SearchErnest Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic Explorer, an adventurer and to many, a hero.
He set up the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition with the goal or crossing Antarctica from sea to sea via the pole. One half of the expedition members were with Shackleton on the Endurance in the Weddell Sea while the others in the ship the Aurora were on the other side of the continent.
Shackleton was the expedition leader and Captain F. Worsley commanded the vessel. There were 28 crew members and 70 dogs for the overland trip. Shackleton was considered a great leader who treated all his crew equally and a great chief in the face of danger.
Disaster struck, deep in the Weddell Sea on Jan 19, 2015, the Endurance froze fast in the sea ice and became trapped. It began to drift with the ice. By late February, the crew realized that there would be no thaw until the following spring but when thaw came in September, pressure was evident on the ship’s hull. The crew had abandoned the ship and were camping on the sea ice. Water started to pour in and on 21 November 1915, the Endurance slipped beneath the waves. Captain Worsley made a careful note of the coordinates.
In April 2016, the ice flow broke, and the crew took to the lifeboats. After 5 days at sea, they were able to land on Elephant Island, South Georgia and safety. Shackleton’s fingers had frostbite as he had given his gloves to the ship’s photographer.
On March 5, 2022, the wreckage of the Endurance was found, roughly 4 miles from Worsley’s coordinates and beneath the ice of the Weddell Sea. Because of the extreme cold conditions at about 10,800 feet down, the wooden ship is remarkably well preserved, even showing the name on the stern. It will now be preserved as an Historic Site and Monument.
