Shackleton's lost ship is FOUND: Endurance is discovered at the bottom of Antarctica's Weddell Sea, 107 years after it sank – and it's still in remarkable condition - PART II
- Endurance has been found 107 years after it became trapped in sea ice and sank off the coast of Antarctica
- Sir Ernest Shackleton's wooden ship had not been seen since it sank in Weddell Sea, Southern Ocean in 1915
- The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust said Endurance was discovered at a depth of 9,868 feet (3,008 metres)
- Shackleton planned the first land crossing of Antarctica from Weddell Sea via the South Pole to the Ross Sea
- Remarkable footage of the wreck shows it has been astonishingly preserved, with the ship's wheel still intact
- The Antarctic circumpolar current has acted as barrier to the larvae that could have degraded the ship's wood
By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE
PART II
The Antarctic circumpolar current — an ocean current that flows clockwise from west to east around Antarctica — has essentially acted as barrier to the larvae of deep-water species that could have eaten away at the ship's wood.
Dr Glover told MailOnline: 'The preservation of Endurance is quite remarkable, but not totally unexpected.
'Tiny "shipworms" — small bivalve molluscs — that normally eat wood in well oxygenated oceans are absent from Antarctica, just as they are absent from the Baltic and Black Seas, other remarkable wooden shipwreck "vaults".
'So the findings from the new discovery are important not just from a historical perspective but also in terms of understanding the ecology and evolution of life in Antarctica. It’s a great day for Antarctic archaeology and science.'
The expedition team has also been filming for a long-form observational documentary chronicling the expedition which has been commissioned by National Geographic to air later this year on Disney+.
Endurance was one of two ships used by the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914-1917, which hoped to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic.
Just as the First World War was breaking out in August 1914, the Endurance's crew set out from London with the lofty ambition of becoming the first to cross the Antarctic continent.
Carrying an expedition crew of 28 men, 69 dogs and one cat, the 144-foot-long Endurance was a three-masted schooner barque sturdily built for operations in polar waters.
Aiming to land at Antarctica's Vahsel Bay, the vessel instead became stuck in pack ice on the Weddell Sea on January 18, 1915 — where she and her crew would remain for many months.
In late October, however, a drop in temperature from 42°F to -14°F saw the ice pack begin to steadily crush the Endurance.
Sadly, Shackleton decided that the mission sled dogs and the tomcat, called Mrs Chippy, that were also on board would not survive the rest of their journey, and had them shot on October 29.
Endurance never reached land and became trapped in the dense pack ice and the 28 men on board eventually had no choice but to abandon ship.
Endurance finally sank on November 21, 1915.
After months spent in makeshift camps on the ice floes drifting northwards, the party took to the lifeboats to reach the inhospitable, uninhabited, Elephant Island. The men had allegedly had to resort to eating bodies of some of the youngest dogs that had been on board.
Most of the men remained at Elephant Island while Shackleton and five others then made an extraordinary 800-mile (1,300 km) open-boat journey in the lifeboat, James Caird, to reach South Georgia, an island in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
Shackleton and two others then crossed the mountainous island to the whaling station at Stromness.
On board the steam tug Yelcho — on loan to him from the Chilean Navy — Shackleton was able to return to rescue the rest of his crew on August 30, 1916.
MRS CHIPPY, ENDURANCE'S CAT
Pictured: Mrs Chippy, ship's cat, standing upon the shoulder of stowaway (and later Endurance's steward) Perce Blackburow
When Endurance sailed for the Antarctic, she carried not only Shackleton and his crew of 27 — but also a cat dubbed 'Mrs Chippy'.
The tiger-striped tabby was, despite its name, actually a male — the moniker came from his habit of dotingly following ship's carpenter Harry 'Chippy' McNish everywhere he went.
'Full of character', Mrs Chippy was described by the expedition as being able to climb the rigging exactly in 'the manner of a seaman going aloft'.
Despite this, poor Mrs Chippy accidentally jumped out of one of Endurance's portholes on September 12, 1914 — but was rescued when watch officer Hubert Hudson heard his cries and turned the ship around to rescue the cat from the water.
