Endurance (1912 Ship)
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''Endurance'' was the three-masted
barquentine A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts. Modern barquentine sailing ...
in which Sir
Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarcti ...
and a crew of 27 men sailed for the
Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...
on the 1914–1917
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 is considered to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Ernest Shackleton, Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the ...
. The ship, originally named ''Polaris'', was built at Framnæs shipyard and launched in 1912 from
Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sandefjord ...
in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. When one of her commissioners, the Belgian
Adrien de Gerlache Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery (; 2 August 1866 – 4 December 1934) was a Belgian officer in the Belgian Royal Navy who led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–99. Early years Born in Hasselt in eastern Belgium as t ...
, went bankrupt, the remaining one sold the ship for less than the shipyard had charged – but as
Lars Christensen Lars Christensen (6 April 1884 – 10 December 1965) was a Norway, Norwegian shipowner and whaling magnate. He was also a philanthropist with a keen interest in the exploration of Antarctica. Career Lars Christensen was born at Sandar, Norway, S ...
was the owner of ''Polaris'', there was no hardship involved. The ship was bought by Shackleton in January 1914 for the expedition, which would be her first voyage. A year later, she became trapped in
pack ice Pack or packs may refer to: Music * Packs (band), a Canadian indie rock band * ''Packs'' (album), by Your Old Droog * ''Packs'', a Berner album Places * Pack, Styria, defunct Austrian municipality * Pack, Missouri, United States (US) * ...
and finally sank in the
Weddell Sea The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha C ...
off
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
on 21 November 1915. All of the crew survived her sinking and were eventually rescued in 1916 after using the ship's boats to travel to
Elephant Island Elephant Island is an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands, in the Southern Ocean. The island is situated north-northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, west-so ...
and Shackleton, the ship's captain
Frank Worsley Frank Arthur Worsley (22 February 1872 – 1 February 1943) was a New Zealand sailor and explorer who served on Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1916, as captain of ''Endurance''. He also served in the Royal ...
, and four others made a voyage to seek help. The wreck of ''Endurance'' was discovered on 5 March 2022, nearly 107 years after she sank, by the search team Endurance22. She lies deep, and is in "a brilliant state of preservation". The wreck is designated as a protected historic site and monument under the
Antarctic Treaty System The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. It was the first arms ...
.


Design and construction

Designed by Ole Aanderud Larsen, ''Endurance'' was built at the Framnæs shipyard in
Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sandefjord ...
, Norway. She was built under the supervision of master wood shipbuilder Christian Jacobsen, who was renowned for insisting that all men in his employment were not just skilled shipwrights but also experienced in seafaring aboard
whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...
or sealing ships. Every detail of her construction had been scrupulously planned to ensure maximum durability: for example, every joint and fitting was cross-braced for maximum strength. The ship was launched on 17 December 1912 and was initially christened ''Polaris'' after the North Star. She was long, with a beam, and measured 350 tons gross. Her original purpose was to provide luxurious accommodation for small tourist and hunting parties in the Arctic as an ice-capable
steam yacht A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts. Origin of the name The English steamboat entrepreneur George Dodd (1783–1827) used the term ...
. As launched she had 10 passenger cabins, a spacious dining saloon and galley (with accommodation for two cooks), a smoking room, a
darkroom A darkroom is used to process photographic film, make Photographic printing, prints and carry out other associated tasks. It is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light-sensitive photographic materials, including ...
to allow passengers to develop photographs, electric lighting and even a small bathroom. Though her hull looked from the outside like that of any other vessel of comparable size, it was not. She was designed for polar conditions with very sturdy construction. Her keel members were four pieces of solid oak, one above the other, adding up to a thickness of , while her sides were between and thick, with twice as many frames as normal and the frames being of double thickness. She was built of planks of
oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
and Norwegian
fir Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...
up to thick, sheathed in greenheart, an exceptionally strong and heavy wood. The bow, which was designed to meet the ice head-on, had been given special attention. Each timber had been made from a single oak tree chosen so that its natural shape followed the curve of the ship's design. When put together, these pieces had a thickness of . Of her three masts, the foremast was
square-rigged Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which a sailing vessel's primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars that are perpendicular (or square) to the median plane of the keel and masts of the vessel. These sp ...
, the mainmast and mizzenmast were both fore-and-aft rigged, making her a
Barquentine A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts. Modern barquentine sailing ...
. As well as sails, ''Endurance'' had a coal-fired
steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...
, making the ship capable of speeds up to . At the time of her launch in 1912 ''Endurance'' was arguably the strongest wooden ship ever built with the possible exception of '' Fram'', the vessel used by
Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and co-founded the ...
and later by
Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegians, Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Am ...
. There was one major difference between the ships. ''Fram'' was bowl-bottomed, which meant that if the ice closed in against her, the ship would be squeezed up and out and not be subject to the pressure of the compressing ice. ''Endurance'', on the other hand, was not intended to be frozen into heavy pack ice, and so was not designed to rise out of a crush. It was observed on the expedition that she instead tended to resist being crushed by floes until the ice cracked to relieve the pressure.


