The wreck of Endurance is a bridge to a bygone age, and a reminder of Antarctica’s uncertain future

By Dilip -

Superbly clear images of the shipwreck Endurance, 3,000 metres below the ocean’s surface in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea, were this week broadcast around the world. Found by the Endurance 22 Expedition using a state-of-the-art autonomous underwater vehicle, we now have images almost as iconic as those taken of the stricken ship by Australian photographer and expedition member Frank Hurley in 1915. Endurance was the ship of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Led by British-Irish explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition aimed to cross Antarctica on foot for the first time, from the Weddell Sea (south of the Atlantic Ocean) to the Ross Sea (south of New Zealand), via the South Pole.

Voyages of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Red, voyage of Endurance; yellow, drift of Endurance in pack ice; green, sea ice drift after sinking of Endurance; blue, voyage of James Caird; cyan, planned trans-Antarctic route; orange, voyage of Aurora; pink, retreat of Aurora; brown, supply depot route. Endurance departed England in August 1914, just as the first world war was breaking out. The ship entered Antarctica’s pack ice in December 1914 and by February 1915 was firmly ice-bound in the Weddell Sea. By October, the shifting pack ice began to crush the ship, which sank the following month.

Hurley famously dived into the flooded interior of the sinking Endurance to retrieve about 120 photographic plates, leaving some 400 behind. The crew then trekked to the edge of the sea ice, and got to Elephant Island in April 1916. From there, Shackleton led a smaller team, using the lifeboat James Caird to cross the stormy Southern Ocean and reach the island of South Georgia to raise the alarm.

The expedition crew – and Hurley’s plates – were finally rescued in August 1916…

https://theconversation.com/the-wreck-of-endurance-is-a-bridge-to-a-bygone-age-and-a-reminder-of-antarcticas-uncertain-future-179021


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