Crates of a century old Scotch are found in the Antartic

A hoard of a century-old whisky has been found beneath the Antarctic base camp of explorer Ernest Shackleton. It has been on ice for all that time but no one has actually tasted it.

Experts hope the bottles will help them recreate the original recipe for modern Scotch lovers.

Richard Paterson, of Whyte and Mackay – who supplied the Mackinlay’s whisky for Shackleton – said it was “a gift from the heavens”. He added: “If the contents can be analysed it will open a door to history.”

He said: “It’s been laying there lonely and neglected. It should come back to Scotland where it was born.”

Five crates of spirits have been taken from beneath Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds, which his team quit in haste in 1909. The three cases of Scotch, along with two of brandy, were entombed in ice ever since and they have been dug up by a New Zealand heritage group restoring the hut.

Al Fastier, the New Zealand Antartic Heritage Trust team leader, said: “The unexpected find of the brandy crates, one labelled Chas Mackinlay & Co and the other labelled The Hunter Valley Distillery Limited Allandale (Australia) are a real bonus.”

Ernest Shackleton hut on Cape Royds Antarctica

Ernest Shackleton

 Shackleton was an Anglo-Irishman who set off in an attempt to reach the South Pole in 1907. He took 25 crates of whisky to raise the team’s spirits and keep them warm. He eventually gave up, defeated by harsh conditions, just days from getting to the pole.

When a rescue ship arrived to pick up his men in 1909, they left their supplies in the hut at Cape Royds, including tins of boiled mutton, bottled gooseberries and reindeer-skin sleeping bags. They also abandoned the Scotch in the snow outside the hut.