Shackleton purchase

''Polaris'' was originally built for the Belgian explorer
Adrien de Gerlache Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery (; 2 August 1866 – 4 December 1934) was a Belgian officer in the Belgian Royal Navy who led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–99. Early years Born in Hasselt in eastern Belgium as t ...
and the Norwegian
philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
Lars Christensen Lars Christensen (6 April 1884 – 10 December 1965) was a Norway, Norwegian shipowner and whaling magnate. He was also a philanthropist with a keen interest in the exploration of Antarctica. Career Lars Christensen was born at Sandar, Norway, S ...
. Financial problems led to Gerlache pulling out of their partnership, leaving Christensen unable to pay the Framnæs yard the final amounts to hand over and outfit the ship. For over a year, Christensen attempted unsuccessfully to sell the ship, since her unique design as an ice-capable passenger-carrying ship, with relatively little space for stores and no cargo hold, made her useless to the whaling or sealing industries. Meanwhile, she was too big, slow and uncomfortable to be a private steam yacht. In the event, Christensen was happy to sell the ship to
Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarcti ...
in January 1914 for , which represented a significant loss to Christensen as it barely covered the outstanding payments to Framnæs, let alone the ship's total build costs. Author Alfred Lansing reports that he was happy "to take the loss in order to further the plans of an explorer of Shackleton's stature". Shackleton did not have the money at the time, but Christensen was eager for him to purchase the ship and paid the deposit himself. After Shackleton purchased the ship, she was rechristened ''Endurance'' after the Shackleton family motto, ("By endurance we conquer"). The ship was originally projected ready by mid-May, but completion was delayed for a month. Shackleton had the ship relocated from Norway to London. She arrived at the Millwall Dock in the spring of 1914, and Shackleton gathered equipment, stores, finances, and crew until the end of July. The 'tween deck was converted into a cargo hold, and the crew made their quarters in the
forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck (ship), deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is t ...
. The darkroom remained, abaft of the boiler. The refit also saw the ship repainted from white and gilt to black. She retained the large five-pointed star on her stern that had referred to her original name. Her new equipment included three ship's boats. Two were transom-built rowing cutters purchased secondhand from the whaling industry. The third was a double-ended rowing
whaleboat A whaleboat is a type of open boat that was used for catching whales, or a boat of similar design that retained the name when used for a different purpose. Some whaleboats were used from whaling ships. Other whaleboats would operate from the s ...
built for the expedition to specifications drawn up by
Frank Worsley Frank Arthur Worsley (22 February 1872 – 1 February 1943) was a New Zealand sailor and explorer who served on Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1916, as captain of ''Endurance''. He also served in the Royal ...
, ''Endurance''s new captain. After her refit, ''Endurance'' began the short coastal journey to
Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
on 1 August 1914, the day that Germany declared war on Russia. To find crew for the ''Endurance'', Shackleton reportedly placed an advertisement in ''The Times'', reading: Voyages to the
Antarctic Circle The Antarctic Circle is the most southerly of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of Earth. The region south of this circle is known as the Antarctic, and the zone immediately to the north is called the Southern Temperate Zone. So ...
in the 16 years prior to ''Endurance''s purchase had been almost uniformly successful with only one vessel, the 30-year-old whaler ''Antarctic'', having been crushed in the ice. With it being felt that little harm could come to a purpose-built ship in a sea in which ice halted all waves, ''Endurance'' became the first ship to be insured for her journey. All previous examples had their insurance end at the last port of call before their journey into the ice.
Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is a insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gover ...
and the Indemnity Marine Insurance Company underwrote ''Endurance'' at the value of £15,000.


