Captain Scott's skis

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:53:51 -0700

Captain Scott's skis from 1910 Expedition to the Antarctic R. F. Scott's attempt to reach the South Pole ahead of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen is one of the great adventures of the 20th century. Amundsen's party got there first, in December 1911, while Scott's team arrived in January 1912, only to perish two months later on the return trip. Yet the account of the heroic journey, as told in Scott's incomparable journals of the 1910 British Antarctic Expedition, remains a memorable record of human skill, courage and endurance in the face of tremendous adversity. Be part of the vivid account of the perilous sea voyage aboard the Terra Nova from Port Lyttelton to McMurdo Sound, including the dangerous flood that almost scuttled the adventure at the outset. With these skis they overcame the unforgiving environment...the birds, penguins, and orcas of the south...the nature and perils of ice packs and ice floes...and the force of Antarctic blizzards. Relive the 800-mile overland trek of Scott's team to the Pole, as well as their doomed return trip. The bindings consist of a single metal plate which is connected to the wooden ski by means of iron pins. The plate is rectangular in shape about four inches wide by twelve inches long. At the rear of the plate there's a mould for the ankle. The ski poles measure 1.41 meters with the spike. Being that they originated from Cardiff, South Wales, United Kingdom, and have their history traced in the Wales area, experts at Christies are fairly sure they're from the Terra Nova (see attached documentation for provenance). These are a remarkable set with great historical value. Please contact us directly for more information on payment, insurance and shipping.

Norwegian Exploration Skis

The skis were bought at 'The Antiques Shop’, currently called 'Then and Now' Antiques, in Crwys Road, Cardiff in 1988. The owner of the shop at that time, said that they had been recovered from a property in the Cardiff Bay area of the city along with items of Victorian and Edwardian furniture and various bric a brac of the same period in a house clearance deal.

The Cardiff Bay area was formerly know as ‘Tiger Bay’ and in the early part of the 20th century was notorious for its maritime and multiculutral community. Tiger Bay is the southernmost end of the city and it abuts the old port which has since been renamed ‘Cardiff Bay’ in an attempt to re market the area as part of a ‘gentrification strategy’ by the local authorities.

Scott’s expedition ship the ‘Terra Nova’ sailed from and returned to Cardiff in the months preceding and post ceding the fateful Antarctic Expedition of 1910 - 1913. The local brewing company ‘Brains Ltd’ have in fact devoted one of their up market alehouses to the memory of the crew of that courageous expedition, the pub now directly renamed as the ‘Terra Nova’ situated in the bay.

A number of years after Roger Knight (the current owner) purchased the skis, he consulted a friend who worked at the National Museum of Wales, Adrian Chess who suggested that the skis could easily be relics from the Terra Nova. How else would a pair of Norwegian exploration skis of a former epoch end up in a city with no snow? It made sense. Adrian said that by observing the design and the shape, that he could confirm that the skis were certainly Norwegian, very old and likely to have been used in an expedition sailing from Cardiff. (see photos)

The maker's name on the binding plates has been eroded by the rubbing action of the boots, suggesting very ‘aggressive use’ as one might expect in an expeditionary context. A trip to the Polar Research centre in Cambridge, confirmed the above mentioned details, but without the makers name, nothing could be certified.

It is known that when the Terra Nova returned to Cardiff that much of the ships contents were informally offloaded onto the local community, perhaps for reasons that would today seem illogical, but at that time the general sentiment of grief and tragedy might have rendered the contents of the ship as being of little value.

In 1999, Roger Knight took photos of the skis from various angles in clear detail and sent them to ‘Christies,’ the world famous auction house in London, where Nicholas Lambourn remarked that the skis look ‘to be very similar to' a set 'we sold in April 1998', and which fetched £8,000. Even without absolute provenance, he indicated that the skis could achieve a price of somewhere between £1,000 and £2,000. (see copy of letter)

On realising their potential value Roger decided that to auction the skis to a limited audience might be throwing away the opportunity to make some better money. Roger travelled and worked abroad for a number of years and kept the skis with other personal possessions in safe and insured storage in Cardiff until recently ( May 2004) when he decided to consider selling the skis again and has appointed Simon Adams and Mark Miller as an agent to sell the skis on his behalf.

National Geographic & Discovery Channel Contact Mark

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:51:29 -0700

National Geographic and The Discovery Channel contacted Mark Miller to supply bamboo push sticks/ski poles for the reproduction of Captain Scott's journey to the Antarctic. This Expedition required authentic items that were used during the same era as the original Captain Scott Expedition in 1913, so Mark was pleased to outfit them on this historical recreation!

Mark Donates Skis to Smithsonian in Washington DC

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:43:18 -0700

The Smithsonian in Washington DC contacted Mark Miller for his expertise in creating a very rare antique ski display. Mark obliged, flew to Washington and personally delivered the 1850's 10 foot pair to the museum!

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Captain Scott's skis

National Geographic & Discovery Channel Contact Mark

Mark Donates Skis to Smithsonian in Washington DC