Captain Parry's beef to be Captain Ross's find
Over a year ago, I happened to open a storage box to look for items for an exhibition that was being planned. My curiosity was piqued by words on a blue envelope, typewritten on the outside ... “Beef found on rocks near the North Pole in 1823 by Captain Parry of the “Fury” and brought back to Hull, Yorkshire by Captain Ross 1833.” I peeked inside and marveled over the folded piece of paper and dusty evidence of the organic substance it held in its folded creases. I carefully returned it to the box but had to gush to my work colleagues about my ‘find’ then stored the information in the back of my mind for a possible spot as a blog post. A few months later, our new exhibition “ Still Life : Inside the huts of Scott and Shackleton” opened and brought back to mind the wonderful little treasure stowed away in our largest storeroom. Probably not seen by many other eyes in many decades, this fabulous artifact has its own adventurous story to...