#SHACKLETON ENDURANCE PLUS#

The ship was found at the bottom of the Weddell Sea at a depth of 3,008m, said the BBC.įor a fortnight the Agulhas II, equipped with remotely operated submersibles, had “combed a predefined search area, investigating various interesting targets” until they finally came upon the wreck site on Saturday, which happened to also be “the 100th anniversary of Shackleton’s funeral”, said the broadcaster. They navigated their way towards South Georgia and trekked 22 miles over unmapped, glacier-draped mountains to reach a whaling port, where they organised a rescue mission to recover the rest of the team.Īll 28 men who sailed on the Endurance survived, but the ship remained at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, where it has remained for over a century. From there, Shackleton and five of his crew embarked on what is “widely regarded as the most remarkable boat journey of all time”, says Time magazine. What happened to the ship?īorn in Ireland to Anglo-Irish parents, Shackleton had gained great acclaim as a polar explorer when he set out to cross Antarctica via the South Pole on the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.Īfter taking to the seas once again in the ship's lifeboats, they finally managed to get to Elephant Island, off the southern tip of Cape Horn, in spring 1916. Headed by UK researcher Julian Dowdeswell, director of Cambridge University’s Scott Polar Research Institute, the international mission has been studying the Larsen C Ice Shelf, a floating platform of glacial ice, in the Weddell Sea. We were able to film the wreck in super-high definition.

“The Antarctic seabed does not have any wood-eating micro-organisms, the water has the clarity of distilled water. Historian and broadcaster Dan Snow, who was part of the expedition, tweeted that the wreck was “in an astonishing state of preservation”. The successful mission, financed by an anonymous donor to the tune of $10m, was the culmination of years of work, after a “previous attempt to find the Endurance three years ago ended in failure”, reported The Guardian.

#SHACKLETON ENDURANCE PLUS#

The expedition team was made up of 64 people plus a crew of 46, on board the expedition ship, the SA Agulhas II. “It is upright, well proud of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation,” he told the broadcaster. “Without any exaggeration this is the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen – by far,” said marine archaeologist Mensun Bound, who is on the discovery expedition mounted by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust (FMHT). Ice Maidens: British Army team become first women to cross Antarctica.

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Shackleton endurance