Images of

ANTARCTICA

Scott's Discovery Hut

Photos © 2002 Seth White

Home

Note: I hadn't read this page since I posted it a few years ago, but probably should have. Since I linked to it from my Cape Royds page (January 2006), I actually re-read it and found some embarrassing factual errors (now corrected). Say what you want about the opinions I offer, but I hate being wrong about facts!

This is Scott's Discovery Hut. It was built during his first expedition, which was the first exploration into the interior of the continent. The expedition used this hut as a stores shed and for cooking. Their living quarters were actually aboard the ship Discovery, which was moored nearby. From here the party explored much of the surrounding lands, but Scott's main goal was to reach the South Pole. On October 30 1902, Barne and a large party headed south to lay a depot of supplies. Scott, Shackleton, and Wilson then left on November 2 on their quest for the Pole. They caught up to and marched with Barne's party until 79 South, when half headed back. On November 15, the remainder of Barne's party turned back for Hut Point. On November 25, Scott's party became the first people to voyage beyond the 80th Parallel. But after the last half of Barne's party left, Scott's journey was fraught with problems. They had serious problems with the sled dogs, and ended up hauling the sledges by themselves. In doing so, they ended up eating much less food than they needed to maintain that level of physical exertion (sledge hauling is HARD work...see here). They were plagued by hunger, scurvy, snow blindness, and of course, extreme cold. They decided to turn around on December 31. They had reached 82 degrees, 17 minutes south, and came within 480 miles of the Pole. Their difficulties continued to worsen on the return, and they barely made it back to Hut Point alive. All told, their journey lasted about 3 months and covered nearly 1000 miles.

