This ship was lost for 107 years before she was found in 2022. This post is just as much about explorer Ernest Shackleton as the ship. What an expedition he led. He took an 800-mile journey in a 23-foot boat to get his people rescued after his ship The Endurance went down.
The Endurance was built in Norway in 1912 as a tough wooden ship designed for Arctic conditions. In 1914, explorer Ernest Shackleton bought her for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Shackleton wanted to cross Antarctica on foot, something no one had ever done.
The ship left England in 1914 and headed for the Weddell Sea near Antarctica. Before the expedition could start, the ice closed around the ship. Endurance became trapped in January 1915. For months the ship drifted helplessly with the ice while the pressure slowly crushed the ship’s mast timbers. Shackleton’s men watched the vessel groan, bend, and break until they finally abandoned her in October 1915. A month later she slipped beneath the ice and disappeared into the Weddell Sea. There is this film clip of the Endurance folding in because of the ice pressure.
The ice build up caused millions of tons of pressure on the ship and warped the hull. The ship was built to withstand cold, but it was more a ship designed for Arctic tourism and hunting voyages. It was not made to withstand the pressure of Antarctic ice bearing down on it. So, Shackleton and his crew abandoned ship when they saw it was sinking slowly.
Shackelton and his crew camped on floating ice for months before sailing in small lifeboats. They eventually reached the desolate Elephant Island after nearly 500 days away from solid ground. Shackleton then made an incredible 800-mile open boat trip with 5 men (on a small boat not designed to do this) to South Georgia (British Overseas Territory located in the Southern Ocean) to organize a rescue while most of the men had to wait until he got someone. It took them 17 days to reach South Georgia Island, some 800 miles to the northeast. This after capsizing three times in 24 hours. They got a rescue team and went back to Elephant Island to get the rest of the men.
Every man survived! The story turned Shackleton into a legend and made Endurance one of the most famous lost ships in history. For decades people wondered where the wreck rested under the Antarctic ice and deep water. After many failed searches, the wreck was finally discovered on March 5, 2022, after 107 years, by the Endurance22 expedition. Using underwater robots and modern sonar equipment, the team found the ship nearly 10,000 feet below the surface of the Weddell Sea.
The wreck was amazingly preserved because the freezing Antarctic water has no wood-eating organisms. The name “Endurance” could still be clearly seen across the stern. Explorers said it looked almost like the ship had sunk yesterday. The wreck was found only a few miles from the position originally recorded by Captain Frank Worsley back in 1915. It was one of the great shipwreck discoveries of modern times. Notice how well preserved the ship is.
I want to add that if you have any ships you want to know more about, let me know. I have around 30 posts in scheduled and drafts and I add them every day. I haven’t even ventured into the Military ships yet…they will be coming as well.
The Shackleton Story. One of the most courageous stories I’ve ever heard.