Voyage

Embarking on her maiden voyage, ''Endurance'' sailed from Plymouth on 8 August 1914 and set course for
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
,
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
, under Worsley's command. Shackleton remained in Britain, finalising the expedition's organization and attending to some last-minute fundraising. This was ''Endurance''s first major voyage following her completion and amounted to a shakedown voyage. Built for the ice, her hull was considered by many of her crew too rounded for the open ocean. Shackleton took a steamer to Buenos Aires and caught up with his expedition a few days after ''Endurance''s arrival. On 26 October 1914, ''Endurance'' sailed from Buenos Aires to what would be her last port of call, the whaling station at
Grytviken Grytviken ( ) is a Hamlet (place), hamlet on South Georgia in the South Atlantic. Formerly a whaling station, it was the largest settlement on the island. Grytviken is located at the head of King Edward Cove within the larger Cumberland East Bay, ...
on the island of
South Georgia South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...
, where she arrived on 5 November. She left Grytviken on 5 December 1914, heading for the southern regions of the
Weddell Sea The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha C ...
. Two days after leaving South Georgia, ''Endurance'' encountered polar
pack ice Pack or packs may refer to: Music * Packs (band), a Canadian indie rock band * ''Packs'' (album), by Your Old Droog * ''Packs'', a Berner album Places * Pack, Styria, defunct Austrian municipality * Pack, Missouri, United States (US) * ...
and progress slowed to a crawl. For weeks ''Endurance'' worked her way through the pack, averaging less than per day. By 15 January 1915, ''Endurance'' was within of her destination, Vahsel Bay. By the following morning, heavy pack ice was sighted and in the afternoon a gale developed. Under these conditions it was soon evident that progress could not be made, and ''Endurance'' took shelter under the lee of a large grounded iceberg. During the next two days, ''Endurance'' moved back and forth under the sheltering protection of the berg. On 18 January, the gale began to moderate and ''Endurance'' set the topsail with the engine at slow. The pack had blown away. Progress was made slowly, until hours later ''Endurance'' encountered the pack once more. It was decided to move forward and work through the pack, and at 5:00 pm ''Endurance'' entered it. This ice was different from what had been encountered before, and the ship was soon amongst thick but soft brash ice, and became beset. The gale increased in intensity and kept blowing for another six days from a northerly direction towards land. By 24 January, the wind had completely compressed the ice in the Weddell Sea against the land, leaving ''Endurance'' icebound as far as the eye could see in every direction. All that could be done was to wait for a southerly gale to start pushing in the other direction, which would decompress and open the ice. In the early morning of 24 January, a wide crack appeared in the ice ahead of the ship. Initially across but long, by mid-morning the next day the break was over wide, giving the men on the ''Endurance'' hope that the ice was breaking up. But the break never reached the ship itself, and despite three hours under full sail and full speed on the engine, the ship did not budge. Over the next days, the crew waited for the southerly gale to release the pressure on the ice, but while the wind backed to the hoped-for south/southwest direction, it remained light and erratic. Unseasonably low temperatures of around additionally kept the ice together. Occasional breaks in the ice were spotted, but none reached the ship and all closed up within a few hours. On 14 February, an open channel of water opened up ahead of the ship and dawn showed the ''Endurance'' was afloat in a pool of soft, young ice no more than thick, but the pool was surrounded by solid pack ice of in thickness, blocking the path to the open lead. A day's continual work by the crew saw them hack a clear channel long. This work continued through the following day (15 February) and, with steam raised, the ''Endurance'' was backed up within her pool as far as possible to allow the ship to ram her way through the channel. As the ship went astern for successive attempts, lines were attached from the bow to loosened blocks of ice, estimated to weigh 20 tons (18 tonnes), in order to clear the path. The pool proved too small for the ship to gain enough momentum to successfully ram her way clear and by the end of the day the ice began to freeze up again. By 3:00 pm, the ''Endurance'' had made of distance through the ice, with still to go to clear water. Shackleton decided that the consumption of coal and manpower, and the risk of damage to the ship, was too great and called a halt.


