A perfectly preserved cake taken to
Antarctica by a party in Captain Robert Falcon Scott's expedition over a
hundred years ago has been found near the South Pole.
The
fruitcake, made by former Reading-based biscuit makers Huntley &
Palmers, was found in a remote hut in Antarctica wrapped in paper and
encased in a tin.
Remarkably,
researchers from New Zealand charity the Antarctic Heritage Trust said
the cake looked - and even smelled - like it was still edible.
Lizzie
Meek, a manager from the charity, said the cake would have been an
'ideal high-energy food for Antarctic conditions' and is still a
favourite on modern trips to the far south.
She added: 'With just two weeks to go on
the conservation of the Cape Adare artefacts, finding such a perfectly
preserved fruitcake in amongst the last handful of unidentified and
severely corroded tins was quite a surprise.'
It
is believed the cake belonged to the Northern Party - a group that
split off from Captain Scott's main party - because documents show they
took the popular brand with him on the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition
between 1910 and 1913.
The cake was
found on a shelf in a hut based at Cape Adare used by the Northern Party
in 1911, which is the year the researchers believe it was left there.
Scott
and his team - who had left the Northern Party at Cape Adare - reached
the South Pole in 1912, 34 days after their Norwegian rivals, but the
entire party died on their return journey.
But
the Northern Party suffered its own troubles - it was moved from Cape
Adare 250 miles south to Cape Evans in 1912, where they suffered from
frostbite and hunger and were forced to eat seal meat.
Conservators have been working on Antarctic artefacts from Cape Adare since May last year and have accrued almost 1,500.
The
huts at Cape Adare were built by the Norwegian Carten Borchgrevink's
expidition of 1899 but later used by the Northern Party.
They
are the first buildings constructed in Antarctica and are set to
undergo conservation work by Antarctic Heritage Trust workers.
But
all objects taken from them - including the cake - must be returned
after being spruced up, in accordance with rules governing the Antarctic
Specially Protected Area.