Ernest Shackleton's lost ship found off Antarctica.

[Sedalia Dave]

Endurance wreck: Ernest Shackleton's lost ship found off Antarctica

 

Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship, Endurance, has been found after 107 years. This 4k footage shows the preserved vessel 3008 metres below the ocean surface, discovered just four miles south of the location recorded at the time by ship’s captain, Frank Worsley.
 

 

Antarctic explorer Shackleton’s ship found after a century

 

LONDON (AP) — Scientists say they have found the sunken wreck of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, more than a century after it was lost to the Antarctic ice.
The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust says the vessel lies 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) below the surface of the Weddell Sea, about 6.4 kilometers (four miles) south of the location recorded in 1915 by its captain, Frank Worsley.
An expedition set off from South Africa last month to search for the ship, which was crushed by ice and sank in November 1915.
Mensun Bound, director of exploration for the Endurance22 expedition, said footage revealed the ship to be in remarkably good condition.
“This is by far the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen,” he said. “It is upright, well proud (clear) of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation. You can even see ‘Endurance’ arced across the stern, directly below the taffrail.”

Shackleton’s 1914-16 attempt to become the first person to cross Antarctica via the South Pole failed -- he never set foot on the continent. But his successful bid to reach help at a remote South Atlantic whaling station and rescue his men is considered a heroic feat of endurance. All the men survived and were rescued many months later.

 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

Final voyage of the Endurance

 

 

[Canton Chris]

That’s really interesting, thnx for posting! I also didn’t know they had portable motion camera technology in 1915.

[Utah Bob #35998]

I wonder why the masts snapped like that?

[Pat Riot]

11 minutes ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

I wonder why the masts snapped like that?

There was a cold snap...

 

 

 

 

I'll let myself out. Thanks 

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

The ship was gradually crushed in the ice and I expect damage to the masts resulted from that process.

[Sedalia Dave]

1 hour ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

I wonder why the masts snapped like that?

 

As the ship was being crushed the relationship between the base of the mast, the port rigging attachment points, and the Starboard rigging attachment points was in constant flux.  The masts snapped due to the unequal strain being applied by the rigging. 

 

The pressure of the ice was so great that it warped the kneel of the ship. In their reports of the events leading up to the sinking, oak timbers several feet thick were being bent and distorted. The Endurance was an extremely well built ship with extra reinforcements and a thicker than normal hull to withstand the pressure of the ice. 

 

<quote>

Though her hull looked from the outside like that of any other vessel of a comparable size, it was not. She was designed for polar conditions with a very sturdy construction. Her keel members were four pieces of solid oak, one above the other, adding up to a thickness of 85 inches (2,200 mm), while its sides were between 30 inches (760 mm) and 18 inches (460 mm) thick, with twice as many frames as normal and the frames being of double thickness. She was built of planks of oak and Norwegian fir up to 30 inches (760 mm) thick, sheathed in greenheart, an exceptionally strong and heavy wood. The bow, which would meet the ice head-on, had been given special attention. Each timber had been made from a single oak tree chosen for its shape so that its natural shape followed the curve of the ship's design. When put together, these pieces had a thickness of 52 inches (1,300 mm).

<end quote>

 

The Greenheart wood used as sheeting is considered one of the strongest types of wood in the world. It is twice as tough as English Oak and  68% stronger than Live Oak. 

 

Reports from the journey talked about "young ice being only 2 feet thick.

The pack ice that trapped and eventually crushed the ship was 12 to 18 feet in thickness. 

[Dutch Nichols, SASS #6461]

As the ship was being crushed the relationship between the base of the mast, the port rigging attachment points, and the Starboard rigging attachment points was in constant flux.  The masts snapped due to the unequal strain being applied by the rigging. 

 

If they only brought a flux capacitor the ship could  have been saved!

[Dawg Hair, SASS #29557]

I wonder how much of her cargo they able to salvage.

[Buckshot Bear]

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

1 hour ago, Dawg Hair, SASS #29557 said:

I wonder how much of her cargo they able to salvage.

 

As I recall from reading Lansing's "Endurance" (long ago) the whole process went on a long time and they were able to offload the cargo and supplies. One of the things that led ultimately to everybody surviving after many another intervening vicissitude.

[Utah Bob #35998]

4 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

There was a cold snap...

 

 

 

 

I'll let myself out. Thanks 

MODERATORS, Ban dis guy!! Do it!!! 

[Still hand Bill]

7 hours ago, Dawg Hair, SASS #29557 said:

I wonder how much of her cargo they able to salvage.

Turns out it’s in a marine refuge, so they are not allowed to remove anything.  Also it’s 10,000 fit down.  Guess there is nothing that eats wood in that part of the ocean, so it’s pristine for a wreck.  
 

one of the things I find most interesting about the whole story is it happened in 1915.   After the invention of the car and airplane. 

[El CupAJoe]

8 hours ago, Still hand Bill said:

Turns out it’s in a marine refuge, so they are not allowed to remove anything.  Also it’s 10,000 fit down.  Guess there is nothing that eats wood in that part of the ocean, so it’s pristine for a wreck.  
 

one of the things I find most interesting about the whole story is it happened in 1915.   After the invention of the car and airplane. 

Cold water is a great preservative see the Vasa wreck.  

 

[Capt. R. Hugh Kidnme]

19 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

Endurance wreck: Ernest Shackleton's lost ship found off Antarctica

 

Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship, Endurance, has been found after 107 years. This 4k footage shows the preserved vessel 3008 metres below the ocean surface, discovered just four miles south of the location recorded at the time by ship’s captain, Frank Worsley.
 

 

Antarctic explorer Shackleton’s ship found after a century

 

LONDON (AP) — Scientists say they have found the sunken wreck of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, more than a century after it was lost to the Antarctic ice.
The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust says the vessel lies 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) below the surface of the Weddell Sea, about 6.4 kilometers (four miles) south of the location recorded in 1915 by its captain, Frank Worsley.
An expedition set off from South Africa last month to search for the ship, which was crushed by ice and sank in November 1915.
Mensun Bound, director of exploration for the Endurance22 expedition, said footage revealed the ship to be in remarkably good condition.
“This is by far the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen,” he said. “It is upright, well proud (clear) of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation. You can even see ‘Endurance’ arced across the stern, directly below the taffrail.”

Shackleton’s 1914-16 attempt to become the first person to cross Antarctica via the South Pole failed -- he never set foot on the continent. But his successful bid to reach help at a remote South Atlantic whaling station and rescue his men is considered a heroic feat of endurance. All the men survived and were rescued many months later.

 

 

SD,

  Thanks - great post. Very interesting indeed.