A PRECIOUS artefact from Captain Scott's ill-fated second expedition to the South Pole is among the items being preserved for a national exhibition by a North Yorkshire company.

Power Plastics, of Thirsk, is using a high-tech bubble to protect irreplaceable exhibits from being destroyed by ravenous insects, so they can go on display at the National Maritime Exhibition in London.

The flag flown at the Pole in 1912 by Captain Scott, and later retrieved from the tent near his body, may have survived the sub-zero temperatures and blasting winds of the icy continent, but it began to be destroyed by insects back in Britain.

A couch belonging to Sir Ernest Shackleton was in danger of sharing the same fate until Power Plastics stepped in with their Controlled Atmosphere Technology (CAT) bubble.

The 22-cubic metre bubble - used previously to protect delicate Egyptian artefacts and ancient scripts from deterioration - works by surrounding the items with inert nitrogen gas which kills off any insects without damaging the fabric itself.

The Thirsk firm is manufacturing the bubbles - billed as both environmentally friendly and 100 per cent effective - exclusively for Rentokil, and interest is said to be growing world-wide.

The exhibition, South: The Race To The Pole, which opens at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich on September 14, commemorates man's achievements in conquering some of the planet's most inhospitable terrain.

It focuses on the lives of Captain Scott, Captain Roald Amundsen and Sir Ernest Shackleton, and runs for 12 months.

Power Plastic's managing director David Price said: "In the past we have been able to use the Controlled Atmosphere Technology bubbles to protect everything from Egyptian mummies to precious monastic texts and are delighted to have been involved in preserving even more of mankind's history."

Picture - The Power Plastics CAT bubble in action, at the National Maritime Exhibition, in Greenwich, London