 A crate of Scotch whisky was opened today, a century alter being buried under the Antarctic ice, announced New Zealand authorities. After two weeks of a gradually thawed in a purpose built cool room of the Canterbury Museum, a team of Antarctic Heritage Trust and Canterbury Museum conservators extracted several intact bottles labeled "Mackinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky", belonging to Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton.
 The bottles were wrapped with paper and straw to protect it during Shackleton's journey on the "Endurance". Eleven bottles of the 114-year old whisky have been recovered of which remarkably ten appear perfectly intact despite their labels having deteriorated. The wording "British Antarctic Expedition 1907 Ship Endurance" is still visible on some of the bottles. Intriguingly, one bottle is missing from the packing inside the crate. This is consistent with where the crate itself appears to have been jimmied open and the timber broken. "Perhaps one of Shackleton's crew just couldn't resist a tipple" said Lizzie Meek, Antarctic Heritage Trust Artefacts Manager. Each of the bottles will be carefully assessed and conserved in the coming weeks.
The "treasure" belongs to the Fund which plans to work with the owners of the Mackinlay.s brand, Whyte and Mackay, to extract and analyze the whisky and then place the crate in the same place where it was found in 2006, as the Antarctic Treaty demands. |