The Hut, looking northeast back towards Arrival Heights and the McMurdo Ground Station radome. Hut Point Peninsula is named for this hut, as it sits directly at the end of a peninsula of Ross Island. Not very creative in naming things, this Scott fellow. Other examples of his clever names are: White Island, Black Island, Brown Peninsula (all named for their approximate color), and Pram Point (where Scott Base is built, named because he used a small boat, or pram, to get there).
This is a "new" marker, erected in 2002 to commemorate the centennial of the hut. Another marker is placed nearby, written in four languages (English, French, Spanish, Russian). These standard markers are placed all around the Ross Sea to designate sites of special historical interest. Scott's cross on Ob Hill, Vince's cross at Hut Point, all three huts on Ross Island, and the cross at Cape Evans all have these markers. I would imagine other sites around here do to, such as Borchgrevink's hut at Cape Adare and the grave of Nicolai Hansen near Cape Adare for example...but unfortunately I've never seen that place. Maybe some day.
This year was the 100th anniversary of the departure of the first expedition into the coninent's interior. On November 2, a small ceremony was held near the hut. The New Zealand, British, and American flags were flown and a few short speeches were read, including a prayer.
More of the hut, with flags. This hut is probably the most important of all the huts in the Ross Sea region. It was used in some capacity by four major expeditions in the early days of Antarctic exploration. In addition to Scott's Discovery expedition, it was used by Shackleton's Nimrod (or Farthest South) expedition of 1908, Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova expedition of 1911, and by the Ross Sea Party of Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic (Endurance) Expedition. The Ross Sea Party was the 'other half' of Shackleton's famous voyage. They arrived at Ross Island, and despite incredible hardship, they laid supplies along the last half of the route Shackleton was supposed to follow across the continent (he started on the Weddell Sea side, intending to be the first to traverse the entire continent).
Here is the 100 year anniversary ceremony. The weather was cold and windy this day, and I was not close enough to hear anything. So I climbed up a hill nearby and took pictures.
A picture similar to this one made it to the NY times, courtesy of Joan Myers, who had also scrambled up the hill for some good shots (again, see here).
I'm sitting here with a peculiar piece of 'character' near the Hut....a dessicated seal. No idea who killed it, or when. But after decades and decades, it still looks kind of like a seal. The cold, dry climate here preserves things very well.
So....into the hut. You can check out the key from the NSF chalet any time, and the only requirement is that you go in pairs and sign in and out (and, obviously, not to screw around with anything inside the hut). This hut, to put it plainly, is a dreary place. It is very dark, and the smell of burned seal blubber is still extremely strong even after all the years. When I went to Scott's Terra Nova hut (here), it was also dark and pungent. But that hut inspired a feeling of reverence and awe for me. The Discovery hut is just plain melancholy. Part of the problem is that this hut has been ransacked by countless people over the years, especially in the early days of the US and NZ Antarctic programs. There just isn't that much left inside. Preservation of this and the other structures around the Ross Sea didn't begin until many years later. They have tried to reconstruct things inside based on old pictures, but unlike the Terra Nova hut and especially Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds, this place is probably very much different than it looked in Scott's day. But still it was not a very cheery place even then.
A large black curtain is draped through the middle of the hut, and there are stores and boxes lying around on both sides of it. The walls and ceiling timbers are blackened with residue from the fires kept in here. This hut, really, was very poorly built. It was actually a building intended for use in the hot Australian Outback. There, these huts were raised upon stilts and their design kept things relatively cool and liveable. Here, it was placed directly on the ground and was very poorly insulated. The men during the Discovery expedition avoided staying here, as it was very cold and miserable inside. Later, during Shackleton's 1915 voyage, two members of the Ross Sea party found themselves here (I forget why). They were so desperate to get back to the Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans, that they took off walking along the (unstable) sea ice and were never heard from again. I can definitely see why they wanted to get out of here. Over the winter, I think I'll come down here and sit for a while. Wonder how long it'll take before I'm ready to head out too!
Another picture of the center of the hut.
Looking up, you see smoke-blackened timbers.
An official crate from Captain Scott's Antarctic Expedition - the Terra Nova trip of 1911 (they departed Britain in 1910, actually).
Another picture of a crate from CAPTAIN SCOTT'S ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION!
Some barley tins and a crate.
Closeup of Robinson's Patent Barley tins.
Mmmm, just look at these delicious biscuits. Were these for the dogs or for the men.....?
.....hmmm. Probably for the dogs.
A crate of dog pemmican, whatever that is.
Now something a little more appetizing....some cocoa tins. I probably could have cracked one of these open, boiled some water, and had some hot chocolate right there. Note the "....TO HIS MAJESTY THE KING" label on the box. Brits...
Some miscellaneous garments lying on a table in the back of the hut. Again, this place is a museum and all items inside are tagged.
In a little nook by the front door, there is this gory sight. Some dessicated mutton hanging from the walls. Mmmmm!
In the same room are some penguin skeletons. I didn't know what the heck these were...until I read the tag. Are these things good eating? Do they taste like chicken? So many questions.
Top label of a Fry's cocoa tin.
The north wall of the hut. This hut does have windows, but even on a sunny day like this (and with my camera's flash), it's absolutely dismal inside here.
The NE corner of the building. Note the authentic aluminum ladder and plastic chair.
A Pinhead crate. So what the heck is inside here? Beats me.
By the front door, there are slabs of seal blubber used as fuel to heat this place. Good god. Can you imagine burning this stuff, in this hut, in the middle of a storm, to stay alive?
More of the seal blubber. Two pictures of this are completely unnecessary....maybe I'm a little morbid! Or maybe it's just that this is not the sort of thing I am used to seeing when I enter a building.
