Ernest Shackleton‘s legendary lost ship Endurance, which sank in 1915 in Antarctica, has been discovered 10,000 feet deep at the bottom of the Weddell Sea.
The ship, which sank under pack ice as Shackleton attempted to cross the Antarctic continent, was discovered sometime last week upright on the ocean floor by the Endurance22 expedition, which began its search last month. The project used submersible vehicles that captured ghostly footage showing rope draped across the deck, the ship’s wheel, and the brass nameplate ‘Endurance’ on the stern.
“We are overwhelmed by our good fortune in having located and captured images of Endurance,” said Mensun Bound, Endurance22’s director of exploration. “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.”
Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition sought to make the first land crossing of Antarctica, but the quest was abandoned when the Endurance became trapped and its hull was ruptured by sea-ice. Shackleton and his men made a dramatic escape on foot and with small boats, first living for months on floating ice and surviving on seal and penguin meat while making their way to Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands below the southern tip of South America. Shackleton himself manned a small lifeboat for a voyage over dangerous seas to get help for his stranded crew. Shackleton died about seven years later, exactly 100 years before the discovery of his ship.
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Finding the sunken vessel has fired the imaginations of adventurers for decades. The Weddell Sea is permanently covered in thick ice, so getting to the area is nearly as treacherous as it was over a century ago. Over the last month, ice receded to historic lows, allowing the South Africa-based Endurance22 expedition’s icebreaking ship SA Agulhas II to mount its search.
The wreck is protected by the Antarctic Treaty and classified as a “Historic Site and Monument,” meaning it cannot be disturbed. The expedition worked with National Geographic, History Hit, and media network Little Dot Studios to document the discovery. The project was overseen by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust.
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The sinking of Endurance and its crew’s dramatic escape has been chronicled in books and movies over the years, including the 2002 television miniseries Endurance, starring Kenneth Branagh as Shackleton. and the 2000 documentary The Endurance narrated by Liam Neeson.
