Incredible new details of Shackleton’s sunken Endurance ship revealed in 3D scan
Shackleton’s final Antarctic mission started with grand ambitions. Having recruited 27 men, he was hoping to lead some of them on the first-ever full crossing of Antarctica by land.
The 3D scan of HMS Endurance is pictured. (Photo credit: Falklands Heritage Maritime Trust/National Geographic via CNN Newsource)
(CNN) — A new 3D scan has revealed previously unseen details of the wreck of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton’s HMS Endurance, which was found in 2022 – more than a century after the ship sank.
The scan, seen by CNN on Thursday, makes it look as though the ship, which sank after being crushed by sea ice in 1915, has been miraculously lifted out of the Weddell Sea onto dry land in one piece.
It shows plates used by the crew scattered across the ship, plus other visible artifacts such as a boot and a flare gun, which remain on deck despite the ship sitting at a depth of 3,008 meters (1.9 miles or about 9,900 feet).
The 3D images have been released as part of a new documentary film “Endurance,” which will premiere at the London Film Festival on Saturday before being released in UK cinemas from Monday and on Disney+ later in the year.
The film, from National Geographic Documentary Films, is directed by Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin and Natalie Hewit.
It tells the story of Shackleton’s ill-fated voyage, as well as that of the expedition that discovered the wreck of the Endurance in 2022.
That recent expedition was funded by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust (FMHT), which celebrated the release of the documentary in a statement last month.
“As well as locating, surveying and filming the wreck, our aim was to bring the stories of Shackleton and of his ship to new generations,” said FMHT chairman Donald Lamont in the statement.
A boot believed to have possibly been worn by Frank Wild, Shackleton's second-in-command, can be seen. (Photo credit: Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust via CNN Newsource)
“They are stories of grit and determination that we hope will inspire people across the globe with the qualities of leadership and perseverance in the face of adversity.”
Prior to the Endurance voyage, Shackleton had established himself as a polar explorer after a career in the merchant navy. He had to leave a 1906 Antarctic expedition due to ill health, but led another successful one south in 1908. His exploits earned him a knighthood, becoming Sir Ernest Shackleton in 1909.
Shackleton’s final Antarctic mission started with grand ambitions. Having recruited 27 men, he was hoping to lead some of them on the first-ever full crossing of Antarctica by land, just a couple of years after Norwegian Roald Amundsen had become the first person to reach the South Pole.
However, the Endurance became stuck in the sea ice, and eventually succumbed to the immense pressures of the frozen landscape and sank.
The crew of the Endurance is pictured eating a meal on board, four months before they were forced to abandon ship. (Photo credit: Frank Hurley/RGS via CNN Newsource)
Shackleton then showed his legendary qualities as a leader by leading a small party across stormy seas to South Georgia, where they enlisted help to rescue the 22 men who remained camped on the ice.
Not a single crew member was lost, cementing Shackleton’s place in the history books.
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CNN’s Barry Neild and Lilit Marcus contributed to this report.
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