Weddell Seal Project Huts At Big Razorback Island
The B-009 Weddell seal population study field team lives and works in wooden huts not all that different from the historic wooden huts built by members of Ernest Shackleton's and Robert Falcon Scott's expeditions during the "heroic era" of Antarctica exploration in the very early 1900s. In fact, Scott's and Shackleton's historic huts are located geographically so near the Weddell project field team huts that one cannot help but have a palpable sense of being surrounded by the very history of Antarctic exploration.
B-009 Kitchen Hut Exterior with Sun Halo and Kitchen Hut Interior Looking
Out the Window Toward Mt. Erebus and Big Razorback Island.
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Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition Hut
Built over 100 years ago in 1908 as part of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition, the hut is filled with the effects and furnishings from that "heroic era" expedition. Because of the hard work and diligence of the Antarctic Heritage Trust, the hut and its historic contents have been restored for future generations of visitors and scholars to enjoy, learn from and be inspired by.
The Antarctic Heritage Trust describes the decision Scott made to build his second hut at Cape Evans: "The gently sloping ground of this narrow volcanic neck of land with the ramparts of Mount Erebus rising behind and McMurdo Sound in front proved ideal for establishing his base. Originally discovered during Scott’s National Antarctic Expedition 1901–04, the area was named for the large number of skuas that flocked there, but Scott renamed it Cape Evans after the expedition’s second-in-command, Lieutenant Edward ‘Teddy’ Evans. A short distance inland is a large lake named Skua Lake, while to the east the ground rises to form The Ramp and beyond, glaciated slopes rise toward the summit of Mount Erebus. From the hut site there are fine views east over McMurdo Sound to the Trans-Antarctic Mountains and south to the Dellbridge Islands."
By Mary Lynn Price
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