Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Sunken Ship Endurance Found 10,000 Feet Down

March 9, 2022 4:20 AM

Endurance: Shackleton's lost ship is found in Antarctic – 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. BBC, March 9, 2022.
posted by cenoxo (55 comments total)

Absolutely remarkable. On the long, long list of side effects of climate change, I suppose shrinking sea ice allowing us to find things like this is okay. I can't imagine what it must have felt like to see that prow emerging from the gloom.

It being left as a monument is no doubt a good thing for the communities of sea life now living on it (iirc shipwrecks are particularly good as nurseries and unique habitats), but it's a bit of a shame it can't be recovered or searched.
posted by fight or flight at 4:30 AM on March 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Cooooooool
posted by Going To Maine at 4:34 AM on March 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

Just came to post this. Good job, cenoxo. This is, indeed, super cool.
posted by Bella Donna at 4:55 AM on March 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

remarkable condition

I mean, I guess for >100 years old, not bad. Anyone else feel like BBC is trying to sell a used car?
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 4:59 AM on March 9, 2022 [6 favorites]

Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition is one of those stories that could not be equalled by any work of fiction. His account, South, which is in the public domain and easily accessible, is still a fascinating and understated story of the human spirit triumphing over incredible odds. It's been consumed a little by the corporate "self development" mush ("10 Lessons For Team Leaders From Shackleton") but that shouldn't stop anyone from reading it. His description of finally reaching safety at the whaling station on South Georgia will bring tears to your eyes.

This is unalloyed good news - and to see the wreck is such perfect condition is incredible.
posted by fortitude25 at 5:07 AM on March 9, 2022 [29 favorites]

This is such a cool discovery! And the images are stunning!
posted by Thorzdad at 5:07 AM on March 9, 2022

*slaps roof of ship* this bad boy can fit so much fucking stalked sea squirts, anemones, sponges of various forms, brittlestars, and crinoids on it
posted by oulipian at 5:09 AM on March 9, 2022 [37 favorites]

Anyone else feel like BBC is trying to sell a used car?

Slightly used ship, 110 years old, 2 previous owners. Remarkable condition. Some damp, some light damage to outer hull.

(In looking this up, TIL that the Endurance hosted a ship's cat named Mrs Chippy (actually a boy cat) who sadly had to be euthanised along with the sled dogs after the Endurance was trapped. His owner, the ship's carpenter, was so angry at the loss of Mrs Chippy that he never forgave Shackleton and was left out of much of the awards and acclaim, possibly thanks to Shackleton's resentment, and died destitute in New Zealand.)

(#justiceformrschippy)
posted by fight or flight at 5:11 AM on March 9, 2022 [62 favorites]

To get an idea of early Antarctic exploration, consider the Fram Museum in Oslo.

The wreck itself is a designated monument under the international Antarctic Treaty and must not be disturbed in any way.

Eh. Seems to me the signatories could work out an exception.

Assuming anyone is willing to underwrite a Mary Rose for her.
posted by BWA at 5:20 AM on March 9, 2022

A quick consult of bathymetric depth charts indicates that the Waddell Sea drops to depths of 3000m or more as you move away from the continental shelf. 1000m = 1km. So it shouldn’t be surprising that it was found at 3008m or 3.008km.

Another fun fact: the sea is remarkably clear. You can see to a depth of 80 meters with a clarity that is said to be close to that of distilled water.
posted by interogative mood at 5:20 AM on March 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

It's been consumed a little by the corporate "self development" mush ("10 Lessons For Team Leaders From Shackleton")

Shackleton was a leader in a way that few others could ever be. Approximately 0% of those team leaders will ever face a situation that threatens lives and approximately 100% of them would fail if they did. People like Shackleton aren't wending their way through the tiers of middle management anyway.
posted by tommasz at 5:22 AM on March 9, 2022 [14 favorites]

Agreed tommasz, I'm a little salty about having to sit through one of those seminars a while back, that's all. No, trying to develop a leads list for a new sales region is NOT like scaling the peaks of South Georgia Island!
posted by fortitude25 at 5:25 AM on March 9, 2022 [12 favorites]

I hope and pray these seminars’ PowerPoint decks contain slides which stressed the importance of mallemaroking.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:42 AM on March 9, 2022 [5 favorites]

"10 Lessons For Team Leaders From Shackleton"