Drift

After this frustration, ''Endurance''s boilers were extinguished, committing the ship to drift with the ice until released naturally. On 17 February, the sun dipped below the horizon at midnight, showing the end of the Antarctic summer. On 24 February, regular watches on the ship were cancelled, with the ''Endurance'' now functioning as a shore station. The ship had slowly drifted south and at this point was within of the intended landing point at Vahsel Bay. But the icy terrain between the ship and the shore was too arduous to travel while carrying the materials and supplies needed for the overland expedition. By March, navigational observation showed that the ship (and the mass of pack ice that contained her) was still moving, but now swinging towards the west-northwest and increasing in the speed of its drift, moving between the start of March and 2 May, when the sun disappeared below the horizon and the dark Antarctic winter began. On 14 July 1915, ''Endurance'' was swept by a southwest gale, with wind speeds of , a
barometer A barometer is a scientific instrument that is used to measure air pressure in a certain environment. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Many measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis ...
reading of and temperatures falling to . The blizzard continued until 16 July. This broke up the pack ice into smaller, individual floes, each of which began to move semi-independently under the force of the weather, while also clearing water in the north of the Weddell Sea. This provided a long fetch for the south-setting wind to blow over and then for the broken ice to pile up against itself while individual parts moved in different directions. This caused regions of intense localised pressure in the ice field. The ice began "working", with sounds of breaking and colliding ice audible to those on the ship through the next day. Breaks in the ice were spotted but none approached the ice holding the ''Endurance''. During July the ship drifted a further to the north. On the morning of 1 August, a pressure wave passed through the floe holding the ship, lifting the 400-ton ''Endurance'' bodily upwards and heeling the ship sharply to her port side before she dropped into a pool of water, afloat again for the first time in nearly six months. The broken sections of floe closed in around the ship on all sides, jarring the ''Endurance'' forward, backwards and sideways in violent fashion against the other slabs of ice. After over a quarter of an hour, a force from astern pushed the ship's bow up onto the floe, lifting the hull out of the pressure and with a list of five degrees to her port side. A gale overnight further disturbed the floe, driving it against the starboard side of the hull and forcing a sheet of ice upwards at a 45-degree angle until it reached the level of the scuppers. Despite the ordeal of the past few days, the ship remained undamaged. Two pressure waves struck the ship on 29 August without incident. On the evening of 31 August, a slow-building pressure gripped the ''Endurance'', causing her hull and timbers to creak and shudder continuously. The ice around the ship moved and broke throughout the night, battering the port side of the hull. All was quiet again until the afternoon of 30 September, by which time there were signs of spring with ten hours of sunlight per day and occasional temperature readings above freezing. A large floe was swept against the ''Endurance''s port bow and then gripped that side of the ship against the built-up ice and snow on her starboard beam. The ship's structure groaned and wracked under the strain. Carpenter Harry McNish noted that the solid oak beams supporting the upper deck were being visibly bent "like a piece of cane". On deck the ship's masts were whipping back and forth as their stepping points on the
keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...
were distorted. Despite these disconcerting signs, Worsley noted that the strength of the ship's structure was causing the ice itself to break up as it piled against the hull—"just as it appears she can stand no more, the huge floe weighing possibly a million tons or more yields to our little ship by cracking across ... and so relieves the pressure. The behaviour of our ship in the ice has been magnificent. Undoubtedly she is the finest little wooden vessel ever built". Despite this, the ship's decks were permanently buckled following this ordeal.