Shelves in the back area of the hut, including a stove on the top right - which looks remarkably like the stoves that are found today in the survival bags that you take along for trips to the field.
Another picture of some stores found in the hut.
And now, some pics of me and a few friends in the hut. Here is Rich Karstens, member of the Erebus field team this year, and overall cool guy. A good ping pong player too.
Here's Jim Raymond, a biologist studying antifreeze proteins in ice algae, and Dana Porrat, visiting from Stanford to work on getting the VLF/ELF antenna system upgraded (this is one of my projects at Arrival Heights). Jim was a good guy, and it was fun working with Dana.
Dana again, with Mike Kuiper and Mike Janech, both working with Jim on the ice algae. Two more cool guys. A trend is evident...there are, in fact, some good people to be found here.
Me.
Me, again. Totally gratuitous, but this is the only pic I have of the gravity measurement area inside the hut. Near my left foot is a hole in the floorboards, where they had a pendulum swinging to exactly measure the earth's gravitational field. This was an older method of doing the same thing that I assisted John Behrendt with earlier this year (see here).
The Discovery Hut during twilight. I took this pic during the fuel offload, on the coldest, windiest night of the year so far. I wasn't supposed to be working the fuel lines this night, but the weather was so bad that the fuel line walkers on duty asked if I could shuttle them from the bottom of the hill to the top, so they would only have to walk the line downhill, with the wind. So...no problem. All I did was sit in the truck, read, and drive back and forth all night. Not too tough! While waiting at the fuel pumps near Hut Point, I walked out to the hut and took this pic. While walking (actually running) back to the truck, my face became the coldest it has yet been. I didn't put a hat or face mask on as I left the truck, so going back into the wind was absolutely brutal.
One day in mid September, I decided to ride my bike out Hut Point and take some pics. It was an afternoon after some really nice nacrous clouds, and I wanted to get some pics from here. It was windy and cold as heck, but I decided to pedal down there anyway. I ended up with a couple nice pics, but the ride back...uphill, against the wind, after being outside in cold wind, and being VERY out of shape...was pretty harsh. It is absolutely unreal how fast my hands can get cold when I'm clenching a camera trying to take pictures. Muscles tighten up and the blood flow justs drop to zero. I can walk for miles with no problem, but I stop to take a picture (keeping gloves on), my hands seem to get numb instantly. Anyhow, here's one of the Discovery Hut with the moon.
Another one with the moon in the background.
Here's Vince's Cross with some nacreous clouds in the background, a while after sunset. I didn't like this one at first, but I actually think it turned out nicely.
Looking the other way, here's Vince's Cross with McMurdo and the full moon.
A closeup of Vince's Cross. The story of Able Seaman George Vince is well known - he died on his way back from a sledging trip in 1902. He and his two companions (who luckily survived) got lost on their return from Castle Rock during a blizzard. Vince fell down a steep incline to the sea ice and was never seen again. This area is now known as Danger Slopes...for obvious reasons.
Here's another pic of the cross that I took earlier in the summer season but somehow forgot to post on the site. McMurdo Station is just rife with historic monuments - Scott's Cross, Vince's Cross, and the Discovery Hut are all within walking distance from station. Cape Evans, with the hut and cross is only 15 miles away, and Cape Royds with its hut and penguin colony is only 20 miles away. But trips to Capes Evans and Royds are pretty scarce for us, especially Royds. Last season, the Kiwis at Scott Base held an auction. One of the prizes was a trip to Cape Royds. The winning bid was $750 (if memory serves). This was actually a source of embarrassment for the NSF and RPSC - that their people would pay so much just for the chance to see Royds. It's not really that far away, and it's not life or death to get there. The Kiwis are able to go out there quite often relative to us. It's bureaucracy and a paranoid, reactionary mindset about SAFETY that keep McMurdoites from being able to see the incredible Cape Royds site. And it is really a shame. Travel off-station is getting more difficult and red-tape-laden every year, according to those who have been here for a while.
On September 28, Paola Massoli and I got the key from the NSF chalet building and walked down to tour the Discovery Hut. It had been a while since I'd been there, and there were a few more pictures that I wanted to get. Plus, being able to saunter down to an important site of world history is still amazing to me. Again, this is the most important of all the huts built during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. It was used heavily by four major expeditions into the Ross Sea region... two by Scott and two by Shackleton. Here is a picture of a biscuit crate. Directions printed on the crate by the manufacturer: "Use on the voyage".
In the back of the hut there is this thing, which I had overlooked in previous visits - a blubber stove. This thing, literally, was the only real source of heat in this dreary hut, and kept many men from dying during some very dark and trying hours. It's just a little brick structure with a pipe going upward.
A cooking stove, widely used during the early days...and very similar to the kerosene stoves often used in our tents today!
The Discovery Hut has a veranda on three sides, and there are skylight windows on each side. Here's a picture looking out one of the hut's windows to the veranda skylight. I don't know why I took this picture, exactly. It's so dreary, melancholy, and severe inside the Discovery hut that I suppose I was just trying to imagine what it would have been like to live here - and depend on its walls to keep you alive. And this is the view to the outside from the interior of the hut. No man who embarked on one of those first expeditions returned to the world the same. Every one of those men must have been indelibly changed by their experiences. It's so different these days, a hundred years later...but in many ways it's still the same, for me anyway.
Here's Paola with the hut and McMurdoland in the background.
One picture I especially wanted to take before I left was this one: the Discovery Hut with the uppercase dorms in the background. Old and new Antarctic living quarters. I saw a similar shot on one of the items for sale at the store (a calendar? a postcard? I don't remember). It struck me and I thought I'd try to get a pic of the same thing, lit by the setting sun.
Another one of the hut and the dorms.