Endurance: Shackleton's lost ship is found in Antarctic

BBC News ^

[Winniesboy]

Scientists have found and filmed one of the greatest ever undiscovered shipwrecks 107 years after it sank.

The Endurance, the lost vessel of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, was found at the weekend at the bottom of the Weddell Sea.

The ship was crushed by sea-ice and sank in 1915, forcing Shackleton and his men to make an astonishing escape on foot and in small boats.

Video of the remains show Endurance to be in remarkable condition.

Even though it has been sitting in 3km (10,000ft) of water for over a century, it looks just like it did on the November day it went down.

Its timbers, although disrupted, are still very much together, and the name - Endurance - is clearly visible on the stern.

"Without any exaggeration this is the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen - by far," said marine archaeologist Mensun Bound, who is on the discovery expedition and has now fulfilled a dream ambition in his near 50-year career.

"It is upright, well proud of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation," he told BBC News. The project to find the lost ship was mounted by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust (FMHT), using a South African icebreaker, Agulhas II, and equipped with remotely operated submersibles.

The mission's leader, the veteran polar geographer Dr John Shears, described the moment cameras landed on the ship's name as "jaw-dropping".

"The discovery of the wreck is an incredible achievement," he added.

"We have successfully completed the world's most difficult shipwreck search, battling constantly shifting sea-ice, blizzards, and temperatures dropping down to -18C. We have achieved what many people said was impossible."

[Fzob]

Bump

[stockpirate]

PING

[mewzilla]

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Looks like I'll be giving this one a miss.

[Does so]

Plus 1 for Climate Change.

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[RaceBannon]

Way kewel

[DAC21]

Endured pretty well down there for 107 years.

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Their daily lives were recorded by Australian photographer Frank Hurley. Hurley's images show how the crew survived during that uncertain period - when they were at the whim of the shifting pack ice.

The photograph below shows a football match on the ice. taken in mid-February 1915, after the men had tried to release Endurance for one last time, but then had to accept they were stuck - with the cold and dark Antarctic winter approaching.

"Shackleton saw the match as a good way to let off steam. They had even flattened the ice to create a pitch."

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Photographer Frank Hurley has placed himself in this picture - which shows him playing chess to fill the long dark winter days of mid-1915. "We know this was taken before May 1915," says Meredith Hooper. "Because in May they all had a fit of madness and decided to shave their heads. And in this photo, Hurley, on the left, still has his hair."

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In this photo we see Jock Wordie the expedition geologist on the left - with Third Officer Alfred Cheetham in the centre - and Alexander Macklin the ship's doctor on the right.

Endurance's role changed from that of a ship to that of a shore station. Many of the crew were assigned new sleeping quarters in the hold - mockingly they called it 'The Ritz'.

The tradition of scrubbing the floor remained, and everyone - except perhaps Shackleton himself - took their turn.

[momtothree]

TBH.. I am amazed with how much is left after all this time! I don’t dive (although I ALWAYS wanted to learn even when I was a little girl). I would think it would be awesome to dive and see this historic beauty! Thanks for posting! Way cool.

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"The Ritz", ...this photo shows the midwinter dinner to celebrate the shortest day of the year - 22 June 1915.

"They had peas," says Hooper. "But no one had yet started eating. Knives and forks are poised."

"On the left is Perce Blackborow, a stowaway who was given the job of steward."

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Hurley's hair is growing back in the photo, which was taken in his cabin. Macklin the doctor is on the right.

For the first time, Hurley's images have been scanned digitally direct from the original glass plates on which they were taken - revealing details never seen before. The mid-ground and background in each shot is crisper and sharper. "You can see the Australian flag, a penguin picture and a boomerang," says Hooper.

The Carsons chocolates by Hurley's bed. On Saturday nights the crew would toast sweethearts and wives - and for those who didn't want alcohol, like Hurley, Shackleton had provided chocolates."

[Winniesboy]

Of all the many extraordinary events of the expedition, not the least remarkable is the survival of the glass plate negatives of those stunning Hurley photographs, after being dragged across the ice in the ship’s boats to Elephant Island, and then the long months on the frozen island, protected only by a wooden crate, waiting for the eventual rescue.

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Here, a group of men are gathered around the ship's stove during the night watch. "There would normally be only one or two men on the night watch," says Hooper. "But people on that shift got extra food, and so your mates would suddenly appear.