Final destruction

By October, temperatures of up to nearly were recorded and the ice showed further signs of opening up. The floe against the ship's starboard broke up on 14 October, casting the ''Endurance'' afloat in a pool of open water for the first time in nine months. On 16 October, Shackleton ordered steam to be raised so the ship could take advantage of any openings in the ice. It took nearly four hours for the boilers to be filled with freshwater melted from ice, and then a leak was discovered in one of the fittings and they had to be pumped out, repaired and then refilled. The following day a lead of open water was seen ahead of the ship. Only one boiler had been lit and there was insufficient steam to use the engine, so all the sails were set to try to force the ship into the loosening pack ice, but without success. In the late afternoon of 18 October, the ice closed in around the ''Endurance'' once again. In just five seconds the ship was canted over to port by 20 degrees, and the list continued until she rested at 30 degrees, with the port bulwark resting on the pack and the boats on that side nearly touching the ice as they hung in their davits. After four hours in this position, the ice drew apart and the ship returned to a level keel. The ice was relatively still for the rest of the month. On 20 October, steam was raised again and the engines tested. On 22 October, the temperature dropped sharply from to and the wind veered from southwest to northeast, and the next day, pressure ridges could be seen forming in the ice and moving near the ship. On 24 October, the damaged ship was wracked by further pressure waves, pinning her between both floes. A large mass of ice slammed into the stern, tearing the sternpost away from the hull planking. Around the same time, the bow planking was stove in, causing simultaneous flooding in the engine room and the forward hold. Despite using both the portable manual pumps and getting up steam to drive the main bilge pumps, the water level continued to rise. The main man-powered deck pumps did not work, as their intakes had frozen and could only be restored by pouring buckets of boiling water onto the pump pipes from inside the coal bunkers and then playing a
blowtorch A blowtorch, also referred to as a blowlamp, is an ambient air fuel-burning tool used for applying flame and heat to various applications, usually in metalworking, but occasionally for foods like crème brûlée. Description Early blowtorches ...
over the intake valve. McNish constructed a
cofferdam A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out or drained. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for constru ...
in the shaft tunnel to seal off the damaged stern area while the crew were arranged in spells of 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off on the main pump. After 28 hours of continuous work, the inflow of water had only been arrested—the ship was still badly flooded. At 9:00 pm, Shackleton ordered the ship's boats, stores and essential equipment to be moved onto the surrounding ice. The footplates in the engine room were pushed up and would no longer sit in place as the compartment was compressed. The planking of the ship's port side was bowing inwards by up to . Amid temperatures from in the morning to in the evening, Shackleton gave the order to abandon ship on 27 October at about 5:00 pm. The position at abandonment was 69° 05'S, 51° 30'W. During the course of the next day, parties were sent back to the ship to recover more supplies and stores. They found that the entire port side of the ''Endurance'' had been driven inwards and compressed, and the ice had entirely filled the bow and stern sections; only one of the six cabins had not been pierced by the floes. Shackleton wrote that the entire aft of the ship "had been crushed
concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...
fashion", the forward motor engine was pushed into the
galley A galley is a type of ship optimised for propulsion by oars. Galleys were historically used for naval warfare, warfare, Maritime transport, trade, and piracy mostly in the seas surrounding Europe. It developed in the Mediterranean world during ...
, and gasoline cans stacked on deck were pushed through the deckhouse wall halfway into the wardroom. The ship's
Blue Ensign The Blue Ensign is a British ensign that may be used on vessels by certain authorised yacht clubs, Royal Research Ships and British merchant vessels whose master holds a commission in the Royal Naval Reserve or has otherwise been issued a wa ...
was hoisted up her
mizzen mast The mast of a sailing ship, sailing vessel is a tall spar (sailing), spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the median plane, median line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, givi ...
so that she would, in Shackleton's word's, "go down with colours flying". After a failed attempt to man-haul the boats and stores overland on sledges, Shackleton realised the effort was much too intense and that the party would have to camp on the ice until it carried them to the north and broke up. More parties were sent back to the ''Endurance'', still with her masts and rigging intact and all but her bow above the ice, to salvage any remaining items. By then, two days after abandoning her, the ship was submerged up to the
forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck (ship), deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is t ...
. A large portion of the provisions had been left on the submerged lower deck. The only way to retrieve them was to cut through the main deck, which was more than a foot thick in places and itself under three feet of water. Some crates and boxes floated up once a hole had been cut, while others were retrieved with a grapple. In total, nearly 3.5 tons of stores were recovered from the wrecked ship. The party was still camped under from the remains of the ''Endurance'' on 8 November when Shackleton returned to the ship to consider further salvage. By now the ship had sunk a further into the ice and the upper deck was now almost level with the ice. The interior of the ship was almost full of compacted ice and snow, making further work impossible. On 13 November, a new pressure wave swept through the pack ice. The forward topgallant mast and topmasts collapsed as the bow was finally crushed. These moments were recorded on film by expedition photographer
Frank Hurley James Francis "Frank" Hurley (15 October 1885 – 16 January 1962) was an Australian photographer and adventurer. He participated in a number of expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer with Australian forces durin ...
. The mainmast was split near its base and shortly afterwards the mainmast and the mizzen mast broke and collapsed together, with this also filmed by Hurley. In the late afternoon of 21 November, movement of the remaining wreckage was noticed as another pressure wave hit. Within the space of a minute, the stern of the ''Endurance'' was lifted clear of the ice as the floes moved together and then, as the pressure passed and they moved apart, the entire wreck fell into the ocean. The ice surrounding the spot where the ''Endurance'' had sunk immediately moved together again, obliterating any trace of the wreck. Worsley recorded the position as 68°39′30″ S, 52°26′30″ W but had been unable to obtain a sextant sight at the time and based the position on that of ''Ocean Camp'' at noon the following day.


