01/10/2014

An Antarctic Expedition, Frozen in Time

17:26 minutes

Before the “Lost Men” of Shackleton’s Ross Sea Party lost their ship (and in some cases, their lives), they took 22 photos of Antarctica. Now their pictures have been rediscovered and restored. Kelly Tyler-Lewis, author of a book on the Ross Sea Party, describes the images and what happened to the men who took them.

  • Alexander Stevens, chief scientist and geologist for the Ross Sea Party Expedition looks south. Hut Point Peninsula in the background. Photo taken by Ernest Shackleton’s Ross Sea Party 1914-1917. © Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand, nzaht.org

  • Examining photographic negatives left a century ago in Captain Scott’s last expedition base at Cape Evans. New Zealand’s Antarctic Heritage Trust discovered the negatives in expedition photographer Herbert Ponting’s darkroom. © Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand, nzaht.org

  • Tent Island, McMurdo Sound. Photo taken by Ernest Shackleton’s Ross Sea Party 1914-1917. © Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand, nzaht.org

  • Iceberg and land, Ross Island. Photo taken by Ernest Shackleton’s Ross Sea Party 1914-1917. © Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand, nzaht.org

  • The negatives were found in Captain Scott’s Hut at his 1911 expedition base, Cape Evans, Antarctica, by Antarctic Heritage Trust (NZ) conservators. Take a tour of the Cape Evans Hut here: http://bit.ly/1gHbbFm © Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand, nzaht.org

Segment Guests

Kelly Tyler-Lewis

Kelly Tyler-Lewis is author of The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton’s Ross Sea Party (Penguin, 2007) in Boston, Massachusetts.

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