Sir Ernest Shackleton: finding the Endurance ship in 2022 in Antarctic ice

Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) was educated at Dulwich College London in the1880, then joined the mercantile marine service in 1890 and became a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve in 1901. He joined Capt Robert Scott’s Brit­ish National Antarctic Expedition (1901–4) as 3rd lie­ut­enant on the Dis­covery and took part, with Scott and Edward Wilson, in the sledge jour­ney over the Ross Ice Shelf when latitude 82°S was reached. His health suffered, so he was sent home on the supply ship Morning in March 1903.                    

                                   

Watching the Endurance go down from a safe distance

1915, Britannica

15th Dec 1915, Ocean Camp

Cool Antarctica

 

Frank Hurley (L) and Sir Ernest Shackleton (R)

shared tent at Patience Camp, Weddell Sea

Cool Antarctica

In Jan 1908 he returned to Antarctica as leader of the British Ant­arc­t­ic Expedition (1907–9) on the Nimrod. The expedition, prevented by ice from reaching the intended base site in Edward VII Peninsula, wintered on Ross Island in McMurdo Sound. Nonetheless Shackleton’s sledging party reached within 180 km of the South Pole. Victoria Land plateau was claimed for the British crown and the expedition was responsible for the first ascent of Mt Erebus. The sledging party returned to the base camp in late Feb 1909, discov­er­ing the Nimrod had set sail 2 days earlier. Shackleton and his party set fire to the camp to signal the ship, which received the signal and returned to the camp after a few days to retrieve them. At home, Shackleton was knighted.

In Aug 1914 the British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition left Brit­ain under Shackleton’s leadership. He planned to cross Ant­arc­tica from a base on the Wed­dell Sea to McMurdo Sound, via the South Pole, but the expedition ship Endur­ance was trapped in coastal ice and drifted for 10 months before being crushed in the pack-ice. The expedit­ion men then drifted on ice floes for anoth­er 5 months and finally escaped in boats to Elephant Island in the Shetland Islands, living off seals, penguins and dogs.

Shackleton and 5 others sailed 1,300 km to South Georgia in a whale boat for 16-days across dangerous ocean, before landing safely; there they made the first crossing of the island to seek aid. Four mon­ths later, after leading separate relief expeditions, Shackle­ton succ­eeded in rescuing his crew from Elephant Island. Note that not one of Shack­leton’s crew of the Endurance died!

From the tip of South America to Antarctica 

BBC, 2019

Shackleton attempted a fourth Antarctic expedition aboard the Quest in 1921, intending to circum-navigate the continent, but he soon died from exhaustion. Appropriately Sir Ernest Shackleton was buried in the Grytviken cemetery on South Georgia Island.

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The project to find Shackleton’s lost ship was run by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, using a South African icebreaker Agulhas II. The Endurance, that was crushed by sea-ice and sank in 1915, has been mir­ac­ulously found at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. The sinking forced Shackleton and his men to make a gutsy escape on foot and in small boats. Even though it has been sitting in 3km of Antarctic water for 106 years, Endurance still looks largely intact.

The Endurance was trapped in sea-ice for months before sinking in 1915 in the Weddell Sea. For a fortnight the subs investigated various tar­g­et areas until uncov­ering the wreck site, at a depth of 3,008m. The wreck itself, including its artefacts, is a designated monument under the Intern­ational Antarctic Treaty and must not be disturbed.

The Endurance found

all equipment seems intact

NBC News

The days since the discovery have been spent mak­ing a detailed photo­graphic record of the ship which looks much the same as when photo­gr­aphed by the film man Frank Hurley in 1915. The masts are down and the bow is damaged where the sinking ship hit the ground. But the anchors are present, some boots and crockery are intact, Shackle­ton's cabin has a perfectly shaped porthole and the ship's name is crystal clear directly below the stern’s hand rail.

Conclusion
Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition set out to make the first land crossing of Antarctica, but he abandoned the quest when the expedition ship, Endurance, was trapped and then holed by sea-ice. Survival was miraculous. And finding the ship in 2022, in Weddell Sea which is permanently covered in thick sea-ice, was even more miracul­ous.