Aftermath

The crew remained camped on the ice in the hopes that the floe would bring them closer to one of various islands. In April 1916, they set off in the ''Endurance''s three ship's boats and eventually landed on
Elephant Island Elephant Island is an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands, in the Southern Ocean. The island is situated north-northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, west-so ...
. Because the island was remote and rarely visited, Shackleton decided that help needed to be sought. On 24 April, he, Worsley, and four others began a voyage in a ship's boat, named ''James Caird'', for South Georgia. After reaching South Georgia, Shackleton worked on arranging a rescue mission for those left on Elephant Island. Shackleton and Worsley made three voyages in different vessels that were unable to get through the ice to reach them. The fourth attempt was made in the ill-suited ''Yelcho'' (lent by the Chilean government) and was successful. Despite the uncertainty of travel conditions (such as the vessel having no radio or double hull), all of the twenty-two members of the crew who had remained on Elephant Island were safely rescued on 30 August 1916 – 128 days after Shackleton had left in ''James Caird.'' The actual retrieval of the men from the beach was done as quickly as possible, before the ice closed in again. But, even in that haste, care was taken to collect all the records and photographs of the expedition, as these gave the only hope of Shackleton paying the expenses of the failed expedition. Meanwhile, Yelcho's commander Luis Pardo was quickly regarded as a national hero in Chile, with the British government granting him a large monetary award, which he turned down.


