One of the world's most storied wrecks, Ernest Shackleton's Endurance, has been found off the coast of Antarctica more than a century after its sinking.
It was found at a depth of 3,008 meters (9,869 feet), six kilometers from where it was crushed by pack ice in 1915.
"We are overwhelmed by our good fortune in having located and captured images of Endurance," said Mensun Bound, the expedition's director of exploration.
This is the best wooden wreck I have ever seen. It is in a brilliant state of preservation and upright. He said in a statement that you can see it arcs across the stern.
The expedition left Cape Town on February 5 with a South African icebreaker, hoping to find the Endurance before the end of the Southern Hemisphere summer.
As part of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition between 1914 and 1917, Endurance was supposed to be the first land crossing of Antarctica, but it fell victim to the tumultuous Weddell Sea.
It became trapped in sea-ice for over a decade before being crushed and sunk.
The sea is the worst in the world.
The voyage became legendary due to the escape of Shackleton and his crew.
The crew was able to escape by camping on the sea ice.
South Georgia Island is a British overseas territory that lies around 1,400 kilometers east of the Falkland Islands.
All of the crew survived.
The explorers used underwater drones to find and film a sunken ship in the Weddell Sea, which has a swirling current that sustains a mass of thick sea ice that can challenge even modern icebreakers.
The site of the sink was described by Shackleton as the worst part of the sea.
One of the most difficult parts of the ocean is the region.
This has been the most complex project ever undertaken by the mission.
The images of the ship were produced by the underwater drones. After more than a century underwater, the helm is still intact, with gear piled against the taffrail as if the crew had only recently left it.
The wooden timbers of the ship still hold together despite being damaged from the crush of ice that sank in. Sea anemones, sponges and other small ocean life lived on the wreck, but did not appear to have damaged it.
Photographs of the expedition showed the South Africa's Agulhas II icebreaker surrounded by ice, with crew lifted by crane over the frozen sea.
The wreck is protected under international law. Explorers were allowed to film and scans the ship, but not to touch it, meaning no artifacts may be returned to the surface.
The team used underwater search drones called Sabertooths built by Saab, which dove beneath the ice into the farthest depths of the Weddell Sea.
Climate change and ice drift were researched during the mission.
The team is going back to Cape Town.
There will be a new year in 2022.
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