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On Saturday, March 5, renowned explorer Ernest Shackleton's lost ship Endurance was found almost 107 years after sinking. The ship's wreckage was found in the Weddell Sea near the northern coast of Antarctica.
According to an official press release from the expedition, the wreckage was found 3,008 meters (9,842 feet) deep in the sea. It had drifted around four miles (about six kilometers) away from the original site, where Ernest Shackleton's Endurance was crushed by ice in 1915.
The expedition was arranged by Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, which had a team that operated from an icebreaker ship, S.A. Agulhas II. Online podcast network History Hit was also reportedly part of the expedition and has documented the journey on their platform.
Endurance22 expedition - Further details explored
Following a failed attempt to locate the ship in 2019, which was abandoned due to ice buildup and equipment loss, the team departed for the expedition in early February.
Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust's expedition team was led by British polar explorer Dr. John Shears and maritime archaeologist Mensun Bound, who is also the trust's member.
Upon reaching the site, which was recorded by Endurance's captain Frank Worsley, the team deployed Sabretooth Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). The AUVs mapped the ocean floor and searched for the wreckage.
The director of the exploration, Mensun Bound, said:
"We are overwhelmed by our good fortune in having located and captured images of Endurance. 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, directly below the taffrail. This is a milestone in polar history."
What is known about Ernest Shackleton and his association with Endurance?
Shackleton hailed from Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland and was born on February 15, 1874, which would make him over 148 years old if he was alive presently. According to Cool Antarctica, the renowned explorer is considered to be one of the pioneering and last figures of the "Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration."
After joining the mercantile marine service in 1890, Ernest Shackleton later joined the Royal Naval Reserve in 1901. At the time, he took part in the British National Antarctic (Discovery) Expedition, which was his first. However, the expedition only lasted two years for him before he was sent home due to health deterioration.
In January 1908, Ernest Shackleton led an expedition to explore Antarctica. The Anglo-Irish explorer got his team to within 180 KM of the South Pole, which set a record for the farthest Southern latitude at the time.
Throughout his lifetime, Ernest Shackleton led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. In 1914, he led the British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition on a ship named Endurance, which got stuck near the Caird coast in Antarctica. It reportedly drifted for ten months before reportedly sinking on November 21, 1915.
In the early 1920s, Ernest Shackleton began planning his last expedition, which was not completed as the explorer passed away from a heart attack on January 5, 1922. His demise came three months after the expedition begun.
