In 1915, the ship Endurance became trapped in ice during Ernest Shackleton’s failed Antarctic expedition.
Hulton Archive / Getty Images
hide captions
switch captions
Hulton Archive / Getty Images
In 1915, the ship Endurance became trapped in ice during Ernest Shackleton’s failed Antarctic expedition.
Hulton Archive / Getty Images
An expedition to search for the lost ship of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton has found it – 106 years after the ship sank off the coast of Antarctica.
The wooden ship Endurance had been placed some 10,000 feet underwater in the Weddell Sea, remarkably intact.
The discovery is “an important milestone in polar history,” speak Mensun Bound, a maritime archaeologist and director of discovery on the expedition, named Endurance22.
Bound said: “This is the best wooden shipwreck I have ever seen. It is upright, very proud of the seabed, intact and in excellent condition.
Endurance was identified by an expedition this week, 106 years after it sank into the Weddell Sea.
Falklands Maritime Heritage & National Geographic Trust
hide captions
switch captions
Falklands Maritime Heritage & National Geographic Trust
Endurance was identified by an expedition this week, 106 years after it sank into the Weddell Sea.
Falklands Maritime Heritage & National Geographic Trust
The Endurance name is still visible on the stern.
Falklands Maritime Heritage & National Geographic Trust
hide captions
switch captions
Falklands Maritime Heritage & National Geographic Trust
Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition Was Extremely Dangerous
When World War I began in 1914, British explorer Shackleton set out to cross the South Pole. The plan is for Shackleton take 27 men aboard two ships, the Expedition and the Aurora, will travel to different locations on the continent to explore two routes by tobogganing across the ice. But in January 1915, Endurance became trapped in the ice off the coast of Antarctica.
Hard efforts were made to free Endurance from the ice on February 14 and February 15, 1915, but were ultimately unsuccessful.
Frank Hurley / Scott Polar Institute, University of Cambridge / Getty Images
hide captions
switch captions
Frank Hurley / Scott Polar Institute, University of Cambridge / Getty Images
The men lived on the ship for months, but the pressure from the ice start to slowly crush it. On October 27, Shackleton ordered give up endurance. The men were asked to collect no more than two pounds of each personal device from the ship; Much of the ship’s supplies were inaccessible due to broken hull panels. Eventually, the Endurance broke apart and sank into the Weddell Sea on November 21, 1915.
The crew made a new camp on an iceberg and any ambitions of actually crossing the South Pole were dashed. The mission is now one of survival, a story that would last until August 1916 before all the men were rescued.
Aurora is also trapped in the ice. The three men on that voyage died before the last members of the crew were rescued in early 1917.
Crews pose on deck of the Endurance on February 7, 1915.
Frank Hurley / Scott Polar Institute, University of Cambridge / Getty Images
hide captions
switch captions
Frank Hurley / Scott Polar Institute, University of Cambridge / Getty Images
Crews pose on deck of the Endurance on February 7, 1915.
Frank Hurley / Scott Polar Institute, University of Cambridge / Getty Images
The expedition to find the missing ship was successful
This year’s expedition to find Endurance departed Cape Town, South Africa, on February 5.
John Shears, expedition leader, said the hunt for Endurance was “probably the most challenging shipwreck search ever undertaken.”
An expedition named Endurance22 set out from Cape Town, South Africa, on 4 February to find the lost ship.
Nick Birtwistle / Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust
hide captions
switch captions
Nick Birtwistle / Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust
An expedition named Endurance22 set out from Cape Town, South Africa, on 4 February to find the lost ship.
Nick Birtwistle / Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust
The expedition used sonar to find the sunken ship. It was located about 4 miles south of where Captain Frank Worsley had recorded the ship’s position in 1915.
The team then used an underwater self-driving vehicle with a camera to swim over the hull and deck and confirm what they had found.
Endurance’s right bow.
Falklands Maritime Heritage & National Geographic Trust
hide captions
switch captions
Falklands Maritime Heritage & National Geographic Trust
Endurance’s right bow.
Falklands Maritime Heritage & National Geographic Trust
“It could just be a ship,” Shears said. “In this area even very few ships have ever come here. We’re the only ones I think are the fourth ever to come here on the Wendell Sea. It’s Endurance. It couldn’t have been anything else.”
Shears said he was amazed at how good the vase was: There was barely anything living on it, and even some of the original paintwork was still intact.
“You can see inside the trapdoor, the stairs, you can see the ropes and the truss. It’s like it just sank yesterday,” he said.
Marc de Vos, (from left) senior meteorologist/oceanographer from the South African Weather Service, showing weather data to Jean-Christope Caillens, offshore manager, Nico Vincent, director in charge expedition and Lasse Rabenstein, principal scientist, on the bridge of SA Agulhas II, seen here last month during the Endurance expedition22.
Esther Horvath
hide captions
switch captions
Esther Horvath
Marc de Vos, (from left) senior meteorologist/oceanographer from the South African Weather Service, showing weather data to Jean-Christope Caillens, offshore manager, Nico Vincent, director in charge expedition and Lasse Rabenstein, principal scientist, on the bridge of SA Agulhas II, seen here last month during the Endurance expedition22.
Esther Horvath
The wreck will stay where it was found, protected as a Historic Landmark and Monument under the Antarctic Treaty. That means that although Endurance is being filmed and surveyed, it will not be disturbed.
Now the expedition team has returned to Cape Town.
Mensun Bound (left), discovery director of the Endurance expedition22, and John Shears, expedition leader standing on the ice of the Weddell Sea.
Esther Horvath
hide captions
switch captions
Esther Horvath
Mensun Bound (left), discovery director of the Endurance expedition22, and John Shears, expedition leader standing on the ice of the Weddell Sea.
Esther Horvath
Bound, the expedition’s director of exploration, said the discovery not only points to the past but also carries the story of Shackleton and Endurance to the next generation.
“We hope our discovery will engage young people and inspire them with the pioneering spirit, courage and resilience of those who sailed Endurance to the South Pole,” Bound said. “We honor Captain’s skill in navigation. Frank Worsley, captain of the Endurance, whose detailed record has been invaluable in our search for the wreck.”
The Expedition22 team worked from the South African polar research and logistics ship SA Agulhas II.
James Blake / Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust
hide captions
switch captions
James Blake / Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust
