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Borchgrevink’s Hut

Cape Adare

© Antarctic Heritage Trust - credit: Antarctic Heritage Trust
  • HISTORY OF EXPEDITION
  • MEET THE CREW
  • FAMOUS DISCOVERIES
  • GALLERY

Borchgrevink’s Hut

CAPE ADARE

This is the base associated with Carsten Borchgrevink’s British Antarctic (Southern Cross) Expedition 1898–1900 and later, Scott’s Northern Party expedition (1911). The site is notable not only for its role in the discovery of Antarctica but also as the only example left of humanity’s first building on any continent.

The Conservation Plan for Borchgrevink’s Hut at Cape Adare, developed as part of the Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project, can be purchased by emailing info@nzaht.org

Borchgrevink’s hut at Cape Adare is built amongst a colony of over 400,000 breeding pairs of Adelie penguins.
© Antarctic Heritage Trust - credit: Antarctic Heritage Trust
The expedition members pictured just before spending the first winter on the Antarctic continent, 1899.
© Canterbury Museum - credit: Canterbury Museum

History of Expedition

1898 – 1900

British Antarctic (Southern Cross) Expedition, Cape Adare, Northern Victoria Land.

Borchgrevink’s party of 10 men was funded by magazine magnate Sir George Newnes. The expedition was scientific in nature with the aim of studying wildlife, completing meteorological and magnetic observations, and exploring the continent’s interior. Many of the expedition’s scientific records were lost but they did achieve some ‘firsts’: first to erect a building on the continent, winter over, and use dogs, sledges and skis for travel over land and sea ice. Expedition members Bernacchi and Colbeck produced a detailed map of the area that was used by later expeditions.

HUT LAYOUT

Carsten Borchgrevink’s expedition erected two huts, the living hut and the stores hut. Both measured just 5.5×6.5 metres each – a very small space for 10 men to live in for a year.

The third hut, built by the Northern Party, was a small hut modelled on the same pattern as the larger hut at Cape Evans. This hut has not withstood the high winds at Cape Adare and, with the exception of the cold porch, has collapsed leaving little more than the main frames of the end walls.

Cape Adare floor plan
Cape Adare floor plan

Borchgrevink’s Crew

Meet the members of the British Antarctic Southern Cross Expedition 1898–1900.

Carsten Borchgrevink
34, COMMANDER
Louis Bernacchi
24, ASTRONOMER & PHYSICIST
Nicolai Hanson
28, ZOOLOGIST
William Colbeck
27, Magnetic Observer and Cartographer
Herlof Klovstad
30, Medical Officer
Hugh Blackwall Evans
23, ASSISTANT ZOOLOGIST
Anton Fougner
23, Assistant Zoologist

Famous Discoveries

Century-old Fruitcake

August 10, 2017/by Comms

Dr Edward Wilson Watercolour

New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust has discovered an almost perfectly preserved 118 year old watercolour painting among penguin-excrement, dust and mould covered papers found in an historic hut at Cape Adare, Antarctica.
June 12, 2017/by Comms

Augmented Reality News

Cape Adare buildings Antarctic’s most significant

In this blog, learn about Carsten Borchgrevink and his Southern Cross expedition (1898-1900), during which the first ever base in Antarctica was established.
December 20, 2021/by Comms

Inspiring Explorers™ live up to their name

Inspiring the spirit of exploration in the next generation is one of the primary goals of the My Explorer Journal experience on the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s new AR app.
December 20, 2021/by Comms

The forgotten explorer and his incredible legacy

In this blog, learn about Carsten Borchgrevink and his Southern Cross expedition (1898-1900), during which the first ever base in Antarctica was established.
October 4, 2021/by Comms

The Creation of My Explorer Journal

In this blog, we hear from Anzac Gallate, a member of the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s 2020 Inspiring Explorers Expedition™ to the Antarctic Peninsula, who is the creative visionary behind My Explorer Journal.
September 20, 2021/by Comms

Two Weeks at Cape Adare

In this blog, learn about artefact conservation projects inside an historic hut at one of the most remote places on Earth
September 13, 2021/by Comms

My Explorer Journal brings the Antarctic to life

In this blog, check out some of the wonders of Antarctica that are captivating primary school children throughout New Zealand as they embark on a unique, virtual expedition.
September 6, 2021/by Comms
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Gallery

The scientific staff on the ship before sailing south from Australia

Borchgrevink's Southern Cross Expedition 1898-1900. From left: Nicolai Hanson, William Colbeck, Herlof Klovstad, Anton Fougner, Louis Bernacchi.
© Canterbury Museum - credit: Norsk Polar Institute

The expedition members pictured just before spending the first winter on the Antarctic continent, 1899.


© Canterbury Museum - credit: Canterbury Museum

Borchgrevink’s Hut, Cape Adare

Bathed in the midnight sun.
© Antarctic Heritage Trust - credit: Antarctic Heritage Trust

William Colbeck


© Canterbury Museum

Borchgrevink’s hut at Cape Adare is built amongst a colony of over 400,000 breeding pairs of Adelie penguins.


© Antarctic Heritage Trust - credit: Antarctic Heritage Trust

The huts as photographed on the arrival of the Scott’s Discovery expedition at Cape Adare in 1902.

Borchgrevink's Hut, Cape Adare
© Canterbury Museum - credit: Canterbury Museum

Borchgrevink (facing camera) playing chess with Klofstad.


© Scott Polar Research Institute - credit: Scott Polar Research Institute

While in the pack ice they took the chance to exercise the dogs. ca 1899


© Canterbury Museum - credit: Canterbury Museum

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7 Ron Guthrey Road, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand
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Antarctic Heritage Trust
7 Ron Guthrey Road, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand
Private Bag 4745, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand

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© Copyright 2024, Antarctic Heritage Trust
Registered Charity: CC24071
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