A perfectly preserved cake taken to Antarctica by a
party in Captain Robert Falcon Scott's expedition over a hundred
years ago has been found near the South Pole.
The fruitcake, made by former Reading-based biscuit
makers Huntley & Palmers, was found in a remote hut in
Antarctica wrapped in paper and encased in a tin.
Remarkably, researchers from New Zealand charity the
Antarctic Heritage Trust said the cake looked - and even smelled -
like it was still edible.
Lizzie Meek, a manager from the charity, said the cake
would have been an 'ideal high-energy food for Antarctic
conditions' and is still a favourite on modern trips to the far
south.
She added: 'With just two weeks to go on the
conservation of the Cape Adare artefacts, finding such a perfectly
preserved fruitcake in amongst the last handful of unidentified and
severely corroded tins was quite a surprise.'
It is believed the cake belonged to the Northern Party
- a group that split off from Captain Scott's main party - because
documents show they took the popular brand with him on the
ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition between 1910 and 1913.
The cake was found on a shelf in a hut based at Cape
Adare used by the Northern Party in 1911, which is the year the
researchers believe it was left there.
Scott and his team - who had left the Northern Party at
Cape Adare - reached the South Pole in 1912, 34 days after their
Norwegian rivals, but the entire party died on their return
journey.
But the Northern Party suffered its own troubles - it
was moved from Cape Adare 250 miles south to Cape Evans in 1912,
where they suffered from frostbite and hunger and were forced to
eat seal meat.
Conservators have been working on Antarctic artefacts
from Cape Adare since May last year and have accrued almost 1,500.
The huts at Cape Adare were built by the Norwegian
Carten Borchgrevink's expidition of 1899 but later used by the
Northern Party.
They are the first buildings constructed in Antarctica
and are set to undergo conservation work by Antarctic Heritage
Trust workers.
But all objects taken from them - including the cake -
must be returned after being spruced up, in accordance with rules
governing the Antarctic Specially Protected Area.