The Ross Sea region is an area teeming with Antarctic exploration history. This is where explorers like Shackleton, Amundsen, and Scott started their famous attempts to get to the southernmost point on the planet. Today, we had great hopes of visiting two historic huts on Ross Island: one at Cape Royds set up by Shackleton for his Nimrod Expedition (1907-1909) and another at Cape Evans, a hut erected by Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition (1910-1913). Unfortunately, the landing site at Cape Royds was blocked with ice, but we observed the Nimrod hut from the ship. A couple of hours later, Captain Scott’s Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans was in sight, and conditions allowed for a landing. We were all excited to get ashore to see Scott’s impressive basecamp hut and appreciate what life was like over a hundred years ago for these men venturing into unknown lands. Scott’s hut contains over 10,000 artifacts and personal items brought in for the expedition.
National Geographic Endurance proceeded southwards, and by dinner, we were at the southern point of McMurdo Sound, looking at McMurdo Station, the huge American research base. We saw dozens of ‘locals’waving at us from the shore. After dinner, naturalist Gabriela Roldan gave a fascinating presentation on Captain Scott’s Discovery Expedition, his first attempt towards the South Pole.
What a day of Antarctic history! And certainly a day to remember in the diary of our own epic journey of exploration.
