Scott's Discovery Hut
On Friday the SBI team was able to take the morning off and take a tour of Scott's Discovery Hut, right near McMurdo. This hut is almost 100 years old, but looks almost new from the outside. Because of the Antarctic environment, there is nothing to break down the wood, or even rot the mumified seal carcass only a few feet from the main door!
As the hut is now considered a historic site, only small groups of 5-7 people are allowed in at a time with a guid, a few times a week. There we learned a variety of interesting history about the hut, Scott's expedition, and other Antarctic lore. What I found most interesting was the hut was pre-fabricated in Australia, and was designed for the desert, thus had a double roof to shed heat and keep cool. Somehow the British explorers though that this design would also shed the cold and stay warm. This is an odd idea, its cold in the UK in the winter, you whould have throught they would know better. Of course, it worked terribly, and was so cold people rarely could stay there are was used mostly as a supply store. Various Antarctic expedition parties also visited the Hut throughout the ages, including some of Shackletons crew. Take a look at the old English expedition biscuits (by the same manufacturer as the dog biscuits too), cocoa, and other odd things they brought with them.
For more info, see Wikipdeia.
Here are Bliss's photos, as I had forgotten my camera*
*won't happen again, sorry.
As the hut is now considered a historic site, only small groups of 5-7 people are allowed in at a time with a guid, a few times a week. There we learned a variety of interesting history about the hut, Scott's expedition, and other Antarctic lore. What I found most interesting was the hut was pre-fabricated in Australia, and was designed for the desert, thus had a double roof to shed heat and keep cool. Somehow the British explorers though that this design would also shed the cold and stay warm. This is an odd idea, its cold in the UK in the winter, you whould have throught they would know better. Of course, it worked terribly, and was so cold people rarely could stay there are was used mostly as a supply store. Various Antarctic expedition parties also visited the Hut throughout the ages, including some of Shackletons crew. Take a look at the old English expedition biscuits (by the same manufacturer as the dog biscuits too), cocoa, and other odd things they brought with them.
For more info, see Wikipdeia.
Here are Bliss's photos, as I had forgotten my camera*
*won't happen again, sorry.
posted by Nathan at
10:33 AM
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