Wreck

In 1998, wreckage found at Stinker Point on the southwestern side of
Elephant Island Elephant Island is an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands, in the Southern Ocean. The island is situated north-northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, west-so ...
was incorrectly identified as flotsam from the ship. It instead was from the 1877 wreck of the Connecticut sealing ship ''Charles Shearer''. In 2001, wreck hunter David Mearns unsuccessfully planned an expedition to find the wreck of ''Endurance''. By 2003, two rival groups were making plans for an expedition to find the wreck, but no expedition was mounted at the time. In 2010, Mearns announced a new plan to search for the wreck. The plan was sponsored by the
National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...
but was subject to finding sponsorship for the balance of the US$10 million estimated cost. A 2013 study by Adrian Glover of the
Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...
, London correctly suggested the Antarctic Circumpolar Current could preserve the wreck on the seabed by keeping wood-boring "ship worms" away. A Weddell Sea Expedition to locate and possibly photograph the wreck using long-range
autonomous underwater vehicle An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring continuous input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification tha ...
s (AUVs) was underway in the Antarctic summer of 2018–2019. This expedition failed when the researchers' AUV was lost to the ice. Having examined
Frank Worsley Frank Arthur Worsley (22 February 1872 – 1 February 1943) was a New Zealand sailor and explorer who served on Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1916, as captain of ''Endurance''. He also served in the Royal ...
's original log books housed at the
Canterbury Museum, Christchurch The Canterbury Museum is a museum located in the Christchurch Central City, central city of Christchurch, New Zealand, in the city's Cultural Precinct. The museum was established in 1867 with Julius von Haast – whose collection formed its co ...
, New Zealand, and closely studied his navigational methods, Lars Bergman and Robin Stuart published an analysis of the wreck's likely position relative to the position given in the log. Experts speculated that the wreck rested on flat terrain at around , undisturbed by massive sediment deposition and little to no erosion. According to Julian Dowdeswell of the
Scott Polar Research Institute The Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) is a centre for research into the polar regions and glaciology worldwide. It is a sub-department of the Department of Geography in the University of Cambridge, located on Lensfield Road in the south ...
, the known conditions on the sea bed suggested that ''Endurance'' should not be damaged and that she would likely be in the same state as she was when she sank in the pack ice in 1915. He also noted that any future attempts at finding the ''Endurance'' would be "add-ons" to other main scientific expeditions to the area, such as the one in 2019, which was launched chiefly to study the melting and retreat of the Larsen ice shelves. In July 2021, the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust announced Endurance22, a new expedition to search for the wreck of ''Endurance'' that would launch in early 2022 using Saab submersible technology. If found, the wreck would not be disturbed, but instead scanned in 3D. On 7 February 2022 Lars Bergman, David Mearns and Robin Stuart released a preprint of their paper on the navigation of ''Endurance'', which had been previously submitted to the Journal of Navigation in July 2021. The paper was based upon a re-analysis of the original lunar occultation timings made by
Frank Worsley Frank Arthur Worsley (22 February 1872 – 1 February 1943) was a New Zealand sailor and explorer who served on Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1916, as captain of ''Endurance''. He also served in the Royal ...
and Reginald W. James, the expedition physicist, using modern lunar
ephemerides In astronomy and celestial navigation, an ephemeris (; ; , ) is a book with tables that gives the trajectory of naturally occurring astronomical objects and artificial satellites in the sky, i.e., the position (and possibly velocity) over time. ...
and catalogues of star positions, which allowed the authors to refine the predicted sinking position of ''Endurance''. According to the authors their latest paper is "a more complete, accurate and reliable basis for determining the most probable sinking location of Endurance". David Mearns delivered the 2022 EGR Taylor Lecture on their analysis and the final paper appeared online on 21 February 2023. Bergman, Mearns and Stuart were awarded a special Certificate of Achievement by the
Royal Institute of Navigation The Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) is a learned society and a professional body for navigation. The RIN was founded in 1947 as a forum for mariners, pilots, engineers and academics to compare their experiences and exchange information. Toda ...
"in recognition of their pioneering data analysis and modelling leading to the successful location of ''Endurance''s wreck".


Discovery

The wreck of ''Endurance'' was discovered on 5 March 2022. Endurance22 announced, in a 9 March 2022 press release, that they had found the wreck in the Weddell Sea at a depth of . Although the wreck's position was initially described as being about south of Worsley's original calculated location, the true position was later revealed to be 68°44′21″ S, 52°19′47″ W which is South, East ( total distance) of the position given in the log. Mensun Bound, the expedition's director of exploration, said that Worsley's navigational skills had helped the expedition find the wreck; his historic "detailed records were invaluable". Additionally, sea ice, which covers the Weddell Sea year-round and has historically been so thick as to make underwater exploration nearly impossible, was recorded as being at its lowest levels around Antarctica since space satellite records began being kept in the 1970s. The discoverers on board the South African research vessel '' S. A. Agulhas II'' said that the wreck was in remarkably good condition, and that they had filmed and photographed it extensively, including with ultra-high-definition 3D scanning. The name ''Endurance'' on the stern remains clearly legible. In keeping with the team's promise, they did not salvage any part of the wreck or of its contents, as the ship came under the definition of a protected historic site and monument as set forth in the
Antarctic Treaty System The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. It was the first arms ...
. A legal protection perimeter around the wreck is being widened from 500m to 1,500m. The search for the ''Endurance'' and its discovery were able to be followed by students around the world, thanks to the efforts of the expedition's educational partner, ''Reach the World''. ''Reach the World'' conducted live streams, created educational resources, and published informational updates at regular intervals before, during, and after the expedition.


