Century-old notes found in Antarctica, shed light on Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s extraordinary work. The 100-year-old notebook contained notes and pictures detailing Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910-1913 doomed voyage to Antarctica.
Century-old notes found buried in the Antarctic snow, have been restored, sewed back together and digitized. In January of 2013, as the summer snow melted around a base camp that British explorer, Captain Robert Falcon Scott established at Cape Evans in Ross Island, Antarctica, conservationists fell on a notebook that belonged to George Murray Levick.
George Murray Levick was a surgeon and photographer, who was part of the 1910-13 Terra Nova Expedition lead by Robert Falcon Scott. The group of scientists were hoping the be the first ones to reach the South Pole.
Scott’s team made it to the South Pole on January 17, 1912, only to discover that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had beat them by 34 days. The entire crew died while returning to their base due to a blizzard and dwindling supplies.
The century-old journal called “Wellcome Photographic Exposure Record and Dairy 1910,” contained scrawled in pencil, notes and photos that were taken in 1911 at Cape Adare. Needless to say that after more than 100 years in the ice, the notebook was in a very bad shape, so the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust hired Aline Leclercq, a paper conservator to restore it.
Nigel Watson, director of the Antarctic Heritage Trust, explained how thrilled he is to have the photo diary in his possession:
“It’s an exciting find.The notebook is a missing part of the official expedition record. After spending seven years conserving Scott’s last expedition building and collection, we are delighted to still be finding new artifacts.”
Once the notes were restored and its content digitized, it was returned to Antarctica. According to the Antarctic Heritage Trust, there are more than 11,000 artifacts at Cape Evans.
