It might be traditional to write to Father Christmas with a gift list, but when Kirsten Shaw wanted a new postbox for staff at the UK’s Rothera Research Station in Antarctica, she wrote to the king.
The request has resulted in a special delivery for Shaw – a station support assistant who, among myriad other tasks, runs the British Antarctic Territory post office at the station.
“I love post, I love postboxes and stamps, so I just really wanted to get a proper Royal Mail one for the station,” said Shaw, who was awarded the Fuchs Medal in 2022 for her contributions to the Antarctic community.
Known as a “lamp” postbox, the smallest type of postbox, the bright red receptacle with its King Charles III cipher is something of an upgrade on its predecessor.
“It was something you could probably buy off Amazon – something you might put outside your own front door – and then somebody at some point had painted quite badly the Elizabeth II royal cipher,” said Shaw.
From the stoic, determined note the explorer Ernest Shackleton wrote to his wife as he prepared for a winter on the continent in 1908, to the last missives of Captain Scott – never sent – as he faced death in a tent on the Ross ice shelf in 1912, letters are part of the rich history of human discovery and endurance in Antarctica.
The new box will be a collection point for the postcards and letters sent north to family and friends by staff at the research station, and will eventually be housed in the discovery building – a new scientific support and operations hub.
“Sending and receiving mail is a vital connection for staff working in one of the most remote places on Earth – especially at Christmas, when messages from loved ones mean so much,” said David Gold, director of external affairs and policy at Royal Mail. “This new postbox will help keep that tradition alive and ensure the magic of mail even reaches the Antarctic.”
However, as Shaw notes, the postal service in and out of Antarctica is “slightly limited”, with only three or four collections a year going north.
“Essentially any post going north from here needs to go through the Falkland Islands,” she said. That means it is either taken on board the RSS Sir David Attenborough, or via British Antarctic Survey aircraft.
“We had a ship call a couple of weeks back, so we had post that went north on that, and then the next one will be 22 January – a flight leaves and that’s going to the Falklands,” Shaw said, adding that because the most recent ship did not come via the Falklands, it did not bring any post.
But while slow and infrequent, there are benefits. “The stamps are cheaper,” said Shaw, noting it costs just 87p to send a letter to the UK from Antarctica.
Shaw added there is also an informal system to send post out to field parties.
“Although our internet communications are much better now, even with the deeper field parties, it’s still just really nice being able to get an actual handwritten tangible piece of paper from somebody, and that takes all forms,” Shaw said.
“I managed to get a letter attached to a fuel drum, which was airdropped into the middle of Antarctica.”
Shaw is among the staff who will be at the Rothera Research Station over the festive period.
“We often have special Christmas movie nights, and on Christmas Eve this year, actually, I am organising the eighth annual Rothera quidditch match,” she said.
But with no postal deliveries yet this season, Shaw has had to think ahead.
“My partner sent me down [to Antarctica] with some presents and things. So I’ve got some presents to open on Christmas Day, which is really nice.”
