Cape Adare Turk Work - December 2022

Antarctic Heritage Trust Heritage Carpenter John Taylor, talks about repairing the water tank ‘Turk’ huts at the site of Carsten Borchgrevink’s historic hut at Cape Adare.

The main task for this year’s Cape Adare on-Ice team was the remedial repairs and protection of the damaged water tank huts, aka Turks, which have been on site for almost five years. The team consisted of Antarctic Heritage Trust staff Patrick Power, General Manager Operations and Programmes and John Taylor, Trust Heritage Carpenter. They were joined by Antarctica New Zealand’s Doug Henderson (Doug is also a Trust conservation alumni), and Professor Craig Cary from Waikato University.

The Turks were positioned at Cape Adare in February 2018, in anticipation of a five-year life cycle, to support the restoration project at Carsten Borchgrevink’s huts. They have not been used for that purpose, nor visited by Antarctica New Zealand or AHT staff since Feb 2020, due to Covid-19 and other logistical challenges.

In late 2021, an Italian field visit identified some structural damage to one of the Turks. Tourist operator Heritage Expeditions carried out an emergency repair during their visit in February 2022. Our task was to complete structural repairs to our engineer’s specification.