1. When your manager tells you to sail a wooden ship to Antarctica, tell them to fuck right off.
posted by pompomtom at 5:45 AM on March 9, 2022 [27 favorites]

FTA: ""Without any exaggeration this is the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen - by far,""

Dude should check out the Vasa museum in Stockholm!
posted by Grither at 5:54 AM on March 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

I guess for >100 years old, not bad

You are really hard to please.
posted by Paul Slade at 5:54 AM on March 9, 2022 [13 favorites]

fortitude25 > Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition is one of those stories that could not be equalled by any work of fiction. His account, South, which is in the public domain and easily accessible

Here’s the full online version (with images) of Project Gutenberg’s eBook of South – The Story of Shackleton’s Last Expedition 1914–1917, by Sir Ernest Shackleton. You can also download other ebook files here.
posted by cenoxo at 5:57 AM on March 9, 2022 [14 favorites]

I would also recommend "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" (1959) by Alfred Lansing which I sold many copies of back when I was a bookseller.
posted by djseafood at 6:36 AM on March 9, 2022 [9 favorites]

Not to imply that a couple years makes any difference in the amount of deterioration present or the quality of the wreck, but this ship sank after the Titanic, which is a little mind-blowing.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:41 AM on March 9, 2022 [8 favorites]

I was charmed by the related story on the BBC website about expedition stowaway Percy Blackborow (comes with a photo of Perce and ship’s cat Mrs. Chippy.)
posted by larrybob at 6:45 AM on March 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

Frank Worsley's book "Shackleton's Boat Journey" is also remarkable (not least because the trip from Elephant Island to South Georgia was only possible because of Worsley's astonishing navigation skills - it was really Worsley's boat journey and Shackleton was one of the passengers).
posted by nja at 7:13 AM on March 9, 2022 [6 favorites]

Please don’t let this derail the thread, because it’s not meant to. But I can’t help thinking that, while some humans with a lust for power apparently think nothing of filling the empty holes in their soul with the massive human suffering they so casually engineer, they stand in the shadow of people like Shackleton, who epitomized leadership in its truest sense, and the members of this expedition who, with their hard honest work, paid tribute to him in the most sincere way possible.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 7:19 AM on March 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

There's a beautiful children's book called "Shackleton's Journey," which won a bunch of awards so your library probably has it.

And spare a thought for Perce Blackborow, an 18-year-old stowaway who ended up going on the entire adventure and lost his left toes!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:23 AM on March 9, 2022 [5 favorites]

In this longer video from the submersible, that one anemone on the bow is KING OF THE WORLD!!!!!
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:25 AM on March 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

One of the perils of being in a two language household is that, well, neither of us is up to reading in the other’s language. Past that, we’ve got some very different ideas of what genres we like.

On the other hand, we’ve both read and loved Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, me in English, Mrs. Ghidorah in Japanese. I texted her as soon as I’d heard the news, and she was as excited as I was.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:40 AM on March 9, 2022 [7 favorites]

Lansing's book is great and one of the most interesting books I've ever read.

When I lived in San Antonio in the 1990s the public library had an original 1919 edition of Shackleton's South which was in very good condition and available for checkout. I checked it out and looked through it but I don't think I read it. That edition is no longer listed in SAPL's online catalog.
posted by neuron at 7:42 AM on March 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

I love this anecdote about Blackborow: "On arrival, Shackleton thought to give Blackborow, the youngest of the crew, the honor of being the first to step on the island, forgetting that his feet had been severely frostbitten during the wet, cold journey in the boats. Helped over the gunwale, Blackborow fell in the shallows, proclaiming that he was the first man to sit on Elephant Island, and was quickly carried ashore."
posted by tavella at 8:23 AM on March 9, 2022 [4 favorites]

“For scientific discovery give me Scott; for speed and efficiency of travel give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.”
posted by doctornemo at 8:51 AM on March 9, 2022 [14 favorites]

OK, I'm looking at the map in the story, and wondering if someone who has read the book or is familiar with Shackleton and Worsley can answer -- why did they head for Elephant Island, a pinprick on the map, when the South American continent seems just as close and a lot safer to aim for? Would the straits there have been blocked by ice? That's the only reason I can think of.
posted by martin q blank at 8:53 AM on March 9, 2022

Almost any detail about their expedition and return inspires awe.

