The wreck of polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, Endurance, which has not been seen since it slowly sank in the Weddell Sea in 1915, has been found off the coast of Antarctica.
This is according to a report in The Mirror, citing the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, after an expedition set off from Cape Town in February to search for the ship, which sank after it was crushed by ice.
The Endurance22 Expedition set off in an SA icebreaker, a month after the 100th anniversary of Sir Ernest's death, on a mission to locate it.
The trust said Endurance had been found at a depth of 3 008 metres and approximately four miles south of the position originally recorded by the ship's captain, Frank Worsley.
Dr John Shears, the expedition leader, told The Mirror: "The Endurance22 expedition has reached its goal. We have made polar history with the discovery of Endurance, and successfully completed the world's most challenging shipwreck search.
"In addition, we have undertaken important scientific research in a part of the world that directly affects the global climate and environment.
“We have also conducted an unprecedented educational outreach programme, with live broadcasting from on board, allowing new generations from around the world to engage with Endurance22 and become inspired by the amazing stories of polar exploration, and what human beings can achieve and the obstacles they can overcome when they work together.”
The expedition's director of exploration told the publication that footage of Endurance showed it was intact and "by far the finest wooden shipwreck" he had seen.
The name of the ship, Endurance, is still visible across the stern, directly below the taffrail.
Shackleton’s team were trying to make the first land crossing of Antarctica as part of his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition between 1914 and 1917.
But east of the Larsen ice shelves on the Antarctic peninsula, Endurance became trapped in ice in the Weddell Sea for more than ten months before being crushed and sinking.
Shackleton’s crew managed to escape the vessel and camped on the sea ice until it ruptured before launching lifeboats to Elephant Island and South Georgia about 900 miles east of the Falkland Islands.
