What's the best wine to drink when traveling to Antarctica?
If you could bring a bottle of wine to Antarctica, which one would you choose?
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Last time we talked about Sir Shackleton's adventurous story of keeping his promise. This time we are going to look at an episode that happened during his second trip to Antarctica.
Before the journey began, the Queen of England presented Sir Shackleton with a national flag and hoped that he would win this honor for Britain in an era when countries were competing to be the first country to plant its flag at the South Pole.
And so, Sir Shackleton and his three companions set out for Antarctica with this flag and all the necessary supplies.
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After arriving in Antarctica, they decided to build a small house at Cape Royds on Hut Point Peninsula as a base for storing food and spending the long winter on the Antarctic Peninsula.
The following year, with the arrival of spring, they set out for their destination – the South Pole.
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However, the expedition was not going smoothly. The horses they used for transportation were not acclimated to the harsh conditions of Antarctica. Four of them fell into an ice hole, nearly taking a member of the team with them. Without some of their means of transportation, their progress fell seriously behind. With food supplies dwindling day by day, Sir Shackleton was forced to make the difficult decision: to plant the British flag at 88 degrees 23 minutes south latitude, 180 kilometers from the South Pole, and end the expedition.
This was also the closest Sir Shackleton had ever been to the South Pole in his life.
On the return journey of this expedition, although he experienced food shortages and had to dig up four horse carcasses to eat, which led to dysentery, and had to leave two companions at a supply station with sufficient supplies in order to return to the ship in time to prevent the fleet from sailing away, Sir Shackleton remained the adventurer who kept his promise - after being rescued, he insisted on returning to take his two companions who had been waiting for a long time, and they successfully returned to England by ship together.
Judging from the results, although this expedition ended in failure, Sir Shackleton and his companions were the team closest to the South Pole at that time. Sir Shackleton also became world-famous and was invited to give lectures in Europe and the United States.
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One hundred years later, in 2007, a team accidentally discovered three boxes of whiskey that had been sealed for a long time while tidying up the base at Cape Rhodes.
Before setting out, Sir Shackleton ordered 25 cases of Old Highland Malt Whisky from Mackinlay to accompany his expedition to Antarctica. Before returning to England, Sir Shackleton left any unused supplies at the base at Cape Rhodes, hoping that future adventurers would have access to them. The supplies included food, equipment, and stoves—enough to sustain 15 men for a full year. These three cases of whiskey were also included.
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With the consent of the Antarctic Heritage Trust, which owns the items, three bottles of whisky were brought back to Scotland. Thanks to the diligent analysis of the master distiller Richard Paterson and his team of blenders, this 100-year-old whisky was finally successfully reproduced and brought back to us.
Next time you’re choosing a whisky, don’t forget to consider Shackleton’s Antarctic Frozen Malt Whisky and savor the adventurous spirit of Sir Shackleton a century ago.
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