Here's a passage from South, in which Shackleton describes a rogue wave they encountered aboard their lifeboat:

“At midnight I was at the tiller and suddenly noticed a line of clear sky between the south and southwest. I called to the other men that the sky was clearing, and then a moment later I realized that what I had seen was not a rift in the clouds but the white crest of an enormous wave.

“During twenty-six years’ experience of the ocean in all its moods I had not encountered a wave so gigantic. It was a mighty upheaval of the ocean, a thing quite apart from the big white-capped seas that had been our tireless enemies for many days.

“I shouted, “For God’s sake, hold on! It’s got us!”

“Then came a moment of suspense that seemed drawn out into hours. White surged the foam of the breaking sea around us. We felt our boat lifted and flung forward like a cork in breaking surf.

“We were in a seething chaos of tortured water; but somehow the boat lived through it, half full of water, sagging to the dead weight and shuddering under the blow. We baled with the energy of men fighting for life, flinging the water over the sides with every receptacle that came to our hands, and after ten minutes of uncertainty we felt the boat renew her life beneath us…

“She floated again and ceased to lurch drunkenly as though dazed by the attack of the sea.”

They thought it was a gap in clouds, but it wasn't. It was the crest of a wave.
posted by Caxton1476 at 8:56 AM on March 9, 2022 [19 favorites]

Two great books on Shackleton's voyage:

The Endurance: Shacketon's Legendary Antarctic Expedtion by Caroline Alexander. One amazing thing about the expedition (among all the jaw-dropping things about it) is that Shackleton's photographer took a large number of photos and trucked back the heavy glass photographic plates on that terrible trip back from the brink. Those photos are reproduced beautifully in the book.

Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey
by Nick Bertuzzi is a graphic novel, a concise and lovingly drawn story of the voyage.
posted by storybored at 8:57 AM on March 9, 2022 [5 favorites]

djseafood > I would also recommend "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" (1959) by Alfred Lansing which I sold many copies of back when I was a bookseller.

Used copies are available for a few $ at AbeBooks.
posted by cenoxo at 9:09 AM on March 9, 2022

I've always had a thing about polar exploration, and while the Scott expedition is fascinating and moving and endlessly fertile ground for fun arguments about Who Screwed Up and Why (and I'm enduringly fond of Cherry Garrard), Shackleton is my favourite, if only because he managed to do the whole thing without a single life sacrificed (except Mrs Chippy. I'm not cool with what happened to Mrs Chippy).
I'm very excited about this, is what I'm saying.
posted by BlueNorther at 9:17 AM on March 9, 2022 [4 favorites]

*Antarctica buff* SQUEE!

I assume the timber is intact because, unlike the Titanic, she is in colder water?

Why did they head for Elephant Island, a pinprick on the map, when the South American continent seems just as close and a lot safer to aim for? Would the straits there have been blocked by ice? That's the only reason I can think of.

Wind and drifting currents.

While reading the story, I remember feeling utterly exhausted after they got to South Georgia. There can't possibly be any more drama and suffering, I thought. Then I started reading the mountain climb.
posted by Melismata at 9:28 AM on March 9, 2022 [5 favorites]

it's a bit of a shame it can't be recovered or searched

Why? The Antarctic Treaty, which has 54 signatory nations, has lasted since 1959. It has kept the whole of Antarctica as a zone that is demilitarized, free from exploitation, and preserved for scientific research. All countries have respected this and have preserved various archaeological sites there. (We can't say the same for most other international treaties.) Plundering this wreck would violate the treaty, but it can certainly be explored further by video cameras, both inside and out. As for artifacts, when the ship was abandoned, everything of historic importance including film, ship's logs, etc. were removed. The expedition was extremely well documented from beginning to end. There is not much else that could be taken from the wreck that would shed any more light on what took place on the Endurance.
posted by beagle at 9:42 AM on March 9, 2022 [14 favorites]

Another fun fact: the sea is remarkably clear. You can see to a depth of 80 meters with a clarity that is said to be close to that of distilled water.

Lack of light due to ice cover and near freezing water is not a very good environment for algae and aquatic plants which along with sediments carried from runoff are the most common cause of murky water, so you get really clear water. This can be observed in the St-Lawrence river, a dive in it during summer and it's a green mess with low visibility, but if you dive it in January/February it's totally different environment with very good visibility.

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

Wooden wrecks in cold water often fair very well, another example is the Gunilda who sank in Lake Superior, and is still very well preserved.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 9:48 AM on March 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

Shackleton’s grave, Grytviken Cemetary, South Georgia Island.