Crew

The crew of ''Endurance'' on her final voyage was made up of the 28 men, including Sir Ernest Shackleton, listed below. They were accompanied by
Mrs Chippy Mrs Chippy was a male ship's cat who accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917. Life Mrs Chippy, a tiger-striped tabby, was taken on board the ship used by the expedition's Weddell Sea party, , as ...
, a male
ship's cat The ship's cat has been a common feature on many Merchant vessel, trading, History of research ships, exploration, and naval ships dating to ancient times. Cats have been brought on ships for many reasons, most importantly to control rodents. ...
, and originally sixty-nine sledge dogs with additional litters of puppies born during the expedition. After the ''Endurance'' became trapped in pack ice and was destroyed, Shackleton decided that Mrs Chippy and some of the younger dogs would not survive and had to be shot. * Sir
Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarcti ...
, expedition leader *
Frank Wild John Robert Francis Wild (18 April 1873 – 19 August 1939) was an English sailor and explorer. He participated in five expeditions to Antarctica during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, for which he was awarded the Polar Medal ...
, second-in-command *
Frank Worsley Frank Arthur Worsley (22 February 1872 – 1 February 1943) was a New Zealand sailor and explorer who served on Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1916, as captain of ''Endurance''. He also served in the Royal ...
, captain and navigator * Lionel Greenstreet, first officer * Tom Crean, second officer * Alfred Cheetham, third officer *
Hubert Hudson Huberht Taylor Hudson, RD (17 September 1886 – 15 June 1942), commonly known as Hubert Hudson instead of by his actual first name (an Old English version of the name), was a navigating officer in the British Royal Navy, who took part in Ernes ...
, navigator * Lewis Rickinson, engineer *
Alexander Kerr Alexander John Henry Kerr (2 December 1892 – 4 December 1964) was an English Engineering officer (ship), marine engineer and wholesale newsagent. He is best known for his service in the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1916, for ...
, engineer *
Alexander Macklin Alexander Hepburne Macklin (1 September 1889 – 21 March 1967) was a Scottish physician who served as one of the two surgeons on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917. In 1921–1922, he joined the ...
, surgeon * James McIlroy, surgeon * Sir James Wordie, geologist *
Leonard Hussey Leonard Duncan Albert Hussey, Order of the British Empire, OBE (6 May 1891 – 25 February 1964) was an English meteorologist, archaeologist, explorer, medical doctor and member of Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, Imperia ...
, meteorologist * Reginald James, physicist * Robert Clark, biologist *
Frank Hurley James Francis "Frank" Hurley (15 October 1885 – 16 January 1962) was an Australian photographer and adventurer. He participated in a number of expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer with Australian forces durin ...
, photographer * George Marston, artist *
Thomas Orde-Lees Major (United Kingdom), Major Thomas Hans Orde-Lees, Order of the British Empire, OBE, Air Force Cross (United Kingdom), AFC (23 May 1877 – 1 December 1958) was a member of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914&n ...
, motor expert and storekeeper * Harry "Chippy" McNish, carpenter * Charles Green, cook * Walter How, able seaman * William Bakewell, able seaman * Timothy McCarthy, able seaman * Thomas McLeod, able seaman * John Vincent, boatswain * Ernest Holness, stoker *
William Stephenson Sir William Samuel Stephenson (born William Samuel Clouston Stanger, 23 January 1897 – 31 January 1989) was a Canadian soldier, fighter pilot, businessman and spymaster who served as the senior representative of the British Security Coord ...
, stoker * Perce Blackborow, steward


Legacy

Two
Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...
patrol ships of the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
have been named ''Endurance'' in honour of Shackleton's ship. The first , launched in May 1956 and given the pennant number A171 sometime later, served as an ice patrol and hydrographic survey ship until 1986. The second was bought from Norway in 1991, where she had been named MV ''Polar Circle''. After initially keeping that name, she was renamed ''Endurance'', serving as an icebreaker. The
SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...
Crew Dragon ''Endurance'' was named in part in honour of the ship. In 2021, Lindblad Expeditions in conjunction with
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
launched the ''Endurance'', a polar cruise ship named in honour of Shackleton's voyage.
LEGO Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...
released a set based on the Endurance for Black Friday, 29 November 2024.


See also

* List of Antarctic exploration ships from the Heroic Age, 1897–1922


Notes and citations


Notes


Citations


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * *


External links

* {{Authority control 1912 ships 2022 archaeological discoveries Barques Exploration ships Historic Sites and Monuments of Antarctica Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition Individual sailing vessels Maritime incidents in 1915 Merchant ships of Norway Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Ships built in Sandefjord Shipwrecks in the Southern Ocean Steamships of Norway Steamships of the United Kingdom Tall ships of Norway Tall ships of the United Kingdom