Three bottles of whisky abandoned in Antarctica by British
explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton more than a century ago will be sent
to Scotland for scientific analysis, reports said Friday.
The bottles of Mackinlay's whisky were part of a cache recovered
last year from beneath Shackleton's Antarctic hut, built in 1908 as
part of his failed attempt to reach the South Pole, national news
agency NZPA reported.
It said the whisky would be sent to the Whyte & Mackay
distillery in Scotland, which now owns the Mackinlay's brand, where
it would be analysed in an attempt to recreate the original
recipe.
The wooden crate containing the whisky, marked British Antarctic
Expedition 1907, was frozen solid in the minus 30 degrees Celsius
(minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit) temperatures but the whisky in the
bottles was still liquid.
Two more crates of whisky, along with two of brandy, were also
discovered but they were left under the floorboards of Shackleton's
hut.
The whisky is believed to have been bottled in Scotland in 1896
or 1897, making it among the oldest in the world.
The Antarctic Heritage Trust shipped the crate to Canterbury
Museum in Christchurch, where it was painstakingly thawed in
controlled conditions, allowing historians to access the bottles
inside.
NZPA said that under an agreement with the trust, Whyte &
Mackay was entitled to three of the bottles, which had been taken
from a crate containing 11, and they would begin their journey back
to Scotland on Friday.
The crate originally held 12 bottles but one was missing when it
was found, raising the possibility that a member of Shackleton's
expedition had been helping himself in a bid to ward off the polar
chill.
NZPA said an Australian whisky expert estimated the bottles
could bring 90,000 New Zealand dollars (69,000 US) each on the open
market.