Experts have announced that they’ve found the wreckage of Endurance, the ship once used by legendary explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, more than a century after it was lost in the waters of Antarctica.
Scientists taking part in the Endurance22 expedition, which aimed to rediscover the lost ship 107 years after it sank, confirmed that they’d succeeded in tracking it down. People have puzzled over the exact whereabouts of the wreck for decades.
Dr John Shears, who led Endurance22, said the discovery was testament to “what human beings can achieve and the obstacles they can overcome when they work together”. But who exactly was Ernest Shackleton?
Who was Ernest Shackleton?
Sir Ernest Shackleton was an explorer renowned for his various expeditions to the Antarctic. He is one of the iconic figures of what has since become known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Born to an Anglo-Irish family in County Kildare in 1874, Shackleton was raised in Sydenham, south London, and educated at Dulwich College. However, he was not particularly academic, and took relatively little interest in studying.
He did, however, display a taste for adventure from an early age. Aged only 16, he was allowed to join the Merchant Navy and spent four years at sea, traversing the globe and gaining experience which would later serve him in good stead.
Shackleton’s exploits in the polar regions of the globe would subsequently turn him into a major public figure. However, his pursuit of wealth and success would lead him into a series of failed business ventures, and he would die heavily indebted.
For several decades after his death, Shackleton would lapse into relative obscurity compared to peers such as Captain Robert Falcon Scott. His reputation was rehabilitated later in the 20th century, sparking renewed public interest in him.
Which expeditions did Ernest Shackleton go on?
Sir Ernest Shackleton took part in a total of three expeditions to the Antarctic: the Discovery expedition of 1901-4, the Nimrod expedition of 1907-9, and the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-17.
Shackleton’s first trip to the polar regions came when he joined Captain Robert Falcon Scott on the Discovery expedition, though he was sent home early due to health concerns in 1903. The expedition set a new southern record by reaching as far as latitude 82°S.
In the Nimrod expedition, Shackleton and his colleagues proceeded even further south reaching latitude 88°S - only 97.5 nautical miles from the South Pole, though they failed in their efforts to reach it.
After the Nimrod expedition, on which the crew discovered the rough location of the South Pole, Shackleton returned to Britain as a national hero and celebrity, touring the country making speeches and public appearances.
Shackleton returned to Antarctica in 1914 for his Imperial Trans-Atlantic Expedition, but this expedition was hit by disaster when Endurance - the ship on which Shackleton and his companions were travelling - was lost in the winter of 1915.
What was Endurance?
Endurance was the ship used by Sir Ernest Shackleton and the rest of his crew on the Imperial Trans-Atlantic Expedition, which set off in 1914. The ship, a three-masted barquentine, was lost after being crushed by pack ice in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea.
Legend has it that Shackleton advertised for crew for his expedition as follows in The Times: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.”
However, no trace of the advertisement has since been found and experts have subsequently concluded that the story is probably an apocryphal one.
When was Endurance lost?
Endurance was lost during the winter of 1915. Now, 107 years later, the whereabouts of the wreck of the ship have finally been discovered by researchers, who say it’s in “remarkably good condition”.
What happened to Ernest Shackleton?
Sir Ernest Shackleton and the rest of his crew survived the loss of the Endurance. Shackleton arrived in the Falkland Islands in June 1916, before returning to Britain on May 29th, 1917.
Upon his return to Britain, Shackleton volunteered to fight in the First World War - despite then being aged 44, suffering from a heart condition and a drink problem. He was instead dispatched to Buenos Aires to do propaganda work on behalf of the British government.
But in July 1918, Shackleton was appointed a temporary major and served in the North Russia Expeditionary Force - a counter-revolutionary army backed by the Allies which intervened in the Russian Civil War to crush the October Revolution in Russia.
He set off on what was to be his final expedition in September 1921, but didn’t reach Antarctica itself. Instead, Shackleton only got as far as South Georgia in the southern Atlantic, where he died of a fatal heart attack in January 1922.
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