For God’s sake, somebody go tell him that his ship has been found.
posted by cenoxo at 10:03 AM on March 9, 2022 [4 favorites]

They thought it was a gap in clouds, but it wasn't. It was the crest of a wave.

relatable content, if a bit on the nose these days
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:30 AM on March 9, 2022 [13 favorites]

Endurance? Now that’s eponysterical.
posted by pickles_have_souls at 10:56 AM on March 9, 2022

I am excited by the thought that there might be more photographic plates to retrieve. I remember the photographer had to go into the partially submerged hull to rescue the ones we know today.
posted by SNACKeR at 11:57 AM on March 9, 2022

In related, Netflix has a cold movie about Arctic explorers in Northern Greenland: Against the Ice.
posted by ovvl at 12:12 PM on March 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

It took 15 days to sail from Elephant Island to South Georgia; but 130 days before ships returned to rescue the crew left behind on Elephant Island. That's a long time sleeping hugger-mugger under a pair of upturned boats and eating seal and limpets . . . in the Antarctic Winter.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:25 PM on March 9, 2022

why did they head for Elephant Island ?

From the wikipedia article on the expedition there's a map which shows the journey to Elephant island. It's the closest point of land.

They had been living on the ice for months. The ice moves , heaves , drifts.
There are pressure ridges. Dragging 3 boats and supplies for 26 men is basically impossible , except for very short distances.
The ice begins to break up. They are forced to take to the boats. They move from water to ice floes looking for a way out. Finally they find an open lead of water.
Then they go for the nearest land which is Elephant Island
posted by yyz at 1:27 PM on March 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

One amazing thing about the expedition (among all the jaw-dropping things about it) is that Shackleton's photographer took a large number of photos and trucked back the heavy glass photographic plates on that terrible trip back from the brink. Those photos are reproduced beautifully in the book.

It's always been a heartache for me that Frank Hurley and Shackleton smashed the vast majority of the exposed plates—something like 500 out of 600 Hurley had taken—before they abandoned the ship, so that they wouldn't be tempted to try to carry more than they safely couvd in a knife's-edge survival situation. I always want to holler back in time, "Cache them! Cache them! Someone can go back for them some day!"

That would have been a great find to go along with finding the ship, the lost photographs of the expedition.
posted by Well I never at 1:55 PM on March 9, 2022 [6 favorites]

A little known fact: three people did indeed die during the expedition.

Shackleton's goal was to cross Antarctica, so he organized a second party to sail to the other end of the continent, and lay out caches of supplies along the route. They had no way of knowing that Shackleton and Endurance never got that far.

After they had laid out a few caches, Aurora broke away from her moorings in a storm, with half the men aboard, a disaster since everyone had been living on board and all the provisions were there. She spent some time frozen in the ice, then limped back to New Zealand without retrieving the stranded men.

Captain Aeneas Mackintosh was in the shore party, and still dedicated to placing all the caches. They were stranded for a year and a half, having found some provisions left behind by earlier expeditions. Mackintosh died, as did two others, due to incompetent decisions, inexperience, and bad weather. But all the caches were placed.

/geek
posted by Melismata at 2:23 PM on March 9, 2022 [11 favorites]

According to NYT article:
Endurance’s relatively pristine appearance was not unexpected, given the cold water and the lack of wood-eating marine organisms in the Weddell Sea that have ravaged shipwrecks elsewhere.
posted by artdrectr at 3:01 PM on March 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

I am on Team Worsley with @nja. I think it was Shackleton’s Captain that was a good TV movie about the navigation that saved lives. I was amazed by the sense of teamwork and the sheer physical insanity of the land trek. Shackleton was okay too I guess.
posted by drowsy at 3:16 PM on March 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

True, Worsley was amazing and the expedition probably would have ended on Elephant Isle without him. Had a pretty interesting life afterwards, too.
posted by BlueNorther at 4:46 PM on March 9, 2022

WRT Shackleton's alleged (but widely cited) advertisement for the expedition,

"MEN WANTED for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.",

there's no solid evidence that it ever appeared in any newspaper of the time.

With a shipload of Antarctic resources and links on their Web101 site, The Antarctic Circle is "a non-commercial forum and resource on historical, literary, bibliographical, artistic and cultural aspects of Antarctica and the South Polar regions".

