Century-old whisky to be retrieved from polar ice

Two crates of Scotch whisky belonging to polar explorer Ernest Shackleton are to be recovered after being buried for a century under the Antarctic ice, officials said Monday.

The two crates of McKinlay (and) Co. whisky were discovered in 2006 by conservators encased in ice under a hut built and used during Shackleton's unsuccessful 1907-09 expedition to reach the South Pole.

The conservators, from the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust, plan to use special cutting tools to carefully remove the crates when they return to the hut at Cape Royds over the southern hemisphere summer.

Al Fastier of the trust, which is responsible for conserving three explorers' huts in Antarctica, said he won't be tempted to sample the Scotch, saying he prefers to allow the century-old spirits to retain their mystique.

"It would be terrible to sample it and find that it was off," he told Radio New Zealand.

The crates and bottles are expected to undergo conservation work in New Zealand before being returned to the remote hut, which conservators are trying to leave in the same condition that the explorers left it.

But Scottish distillers Whyte (and) Mackay, owners of the McKinlay brand, are keen to get hold of a bottle, or at least a sample, of the now extinct blend.

"We might even get enough to be able to take a stab at recreating it," said the company's master blender Richard Paterson.

Shackleton's expedition ran short of supplies on their long trek to the South Pole from Cape Royds in 1907-09.

They eventually fell about 100 miles (160 kilometres) short of their goal, although one team did reach the magnetic South Pole and the expedition carried out valuable scientific work.

No lives were lost, vindicating Shackleton's decision to turn back from the pole, first reached in 1911 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.

Shackleton later said to his wife "a live donkey is better than a dead lion, isn't it?"

The expedition's ship left Cape Royds hurriedly in March 2009 as winter ice began forming in the sea, with some equipment and supplies -- including the whisky -- left behind.

"I personally think they must have been left there by mistake, because it's hard to believe two crates would have been left under the hut without drinking them," Fastier said. (AFP)