Photo Found in Antarctica, at a depth of 3000 meters in the Weddell Sea, the wreck of Endurance, the protagonist of one of the most incredible adventures of exploration which, under the direction of Ernest Shackleton, aimed in 1915 to cross Antarctica. The perfectly preserved wreck was photographed by roving submarines from Expedition 22 Endurance.
Built for extreme polar expeditions, the Norwegian Shipyards Endurance Ship was considered among the most powerful and advanced of its kind. That is why she was chosen by the famous British explorer Shackleton to do one of the most ambitious tasks of the time: to cross Antarctica on foot and by sledge.
However, the mission failed even before it began because the ship was stuck in ice in the Weddell Sea a few weeks after its departure, at a point far from that expected of the explorers’ landing. The ship remained for several months at the mercy of the ice, until the crew had to abandon it. On November 21, 1915 it sank, completely “crushed” by the ice. After months of enormous hardships, unexpected events and a dearth of supplies, all 28 crew members managed to make an incredible escape.
107 years later, Expedition Endurance22, organized by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, has been able to identify and photograph the incredibly untouched remains of the ship that have inspired the dreams of many later adventurers. One of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon space capsules is also named after the ship. Most of the three masts, 44 meters long and found at a depth of 3,008 meters, have been perfectly preserved in the cold Antarctic waters, and the name engraved in gold letters in the stern of the ship can still be read: Endurance.
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