Sadly, after the Endurance was crushed by the ice, Shackleton decided that Mrs Chippy — and five of the missions sled dogs — would not survive the rest of their journey, and had them shot on October 29.
Mr McNish never forgave Shackleton for having his beloved cat killed.
View from the side of South African polar research and logistics vessel, S.A. Agulhas II, on the expedition to find the wreck of Endurance
100 after Shackleton’s death, Endurance was found at a depth of 3008 metres in the Weddell Sea, within the search area defined by the expedition team before its departure from Cape Town, and approximately four miles south of the position originally recorded by Captain Worsley
It was Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ambition to achieve the first land crossing of Antarctica from the Weddell Sea via the South Pole to the Ross Sea. Pictured, expedition team on board S.A. Agulhas II gallery
Endurance was one of two ships used by the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914–1917, which hoped to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic. Pictured, expedition team on board S.A. Agulhas II
Pictured is historian Dan Snow on board the South African polar research and logistics vessel, S.A. Agulhas II. Objectives for Endurance22 were to locate, survey and film the wreck
S.A. Agulhas II (pictured) is a South African icebreaking polar supply and research ship owned by the Department of Environmental Affairs
Menson Bound, director of exploration of Endurance22 expedition (left) and John Shears, expedition leader, on the sea ice of Weddell Sea, in the Antarctic with S.A. Agulhas II
Shortly following the Endurance22 expedition setting off in February, SA Agulhas II became stuck in ice at the same spot where Endurance sank over a century ago.
The SA Agulhas II became stuck after the mercury dipped to -18°F (-10°C).
Dan Snow told The Times: 'Clever people did say to me on the way, "How do you know you're not going to get iced in like Shackleton?"
'I said, "Don't worry about that. We've got all the technology." But we are now iced in.'
Fortunately, thanks to technological advances such as mechanical cranes, engine power and a case of aviation fuel, crew members managed to free the vessel.
Left to right: John Shears, expedition leader; Mensun Bound, director of exploration; and Nico Vincent, expedition sub-sea manager, looking at images of Endurance in the control room
Menson Bound, director of exploration of Endurance22 expedition (left) and John Shears, expedition leader, on the sea ice
Following the Endurance22 expedition setting off in February, SA Agulhas II became stuck in ice at same spot where Endurance sank over a century ago. Fortunately, thanks to technological advances such as mechanical cranes, engine power and a case of aviation fuel, crew members managed to free the vessel
Sir Ernest Shackleton: Famed Anglo-Irish Antarctic adventurer
Sir Ernest Shackleton during the 1908 expedition to Antarctica
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three expeditions to the frozen continent.
He was at the heart of a period in history that later came to be known as the 'Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration'.
Born in Ireland, Shackleton moved to London with his family when he was 10 and first experienced polar climates as an officer on Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery expedition of 1901–1904.
He was sent home early from that expedition after work experiencing poor health that had been ascribed to scurvy. New studies suggest he had beriberi.
During the Nimrod expedition of 1907–1909, Shackleton and his companions created a new recorded of farthest south latitude at 88 degrees south.
Disaster struck his next expedition, the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–1917, when the ship, the Endurance, became trapped in pack ice.
The crew were able to escape by launching lifeboats and reaching nearby islands, travelling through stormy oceans for 830 miles.
He returned to the Antarctic for one final time in 1921 with the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition, but died of a heart attack on January 5, 1922, while his ship was moored in South Georgia.
While Shackleton is best known for his exploration, his legacy is also one of enabling a considerable amount of scientific research.
His expeditions helped produce comprehensive scientific and geographical surveys — among which were the first surveys of Antarctica's interior and the effective location of the Magnetic South Pole.
'Shackleton is an iconic figure of Antarctic history with the most incredible legacy of courage and endeavour,' noted the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust's CEO, Camilla Nichol.
'But we sometimes overlook the contribution his expeditions made to science.
'To this day Antarctica is an essential barometer for climate change at the heart of climate science.
'We preserve Shackleton's legacy to inspire the next generation of pioneering scientists and explorers.'
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