Antarctic artefacts return home after 60 years in the USA - August 23, 2022

The Trust cares for five expedition bases in Antarctica, including those of famous explorers Sir Ernest Shackleton and Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

It was when trapped outside in a storm in Antarctica during his voluntary service in 1956, that Navy Ensign Dave Baker’s story crossed paths with those of Shackleton and Scott.

Dave had volunteered to become a member of a rescue team (Naval parachutists, 30 dogs and three dog handlers) to be stationed at McMurdo Base from December 1955 – 1957.

“Our team made a trip across the sea ice from McMurdo to Cape Evans. It was intended to be an overnight trip, returning to the Navy’s base at Hut Point the following day,” says Dave.

However, the wind picked up, forcing the team to hunker down in their tents. On day three, Baker and his teammates decided to investigate the interior of Scott’s Hut ‘partly out of curiosity and because they might have to shelter there if the storm continued much longer.’

They pried open a window to catch a glimpse into a moment frozen in time.

“Below and in front of me was a long table. It appeared to have been recently used, as there were cups, some with frozen cocoa in them. Someone unfamiliar with the hut’s history might have assumed that the occupants had stepped out to return any minute,” says Dave.

The moment Dave refers to was the rescue of Shackleton’s Ross Sea Party in 1917, who boarded their ship the Aurora, leaving everything as it was found almost 40 years later.

Baker and his rescue team, deeming the hut a ‘sacred space’, left the scene as they found it. However, while looking for food stores outside the hut, Baker found the case of Fry’s cocoa and a wooden box, labelled “Shell Motor Spirits & Scott’s Antarctic Expedition 1910”.

Dave was inspired to return the artefacts to the Antarctic Heritage Trust.

“They belong to Captain Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton and polar history, so they needed to go home,” says Dave.