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TocTheEternal t1_ismhwgn wrote

Reply to comment by CruisinJo214 in TIL that before the invention of regfrigeration in 1851, ice had to be imported to Australia from Boston, Massachusetts. The ice blocks travelled through the tropics inside ships insulated with timber, straw, peat, and sawdust by stumcm

I'd have thought that sending some ships with machinery and just living out of them for the duration it took to fill up the transports would have been more efficient than literally sailing to the other side of the world.

I.e. send a bunch of ships with basic "infrastructure" (machinery, tools, quarters) when spring started, then send a lot of large transports which could carry fuel and supplies down, and ice back up, until the season was over. No permanent bases required.

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Pain_Monster t1_ismnnei wrote

A lot of people died during 1800s Antarctic exploration. We didn’t have it down to a science yet. It was a perilous journey and many ships got stuck in the ice. Many diseases also flourished during these expeditions so it’s not like they had modern day conveniences or equipment. It was dangerous and arduous.

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SenorTron t1_isn7cl7 wrote

Sounds like a whole lot of costs, when the alternative is to buy it from a company in Boston already producing ice and just pay for a few extra weeks of shipping time.

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TocTheEternal t1_isn9z5h wrote

Months. Of fuel and losses. And the production/gathering itself, which had to happen on some scale in one place or another.

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PublicSeverance t1_isnlhg7 wrote

The cost of ice was roughly equivalent to the cost of cotton, even at the furthest destination (east USA -> Australia).

The journey was 110-120 days, the boats carried 400 tons and the goods sold for not really all that much profit.

The chilled apples on the boats sold for more than the ice.

The ice was a convenient partner because it was also used as ballast.

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SenorTron t1_isnb317 wrote

Yeah but the people and equipment to gather it were already there in Boston. Are you factoring in the time and cost to transport people down to and back from Antarctica, house them, and the higher wages they'd need?

Someone elsewhere in the comments used the analogy of modern supply chains and it's entirely accurate. It's the same reason it's usually cheaper to buy a household item produced on the other side of the planet than one produced locally.

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