A shirt, 100-year-old newspapers and a crate of what is thought to be unopened whisky have been among the discoveries James Blake has made under a historic Antarctic hut.
Mr Blake, the son of the late Sir Peter Blake, has been helping the Antarctic Heritage Trust with its
restoration project on the ice, fulfilling a promise his father made but could never carry out.
Sir Peter had planned to come on his expedition yacht the Seamaster to help out.
"Unfortunately, he couldn't so I think it's great that I could come down," Mr Blake said.
Sir Peter was killed by pirates in Brazil.
Mr Blake said Sir Peter used to tell him stories of the polar explorers Sir Ernest Shackleton and Captain Robert Falcon Scott, and from a young age he had wanted to come to Antarctica.
Mr Blake, who turned 20 on New Year's Eve, has been taking leave from his studies in environmental science at an English university.
He has missed a few exams but says he would not have missed the opportunity to visit Antarctica for the world.
Mr Blake has been working on a hut at Cape Royds that was built in 1908 and used by Shackleton.
His main job is removing the ice building up under the hut, physical work in cramped conditions.
A crate of whisky had been discovered but had not yet been opened. There had been a lot of jokes among the team about how much the 100-year-old alcohol would fetch on eBay.
Mr Blake said the huts were worth saving as they were monuments to a legacy left by the men of that time.
"They came down to this area and they didn't know what was around the next corner . . . How they survived, and how they lived, it's just an amazing feat and it's definitely something that should be kept and looked after."
There is a group of seven working at the hut - three carpenters, two conservators, a team leader and Mr Blake. They are living in tents, with a heater in the main tent, where all the cooking is done.
Mr Blake will be in Antarctica until February 9 and return home to England after a few days' break in New Zealand.
- NZPA
