The wreck of the British ship Endurance, which got stuck in the dense ice pack and sank in 1915, has been found by an international expedition.
The ship was found at a depth of 9,869 feet (3,008 meters) and 4 miles (8 kilometers) from the position originally recorded by the ship's captain, according to a March 9 press release. The name of the ship is visible on the stern in photos and video. The ship hadn't been seen in over 100 years.
John Shears, the mission leader, said in the release that the expedition had reached its goal.
The expedition left Cape Town, South Africa, in February with the support of the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust. The crew of 65 is working on the polar research vessel S. A. Agulhas II, which is accompanied by two robotic subs, ice drills, a helicopter, and other equipment. The most recent attempt to locate the wreck was in 2019.
The director of exploration for the expedition said that they were overwhelmed by their good fortune in having located and captured images of Endurance. It is upright, proud of the seabed, and in a brilliant state of preservation.
In late 1914, the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition set sail. The purpose of the mission was to perform the first land crossing of Antarctica. The endurance was stuck in the ice pack and never made it to the coast. The crew of 28 were forced to abandon the ship and live on the ice. The crew made their way to Elephant Island from where they sailed 800 miles (1,300 km) in an extraordinary open-boat journey. The whaling station on South Georgia Island was reached by the small crew. In 1916, a rescue expedition was mounted to recover the remaining crew on Elephant Island. The crew members made it home alive.
The wreck was spotted by remote operated subs and sits in the search area. We pay tribute to the navigation skills of the Captain of the Endurance, Captain Frank Worsley, whose detailed records were important in our quest to locate the wreck.
The state of the boat was not known going into the expedition. The team can study the wreck in great detail because it is well preserved and standing upright. The ship's high level of preservation is due to the lack of wood-eating organisms in the South Atlantic environment, according to a British maritime historian.
According to Coats, there has been no food for wood borers for at least 30 million years.
I asked Coats if there would be new historical information as a result of this discovery.
She replied that the archaeological evidence of how the various parts of the hull were modified for the 1914 expedition will be revealed in the detailed examination of Endurance.
It cannot be disturbed because it is protected by an international treaty. The team will build a 3D model of the wreck by observing the ship from a distance. The expedition will return to Cape Town soon.
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