Scientists say they have found the sunken wreck of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance. The discovery comes more than a century after it was lost to the Antarctic ice.
The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust says the vessel lies about 10,000 feet below the surface of the Weddell Sea. That location is about four miles south of the spot recorded in 1915 by ship’s captain, Frank Worsley.
An expedition set off from South Africa last month to search for the ship, which was crushed by ice and sank in November 1915. The story of the crew’s escape onto the ice pack, and then across violent seas in a small, open boat to a haven on an unpopulated island, is one of the most thrilling adventure stories ever recorded. (The complete tale is told in the book Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing.)
Mensun Bound, director of exploration for the Endurance22 expedition, says video footage revealed the ship to be in remarkably good condition. Though the vessel has some sea life attached to it, the water there is too cold to support wood-eating shipworms.
“This is by far the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen,” Bound says. “It is upright, well proud (clear) of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation. You can even see ‘Endurance’ arced across the stern.”
Shackleton’s 1914 to 1916 attempt to become the first person to cross Antarctica via the South Pole failed. But his successful bid to reach help at a remote South Atlantic whaling station and rescue his men is considered a heroic feat of extreme endurance. All the men survived and were rescued many months later.
The expedition to find the ship comes 100 years after Shackleton’s death in 1922.
British historian and broadcaster Dan Snow, who accompanied the expedition, tweeted that Endurance was found on Saturday, “100 years to the day since Shackleton was buried.”
He says the wreck had been filmed, but it wouldn’t be touched.
“Nothing was touched on the wreck,” Snow says. “Nothing retrieved. It was surveyed using the latest tools and its position confirmed. It is protected by the Antarctic Treaty. Nor did we wish to tamper with it.”
Through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. — Romans 15:4
(The stern of the wreck Endurance is captured in a photo issued by Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust. The ship has been found more than 100 years after it sank in the Weddell Sea. Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust/National Geographic via AP)
