LONDON (AP) — A sled and flag used in one of explorer Ernest Shackleton's famed expeditions to the South Pole have been bought by a British government-funded body to keep the treasured artifacts in the U.K. The National Heritage Memorial Fund, a government-funded body, said Wednesday that it paid 204,000 pounds ($274,000) to help purchase the two items, used in the first of three British Antarctic expeditions led by Shackleton in the early 1900s. The artifacts will be donated to two English museums. Earlier this year, British authorities slapped a temporary export ban on the artifacts. The expedition was named Nimrod after the ship, which came within less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) of the South Pole for the first time in 1909. But before reaching their target, the explorers were forced to turn back, having stretched their rations to the limit.