Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Anyone who is interested in underwater exploration will be thrilled to see the images of Shackleton’s lost ship Endurance that has been discovered off the coast of Antarctica.
Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship was trapped in sea ice before sinking in 1915. Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874 – 1922) is best known as a polar explorer who was ᴀssociated with four expeditions exploring Antarctica, particularly the Trans-Antarctic (Endurance) Expedition (1914–16) that he led, which, although unsuccessful, became famous as a tale of remarkable perseverance and survival.
The shipwreck Endurance. Credit: Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust
The expedition, organized by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust has now discovered his famous ship Endurance at a depth of 3,008 meters (9,869 feet) in the Weddell Sea, about six kilometers (four miles) from where it was slowly crushed by pack ice in 1915.
“We are overwhelmed by our good fortune in having located and captured images of Endurance,” said Mensun Bound, the expedition’s director of exploration.
“This is by far the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen. It is upright, well proud of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation. You can even see ‘Endurance’ arced across the stern,” he said in a statement.
As reported by the ᴀssociated Press, “Endurance was meant to make the first land crossing of Antarctica, but it fell victim to the tumultuous Weddell Sea.
Credit: Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust
Just east of the Larsen ice shelves on the Antarctic peninsula, it became ensnared in sea-ice for over 10 months before being crushed and sinking.
The voyage became legendary due to the miraculous escape Shackleton and his crew made on foot and in boats.
The crew managed to escape by camping on the sea ice until it ruptured.
They then launched lifeboats to Elephant Island and then South Georgia Island, a British overseas territory that lies around 1,400 kilometers east of the Falkland Islands. Despite the hardships, all of the crew survived.
Portrait of Ernest Henry Shackleton. Credit: Public Domain
The explorers used underwater drones to find and film the shipwreck in the merciless Weddell Sea, which has a swirling current that sustains a mᴀss of thick sea ice that can challenge even modern ice breakers.
Shackleton himself described the site of the sink as “the worst portion of the worst sea in the world”.
The region remains one of the most difficult parts of the ocean to navigate.
Credit: Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust
“This has been the most complex subsea project ever undertaken,” said Nico Vincent, the mission’s subsea project manager.
The underwater drones produced stunningly clear images of the 144-foot-long ship. Amazingly, the helm has remained intact after more than a century underwater, with gear piled against the taffrail as if Shackleton’s crew had only recently left it.
The ship’s wooden timbers, while damaged from the crush of ice that sank in, still hold together. Sea anemones, sponges and other small ocean life made homes on the wreckage, but did not appear to have damaged it.
Credit: Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust
PH๏τographs of the expedition showed South Africa’s Agulhas II icebreaker surrounded by ice, with crew lifted by crane over the frozen sea.
Under international law, the wreck is protected as a historic site. Explorers were allowed to film and scan the ship, but not to touch it at all—meaning no artifacts may be returned to the surface.”
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Dr. John Shears, the expedition leader, said: “The Endurance22 expedition has reached its goal. We have made polar history with the discovery of Endurance, and successfully completed the world’s most challenging shipwreck search.
“In addition, we have undertaken important scientific research in a part of the world that directly affects the global climate and environment.”
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