They also have an ongoing $100 Contest (plus one case of Madeira) "to the first person who can provide a copy of the [advertisement's] original source along with the date and name of the newspaper it appeared in." They've received, researched, and rejected many claims, but there's no winner yet.
posted by cenoxo at 4:46 PM on March 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

What's cooler than being cool? Ice cold!
posted by kirkaracha at 6:36 PM on March 9, 2022

There is an shortish IMAX film Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure about the event. I saw it as part of a work event and knew nothing about their ordeal and I was blown away by the story.
posted by mmascolino at 7:59 PM on March 9, 2022

Many of Hurley's plates are viewable courtesy of the State Library of NSW. The collection includes photos from Shackleton's expedition as well as the the earlier Australasian Antarctic Expedition on which he took stereo pictures.

Here is a group photo take by Hurley of the 22 men waiting for rescue on Elephant island.

Frank Hurley and Shackleton smashed the vast majority of the exposed plates—something like 500 out of 600 Hurley had taken—before they abandoned the ship

Assuming they didn't reduce them to sand like shards those might be one of the things that would be worth recovering. Modern processing techniques could reassemble the pieces of glass.
posted by Mitheral at 7:10 AM on March 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

The video of Endurance now is excellent, but I was more astounded to find that there's film of her trapped in the ice and her masts collapsing.

I guess it's not really any stranger than photos of the expedition, but somehow it feels like I shouldn't just be able to watch the crew swinging pickaxes at the ice on YouTube...
posted by amcewen at 8:05 AM on March 10, 2022 [5 favorites]

PHOTO
Frank Hurley during Shackleton’s Endurance expedition, filming from the ship’s rigging.
(Image credit: © Royal Geographical Society (with IBG))

Note that The Royal Geographical Society [WP] is currently hosting the following exhibition:

Shackleton’s Legacy and the Power of Early Antarctic Photography

• 7 February 2022 - 4 May 2022
• Open Monday-Friday 10.00am-5.00pm, Saturdays 10.00am-4.00pm.
• Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), 1 Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AR
• Events office: [phone], [e-mail]
• Free Booking not required.
• The exhibition will be closed on bank holidays

To mark the centenary of Shackleton’s death, a new exhibition, Shackleton’s legacy and the power of early Antarctic photography, will be on display in the Society’s Pavilion from 7 February.

Documenting the role of photography and literature throughout Shackleton’s career, the exhibition presents the influences and motivation which led him to a lifetime commitment to the polar region and building public awareness and understanding of the continent. At its heart lies the exceptional story of the Endurance expedition – a pivotal moment in Shackleton’s polar career, turning disaster to triumph, and where his focus on the power of photography to document the experience was paramount.

Drawing on original documents and photography – some previously unseen and newly digitised – guest curator Dr Jan Piggott, former Keeper of Archives and Rare Books at Dulwich College, has chronicled Shackleton’s early life, schooldays, career, his own writing and love of poetry, and achievements before and after the world famous Endurance expedition, complementing the Society’s 2015 Enduring eye exhibition curated by polar historian and writer Meredith Hooper.

The exhibition also includes images by contemporary photographer Enzo Barracco, whose Noise of the Ice project in Antarctica was inspired by Shackleton.

Shackleton’s legacy is being made possible through the generous support of the Shackleton Company, the James Caird Society, the Folio Society, the South Georgia Association, the Devon and Cornwall Polar Society and private donation.

posted by cenoxo at 9:55 AM on March 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

Endurance captain Frank Worsley, Shackleton’s gifted navigator, knew how to stay the course, Daniella McCahey, The Conversation, March 10, 2022:

When the wreck of Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance was found nearly 10,000 feet below the surface of Antarctica’s Weddell Sea in March 2022, it was located just 4 miles from its last known position, as recorded by the Endurance’s captain and navigator, Frank Worsley, in November 1915.

That’s an astonishing degree of accuracy for a position determined with mechanical tools, book-length tables of reference numbers, and pen and paper.

The expedition looking for the ship had been searching an undersea area of 150 square miles – a circle 14 miles across. Nobody knew how precise Worsley’s position calculation had been, or how far the ship might have traveled while sinking.

But as a historian of Antarctic exploration, I was not surprised to find out how accurate Worsley was, and I imagine those searching for the wreck weren’t either.

Navigation was key.

Details in the article.
posted by cenoxo at 6:07 PM on March 13, 2022