We've all been channelling our inner Scott of the Antarctic this week as we brave the Beast from the East. But spare a thought for the real Scott and his crew. From constantly damp clothes to eating penguin for tea, their tales will have you grateful for 21st century comforts.
1. Cabin fever was real
Feeling the cabin fever these last few days? On board RRS Discovery, the ship which took Robert Falcon Scott and his crew to the Antarctic in 1901, it was literal. The crew lived on the Mess Deck, a place that smelled of damp clothes and unwashed men. To make things worse, there was a continuous cloud of tobacco smoke. Unless you were an officer, sleeping arrangements were basic: a hammock slung across the ceiling.
2. Shovelling winter fuel - six tons a day
Carrying winter fuel took on a whole new meaning on Discovery. The ship's engine, which regularly manoeuvred through pack ice, could produce up to 450 horse power. That meant shovelling six tons of coal a day into the fireboxes.
3. Getting it in the neck
The explorers' attire bore a few similarities to our winter wardrobe today: leggings, wind-proof Burberry jackets and hoods. But the hoods - which were separate from the jackets - were a major bugbear. Despite wearing scarves, flannel collars and fleece-lined balaclavas, the explorers lost up to ten per cent of their body heat from around their necks.
4. Every day was a drying day
In the absence of clever, breathable, quick-drying fabrics like we have today, and with all the man-hauling of sledges, there was a lot of sweat - which instantly froze in the sub-zero Antarctic temperatures. Fuel supplies were limited, which meant that drying clothes was a constant chore.
5. Pick up your shoes! But reshape them first
Leaving your boots to dry off was a careful procedure. Often the explorers' boots froze crooked and the men had to force their feet into them. They learned quickly to not leave boots lying out of shape.
6. Making a (boring) meal of it
Pity the ship's cook, who had to rustle up three meals a day on rations of tinned, dried, bottled and pickled food - plus the occasional piece of fresh meat when they could get it. The crew often complained of boring meals, two cooks were sacked and one ended up clapped in irons.
7. Five a day? Not likely
The crew, living mostly on preserved foodstuff and lacking in vitamin C, did their best to avoid scurvy. They supplemented their meals with penguin and seal meat. One of the officers managed to help pep up the menus by growing fresh mustard and cress in boxes under a skylight.
8. Snow joke
The snow was a curse and a necessity; it provided the men with fresh water. Every day two sledging parties went out to a nearby glacier, cut ice and hauled it back to camp.
9. Ice start to the day
The officers' Wardroom - still beautifully preserved on RRS Discovery, now a popular visitor attraction docked in Dundee - appeared to be one of the most luxurious parts of the ship. In fact it was one of the coldest places on board, with ice regularly forming on the walls overnight. Dinner was at a dining table which doubled as a work place. Often an animal dissection had taken place there earlier. And it was far from glamorous; most evenings a line of wet socks hung overhead.
Captain Scott's cold weather tip #1
Did you know that fingers stay warmer when they can touch each other? That's why Scott's men wore finger-less woollen gloves with felt or lambskin mitts over them.
Captain Scott's cold weather tip #2
For extra insulation, the explorers filled their socks with grass - not just any old grass but special grass called sennegrass, which grew in Norway. And there was no chance of it getting mushy after a day in the snow; temperatures were so brutally cold that the men's sweat froze, making it easy to separate the sweat from the grass.
For more tales of Scott's Antarctic voyage on RRS Discovery, visit www.rrsdiscovery.com
