Modern Mysteries

New expedition will search for Shackleton's ship 100 years after his death

By T.K. Randall
January 6, 2022 ·  2 comments

The Endurance became hopelessly trapped in ice. Image Credit: Royal Geographic Society 100 years ago on January 5th of this year, one of the world's greatest explorers - Ernest Shackleton - died during his final expedition to the Antarctic at the age of just 47.

He was best known, however, for his 1915 expedition aboard the Endurance.

Shackleton had aimed to lead the first ever land crossing of the Antarctic continent, however the plan was abandoned after the loss of his vessel left he and his crew stranded in the middle of nowhere.

After spending months camped on drifting sea ice, the crew ended up on Elephant Island - an isolated location hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement or shipping route.

In an effort to find help, Shackleton and a few of his men set out across the ocean in a tiny boat to reach the island of South Georgia which was situated approximately 720 nautical miles away. After several perilous weeks at sea, they finally arrived on the island. Shackleton and two of his men then had to cross the mountainous terrain of the island on foot to reach an occupied whaling station.

Incredibly, in the end, every single member of his crew was rescued.

The final resting place of his ship, however, still remains a mystery more than a century later, but now a new expedition will be setting sail this year in a bid to find the wreck once and for all.

To locate it, researchers will use artificial intelligence to analyze the seabed some 3,000ft down.

Describing the Endurance as "basically the most historic shipwreck in the world as yet undiscovered", the BBC's Dan Snow - who will be accompanying the expedition - hopes that it will still be in relatively good condition due to the cold temperatures of the region.

"We hope it's going to be in very good condition because it's extremely cold down there, it's very difficult for life forms to survive down there," he said.

Source: BBC News | Comments (2)

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