Endurance Shipwreck: How Shackleton's Vessel Was Rediscovered Underneath Antarctica's Ice Sheets

British explorer Ernest Shackleton previously sailed across the ice regions of Antarctica, along with 27 crewmen. The voyage, carried out in late 1914, was supposed to be a trip around the untapped sheets of the southern hemisphere.

Shackleton's Expedition Incident Aboard Endurance

Shackleton and his men were aboard the legendary ship named Endurance, which scales to a whopping 144 feet in length. The ship had three masts, a reinforced hull, and of course, knowledgeable voyagers.

Endurance, according to the records, was stuck amidst the frozen seas of the Antarctic that led to Shackleton's team being crushed by the ice chunks.

The remaining crewmates of the Endurance were pushed to rediscover themselves and work for survival in an entire year across the Antarctic. Among the experiences they had was to hunt and eat the endemic species in the region, including seals and penguins.

After approximately one year of traveling across the southern ice sheet, Shackleton's crew found an untapped island. From this untarnished limbo, the team was able to use a little boat they saved from the ship, which would eventually let them sail about 800 miles across the ocean and to the island of South Georgia.

Some of the crewmates hiked to a whaling station before coming back on a ship to fetch their remaining friends.

Endurance22 Rediscovers Well-Preserved Endurance

After more than 100 years of the Endurance incident, modern-day experts were able to utilize a collective innovation that would let them return to where the ship sank. The project is called Endurance22.

The lost wreck of the Endurance was encountered by an advanced robotic machine called 'Sabertooth' underneath the freezing cold of the Weddell Sea. This part of Antarctica was so deep that Sabertooth did not stop on descending underwater until the experts concluded that it was already at 10,000 feet below.

Through sonar waves, the Sabertooth team located the hundred-year wreckage site of Endurance. After confirming the ships location, the robot turned its optical camera on, revealing the surprisingly preserved wooden vessel.

Endurance22 project manager and Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust associate Nico Vincent explained in a report by Wired that their team obtained a huge achievement both in the historical field, particularly the tale of Shackleton's voyage, as well as the technological field since they were able to utilize a state-of-the-art machine that allowed the rediscovery of one of the most complicated shipwrecks to date.

The ship that carried the experts across the southern seas and to the Antarctic spot was assisted by the polar icebreaker called the S. A. Agulhas II. Vincent explained that the thickness of the ice in the region was undoubtedly similar to the environment that the Endurance met.

There were even accounts that the thick sheets were already impossible for the polar icebreaker to eliminate, requiring the experts to up their navigation skills by predicting the future movement of the ice.

Compared to other Antarctic robots, the Sabertooth is fully autonomous. Based on the last logs of Shackleton, the team was able to locate the wreck through GPS.

After locating the ship, the robot immediately alarmed a low battery level. After recharging the Sabertooth, the team got full-scale imaging of the ship.

The Antarctic Treaty protects shipwrecks across many regions of the southern ice sheet, including Shackleton's Endurance. Although scientists could look and take note of the details from the wreck, touching and other contacts by handling is strictly prohibited.

Vincent's team was stunned by the well-preservation of the ship despite the entire vessel being made of wood. According to scientists, microbes and other smaller lifeforms called shipworms may have helped to maintain the integrity of the materials, keeping the Endurance from rotting rapidly.

Check out more news and information on Ocean in Science Times.