Lot Essay
The White Ensign is a relic of Carsten Borchgrevink's British Antarctic Expedition of 1898-1900, the first expedition ever to winter on the Antarctic mainland. Borchgrevink and nine explorers were landed by the Southern Cross at Ridley Beach, Cape Adare in February 1899. They built two huts of Norwegian spruce, one for accomodation and one for stores, the latter including 500 miniature Union Jacks "for purposes of survey and extension of the British Empire." The Southern Cross returned to collect the survivors (Nicolai Hanson had died in October 1899) on 28 January 1900.
'Next to visit Cape Adare, on 8 January 1902, was the Discovery expedition under Commander Robert Falcon Scott RN. On this occasion Edward Wilson, second surgeon, artist and vertebrate zoologist, wrote, "The litter around the huts was very interesting and the waste excessive ... the huts looked like the centre of a rubbish heap."' (D.L. Harrowfield, Icy Heritage, Historic Sites of the Ross Sea Regions, Christchurch, 1995, pp. 14-15).
For Scott's account of his landing at Cape Adare in 1902 see R.F. Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery, London, 1907, I, pp. 99-100.
'Next to visit Cape Adare, on 8 January 1902, was the Discovery expedition under Commander Robert Falcon Scott RN. On this occasion Edward Wilson, second surgeon, artist and vertebrate zoologist, wrote, "The litter around the huts was very interesting and the waste excessive ... the huts looked like the centre of a rubbish heap."' (D.L. Harrowfield, Icy Heritage, Historic Sites of the Ross Sea Regions, Christchurch, 1995, pp. 14-15).
For Scott's account of his landing at Cape Adare in 1902 see R.F. Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery, London, 1907, I, pp. 99-100.