog Biscuits
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
Oatmeal still sits on the shelves.
There are still chunks of seal meat in the skillet!

Seal meat
Seal meat is still in a skillet!
Me inside hut
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

Details
Author
Mike Penn
Date
Location
Scott's Discovery Hut, Antarctica
Expedition
Antarctic Automatic Weather Stations 2018
Weather Summary
cold and windy
Temperature
15˚F
Wind Speed
20 Mph
Wind Chill
0˚

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Comments

Fri, 06/21/2019 - 08:50

michelle

You must have had an amazing trip.

Mon, 09/30/2019 - 17:37

Mike Penn

Michelle, I DID have an amazing trip! I would do it all again in a heartbeat. The best part was how so many students were so interested in so many parts of the science we were doing, the projects that the other PolarTREC teachers were doing and everything even remotely connected to Antarctica. Amazing.