A century after it was stashed away, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s whisky supply has been uncovered in Antarctica! The NZ Antarctic Heritage Trust have been carrying out restoration work on Shackleton’s Hut and have uncovered 5 crates of Scotch whisky and brandy. Restoration workers originally found the crates under the hut's floorboards in 2006, but they were too deeply embedded in ice to be removed. Now they may be able to try and retrieve some of the bottles, although the rest must stay under conservation guidelines agreed to under the Antarctic Treaty.
The crates were buried beneath Shackleton's Antarctic hut in 1908, for his expedition to the South Pole The expedition ran short of supplies on their long trek to the Pole from Cape Royds and they eventually had to turn back about 100 miles short of their goal. Shackleton's expedition sailed from Cape Royds hurriedly in 1909 as winter ice began forming in the sea, forcing them to leave some equipment and supplies, including the whisky, behind. However, no lives were lost.
Richard Paterson, whose firm supplied the Mackinlay's whisky for Shackleton, said: "If the contents can be confirmed, safely extracted and analysed, the original blend may be able to be replicated. Given the original recipe no longer exists this may open a door into history."
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