The Wreck Of The Endurance, Shackleton's 1915 Ice-Crushed Vessel, Found Off Antarctica

The remains of one of the world’s most famous shipwrecks, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s doomed Antarctic exploration vessel The Endurance, has been located 107 years after it went down.

What Happened: According to a BBC report, The Endurance was located 10,000 feet below sea level at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. According to marine archeologist Mensun Bound, the vessel survived more than a century in Antarctic waters in remarkable condition.

"Without any exaggeration this is the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen - by far," said Bound. "It is upright, well proud of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation."

The search for The Endurance was coordinated by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, with remotely operated submersibles traveling the ocean depths in search of the wreckage.

“The discovery of the wreck is an incredible achievement – we have successfully completed the world's most difficult shipwreck search, battling constantly shifting sea-ice, blizzards, and temperatures dropping down to -18C,” said Dr. John Shears, the expedition’s leader. “We have achieved what many people said was impossible.”

A documentary on the discovery of the wreckage is being produced for presentation this fall on National Geographic Channel and Disney+, units of the Walt Disney Co. DIS.

Why It Happened: The Endurance's odyssey, formally known as the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917, was structured to carry Shackleton and his 27-man crew on a mission to reach the South Pole while crossing the Antarctic continent via an overland journey. However, the vessel became trapped in pack ice off the Antarctic coast in January 1915. Unable to extract the vessel, Shackleton and his crew watched as The Endurance was slowly crushed by the ice until October 1915, when Shackleton ordered the ship to be abandoned.

The Endurance’s crew was able to travel to the uninhabited Elephant Island, where Shackleton and five men set off in a lifeboat to secure assistance from a whaling station in South Georgia, more than 800 miles away.

After four attempts, Shackleton was able to return to Elephant Island to rescue his crew – all of the men survived their ordeal. The loss of The Endurance and the crew’s survival was captured in photographs and film footage, which offered a stunning visual record of perseverance under impossible circumstances.

Photo: The wreck of The Endurance in 1915, courtesy of Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust