Scott's Hut at Cape Evans
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*Pictures © 1999 Marc unless specified.
A Special Thanks to KYU for his wonderful pictures of this historic hut. © 1999 KYU

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Cape Evans Hut Antarctic History is filled mith many tales of adventures and heros. One of the stars of the "Heroic Age" was Robert Falcon Scott. During his ill-fated expedition to reach the pole (1910-1913) Scott and his men erected this hut at Cape Evans located on Ross Island, Antarctica. Located a few miles north of his first hut at Discovery Point, Cape Evans Hut is much larger, better stocked, and much more livable.

Cape Evans Hut Located next to Mt. Erebus, Cape Evans Hut included stables to hold the Siberian Ponies that Scott would use on his attempt at the pole.

Main Table Inside the hut items are left just as they were almost 100 years ago following Shckleton's Ross Sea Party excersion.

Entrance table What looks kind of cloudy in this picture is due to KYU's breath. The hut is very cold!

kitchen The food located in the kitchen is actually so well preserved from the cold that it would still be edible.

Cheese Ball and Digestive Biscuits Here is a cheese ball and digestive biscuits.

Darkroom The Darkroom located in the hut.

Chemistry set1 Science was always a priority for Scott. Here is one of the chemistry sets located in the hut. Chemicals can still be found in their original bottles. As a chemist myself, I found this part of the hut fascinating.

chemistry set Another chemistry set.

chemicals and B.A.E. box Chemicals in their bottles with a British Antarctic Expedition "Shore Party" box.

Spiked Boots Personal items can also be found around in the hut. Here is a pair of studded boots.

Bunks Here are some of the bunks the men slept in. Note personal pictures at top.

Cat pictures Personal pictures and drawing reminded the men of home while they were in the hut for years without contact from the outside world.

Dog pictures 1 Pictures of favorite dogs, home in England.

More Dog Pictures More pictures of dogs.

Hockey Stick The Men did have time for sport to help keep them in shape. They played soccer and other sports judging by this hockey stick.

stables Scott didn't trust dog sleds from his experience during the 1901-1904 expedition. Most likely the problem was that his team lacked the knowledge on how best to use a dog team. So following Shackleton's lead from the 1908 expedition, Scott broght Siberian Ponies to do the work. Some say that using ponies was one of the reasons that Scott had many of his problems trying to get to the South Pole.

Here are the stables the ponies were kept in.


Horse Snowshoes There were many disadvantages for bringing ponies instead of dogs. One was that they tended to punch through softer snow very easily. So snowshoes were made for the ponies. The circular devices fit over the ponies hoof.

Another problem with using ponies for long treks is that you have to haul a lot of feed and hay for the ponies themselves. There is more energy/weight for food given to the dogs. Also if a pony died, they could not be fed to the other ponies, but dogs would eat other dogs if the situation was desperate.


Emperor Eggs Dr. Wilson was one of the first people to study the emperor penguins found in the region. Wilson, Bowers, and Cherry-Garrard made a daring winter trip to Cape Crozier to observe the Males incubating their eggs in the colony. The amazing trip with some of the worst winter weather experienced is described in described in The Worst Journey in the World by Cherry-Garrard. A few of the eggs were brought back to Evans for study of the embryos. These eggs were probably not from that trip but are located in the hut today.

emperor penguin There is a emperor penguin located on the table next to Scott's bunk.

Scott's Table Other artifacts on the table include this newspaper.

Table and Scott's Bunk Here is the table looking toward Scott's Bunk.

Reindeer skin sleeping bags Reindeer skin sleeping bags were the standard sleeping gear for this era expedition.

Scott's Bunk Closeup of Scott's Bunk.

Cross at Evans The Cape Evans Hut was also used again during Shackleton's attempt at a trans-antarctic crossing. Stranded men for the "Ross Sea party" tried deperately to conserve their resources and lay depots toward the pole expecting Shackleton. Unaware of the tragedy of the Endurance on the other side of the continent, laying depots took its hazardous toll and three men lost their lives. A cross on the hill above Cape Evans Hut is for these men.




Go to: Antarctic index, Antarctic History, The "Golden Age", Robert Falcon Scott, Erenst Shackleton


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