3D scans show Shackleton's Antarctica expedition shipwreck in new detail 107 years after it sank
10/26/2024 07:00 AM
THE shipwreck from Ernest Shackleton’s doomed Antarctic expedition in 1914 has been revealed in new detail through 3D scans.
The 144-foot-long sunken Endurance ship has been hidden under ice for 107 years.
But images taken by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust show it in detail not seen for over a century.
3D scans and underwater photographs reveal contents of the ship that have survived the decay of time.
Kitchenware like plates, crates, pots and pans have all survived.
Most surprising of the finds, however, are the remarkably well preserved blue and white sawtooth linoleum flooring and a singular leather boot.
Although the mast and some of the railings have perished, sections of the upper deck look nearly pristine.
The images and scans have been unveiled ahead of a documentary premiering on 1 November on the journey to find the lost shipwreck.
Ernest Shackleton's Four Expeditions
The expeditions of Ernest Shackleton pushed the limits of human endurance to their peak.
Ernest Henry Shackleton was born on February 15, 1874, in County Kildare, Ireland, where his father was a doctor.
Instead of following in his father’s footsteps, Shackleton joined the merchant navy at 16-years-old.
1901 – The First Expedition
In 1901, Shackleton was chosen to go on the Antarctic expedition led by British naval officer Robert Falcon Scott – Britain's other Antarctic hero – on the ship Discovery.
Shackleton and Scott trekked towards the South Pole, which had yet to be reached by humans, in extremely difficult conditions.
They got closer than anyone had come before, but Shackleton fell seriously ill and had to return home.
Although he’d been sent home from the trip due to ill health, Shackleton vowed to return to the Antarctic and prove himself as a polar explorer.
1908 – The Second Expedition
In 1908, Shackleton returned to the Antarctic, leading his own expedition on the ship Nimrod, thanks to the backing of various wealthy sponsors.
The expedition made many important scientific discoveries and set a record by coming even closer to the South Pole than before.
The success of the expedition earned Shackleton a knighthood on his return to Britain.
1914 – The Third Expedition
Shackleton made his third trip to the Antarctic with the Endurance in 1914, an expedition that has acquired epic status.
The plan was to cross Antarctica via the South Pole but in 1915, Endurance became trapped in the ice (and eventually sank in November 1915).
Before it sank, the ship sat atop the ice, while Shackleton and his crew of 27 men camped beside it for months, before escaping to Elephant Island.
In April 1916, smaller reinforced lifeboats called the Stancomb Wills and the Dudley Docker set sail for Elephant Island, an ice-covered mountainous outpost.
From there, six crew members including Shackleton and the captain of the Endurance, Frank Worsley, planned to sail to South Georgia to get help.
They used a lifeboat named the James Caird which they adapted for the 800 mile journey across the treacherous seas of the South Atlantic.
While they managed to reach the island – despite a generous margin for error – they were forced to abandon the boat and trek to the main town to get help.
In August 1916, Sir Ernest rescued the remaining 22 men left on Elephant Island – it had been 24 months and 22 days since leaving England.
1922 – The Fourth Expedition
Once World War I was over, Shackleton organised another expedition, which aimed to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent.
On January 4, 1922, Ernest Shackleton's ship, the Quest, finally reached South Georgia, an ice-capped island in the South Atlantic Ocean.
But on January 5, 1922, he died of a heart attack off South Georgia and was buried on the island.
‘A milestone in polar history’
The Endurance was only found in 2022, having not been seen since it was crushed by ice and sank in the Weddell Sea on November 21, 1915.
It was found some 3,000m below the ocean’s surface, and roughly four miles south of its last recorded position.
Even though the wreck has been sitting in water for more than a century, the expedition’s director of exploration said Endurance was “by far the finest wooden shipwreck” he had ever seen.
Mensun Bound said at the time: “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.”
The ship is said to look much the same as when it was photographed for the final time by Shackleton’s filmmaker, Frank Hurley, in 1915.
