The snowy footprints of history at Antarctica’s Base Y & Horseshoe Island

British Antarctic history began with Captain James Cook.

Rather incredibly to me, this “boy from Whitby” circumnavigated the great white continent from 1773 to 1775.

And his description of it being “doomed by nature to lie buried under everlasting ice and snow” will hopefully remain true, as the climate warms.

After Cook came Sir James Clark Ross, Sir Ernest Shackleton and Captain Robert Scott, who all led exploratory, geographical and scientific journeys to Antarctica, and a lot of that history is focussed on the Antarctic Peninsula, just 1000km south of the southern tip of South America.

But it wasn’t until 1943 that the UK established a permanent presence here.

It began with the British Royal Navy’s Operation Tabarin, during which a number of stations were established on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Both Port Lockroy (Base A) and Deception Island (Base B) were built in 1944.

There was also a base on Stonington Island, in Marguerite Bay.

But Horseshoe Island’s Base Y opened in 1955 and closed for research business in 1960 — and it is still open today, as a museum for the few expedition cruise ships that come this far south, to 67 degrees.

Having been handed over by the British Antarctic Survey to the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust (ukaht.org). It manages six former bases on the peninsula. The flagship is Port Lockroy, but Horseshoe Island is remote and authentic.

It was originally a place for scientific research — topographic survey, geology, geophysics and meteorology. From the base, big survey trips were undertaken with dog sleds — often for several months over many hundreds of kilometres. From four to 10 people lived here — among them geologists, surveyors, meteorologists, and a radio operator, mechanic and doctor.

I stroll through the original main building, which was slightly extended in 1956 to give additional bunk space and a sled workshop, dog pens, a storage shed and a shed for the balloons that were released to collect meteorological information.

There are simple single bunks — six in the main bedroom. There are a few pictures on the wall, and food cans on the kitchen shelves. Of course, it was all long-life food.

Antarctic historian Gerard Baker is also a BBC presenter and documentary maker. He has made more than 30 radio and television documentaries in the past 25 years, and has spent more than 4000 nights in Antarctica.

In a lecture on Lindblad National Geographic Resolution, he explains that some British expeditions were sponsored — for example Oxo and Bovril both sponsored Robert Scott’s expedition, with both stores and finances. Fry’s cocoa powder and Huntley and Palmer biscuits sponsored exploration, as did Lyle’s Golden Syrup and Coleman’s Mustard.

Heinz Baked Beans proudly supported “Scott’s Polar Expedition”.

Sir Ernest Shackleton had a blend of whisky made for him and Player’s supplied cigarettes.

Expeditions also had their own blends of tea and those recipes can still be found today. Captain Scott’s Strong Blend was sold in Tesco in the UK, to support restoration of his hut — and Gerard has a box of the tea bags with him, generously offering to let fellow travellers try them.

The six huts

PORT LOCKROY

On Gouldier Island, the huts at Port Lockroy were built in 1944 as part of a World War II mission. It continued to be used as a science base until 1962, and is now a “living museum”, with staff living here, and the world’s most southern post office.

DAMOY HUT

On Wiencke Island, this is the most modern hut, and was used as a transit station for scientists travelling further south.

DETAILLE ISLAND

Established in 1956 as a science base for mapping, meteorology and geology, it is in Lallemand Fjord, off the Loubet Coast.

STONINGTON ISLAND

In Marguerite Bay, Stonington was used from 1946 to 1950, and again from 1960 to 1975 as a base for sledding operations.

WORDIE HOUSE

Base F, on Winter Island, is named for James Wordie, chief scientist on Shackleton’s 1914 to 1917 Endurance expedition, and was built in 1947 on the foundations of the 1935 British Graham Land Expedition.

HORSESHOE ISLAND

Base Y was used from 1955 to 1960.

BLAIKLOCK ISLAND REFUGE

This hut was maintained only briefly in the 1950s, as a refuge for those working in nearby bases. It was designated as an historic site, as part of the Horseshoe Island Hut commitment, in 1995.

ENDURANCE SHIPWRECK

Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance was trapped in ice in the Weddell Sea, eventually cracked and crushed, and sank in 1915. In 2022, it was found on the seabed at 3000m by the Endurance22 Expedition, in very good condition. I will never forget first seeing the underwater remotely operated vehicle video, as it rounded the ship and its name came into view. UKAHT was quickly appointed to lead the Conservation Management Plan for the ship.

AUSTRALIAN HUTS the other side

On “east side” of Antarctica (the opposite side to the Antarctic Peninsula), Australian huts are also maintained. As a young geologist, Douglas Mawson had joined Shackleton’s 1908 to 1909 British Antarctic Expedition, then leading the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which left in 1911. They built five wooden huts in Cape Denison — Australia’s first base for geographical and scientific work in Antarctica. Mawson’s Hut Foundation maintains them. mawsons-hut.org.au