Discovery of a 100 years old photograph of the Antarctic

Conservationists who were rebuilding an Antarctic adventure cabin had a shocking discovery: a small box with 22 developed negatives had been stuck in the ice for more than 100 years.

A Photographer from Wellington has elaborately restored the negatives. Nigel Watson, executive director of the Antarctic Heritage Trust, said these were images which have never seen before:

“I realized that this was the earliest Antarctic expedition example, a film from the heroic age of Antarctica a century ago. They are rare images of the adventure feats.”

The Antarctic Heritage Trust team found the box in a corner of one of the numerous supply stations that Robert Falcon Scott built between 1910 and 1913 for his fateful trip Terre Nova to The South Pole adventure. Although Scott reached the South Pole, he and his team died of starvation and extreme cold on the way home.

The cabin was then used by the Ross Sea Detachment of the Royal Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton between 1914 and 1917. The expedition of the Ross Sea represents one of the extraordinary efforts of that heroic age of exploration which is still unforgettable today.

In January 1915, the exploration ship Aurora remained at the Mcmurdo Coast in Antarctical Rossea, with the Shackleton Antarctic Expedition's chief scientist, the team's cameraman, and eight other crew members along with a supply and equipment station for the team. The Shackleton Expedition set out from the Weddell Coast on the other side of the South Pole, headed to the South Pole, and then reach McMurdo Bay using a supply depot prepared by the Ross Sea Detachment for their trip. 

Aurora was living through the winter offshore to provide a safe shelter for the return of both teams. Unfortunately, the plan did not change as quickly as the weather. A snowstorm blew the Aurora away from its mooring and off the coast, leaving the Ross Sea detachment stuck in freezing snow.

Despite the harsh conditions and the loss of Aurora's assistance, the team continued to prepare food and supply for the Shackleton Antarctic expedition. Left them alone and helpless from lack of support, the Shackleton team is forced to give up their journey after the Endurance gets stuck in ice and breaks, and the depot they built becomes redundant.

It was not until January 1917 that Aurora returned to rescue the Ross Sea detachment. But by that time three team members had died, including the team's photographer, Arnold Patrick Spencer-Smith. These photographs bear witness to the heroic age of Antarctic exploration.