Photographic negatives left a century ago in Captain Scott’s last expedition base at Cape
Evans have been discovered and conserved by New Zealand’s Antarctic Heritage Trust. The
negatives were found in expedition photographer Herbert Ponting’s darkroom and have
been painstakingly conserved revealing never before seen Antarctic images.
The Trust’s conservation specialists discovered the clumped together cellulose nitrate
negatives in a small box as part of the Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project which has seen
more than 10,000 objects conserved at Scott’s Cape Evans hut. The negatives were removed
from Antarctica by the Trust earlier this year. Detailed conservation treatment back in New
Zealand separating the negatives has revealed twenty-two images. The photographs are
from Ernest Shackleton’s 1914-1917 Ross Sea Party, which spent time living in Scott’s hut
after being stranded on Ross Island when their ship blew out to sea.
One of the most striking images is of Ross Sea Party member Alexander Stevens,
Shackleton’s Chief Scientist, standing on-board the Aurora.
Although many of the images are damaged, the Antarctic Heritage Trust was able to
recognise landmarks around McMurdo Sound, although the identity of the photographer
remains unknown.