S.A. AGULHAS II

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Shackleton-ship finally found

The AUV 'Sabertooth' of the 'S.A. Agulhas II' has found and filmed the wreck of the 'Endurance' of the famous explorer Shackleton 107 years after it sank, on March 5 at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. The ship was crushed by sea-ice and sank in 1915, forcing Shackleton and his men to make an astonishing escape on foot and in small boats. Even though it has been sitting in 3008 meters of water for over a century, it looks just like it did on the November day it went down. Its timbers, although disrupted, were still very much together, and the name - 'Endurance' - is clearly visible on the stern. "Without any exaggeration this is the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen - by far. It is upright, well proud of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation," said marine archaeologist Mensun Bound, who is on the discovery expedition and has now fulfilled a dream ambition in his near 50-year career. The project to find the lost ship was mounted by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust (FMHT), using the 'S.A. Agulhas II', which was equipped with ROVs. The mission's leader, the veteran polar geographer Dr John Shears, described the moment cameras landed on the ship's name as "jaw-dropping. The discovery of the wreck is an incredible achievement. We have successfully completed the world's most difficult shipwreck search, battling constantly shifting sea-ice, blizzards, and temperatures dropping down to -18C. We have achieved what many people said was impossible." For over two weeks, the subs had combed a predefined search area, led by the Drift&Noise in Bremen, investigating various interesting targets, before finally uncovering the wreck site on the 100th anniversary of Shackleton's funeral. The days since the discovery have been spent making a detailed photographic record of the timbers and surrounding debris field. The wreck itself is a designated monument under the international Antarctic Treaty and must not be disturbed in any way. No physical artefacts have therefore been brought to the surface. The ship looks much the same as when photographed for the last time by Shackleton's filmmaker, Frank Hurley, in 1915. The masts were down, the rigging was in a tangle, but the hull was broadly coherent. Some damage was evident at the bow, presumably where the descending ship hit the seabed. The anchors were present. The subs even spied some boots and crockery. "You can even see the ship's name - E N D U R A N C E - arced across its stern directly below the taffrail (a hand rail near the stern). And beneath, as bold as brass, is Polaris, the five-pointed star, after which the ship was originally named. You can see a porthole that is Shackleton's cabin. At that moment, you really do feel the breath of the great man upon the back of your neck," said Mensun Bound. The wreck has been colonised by an abundance of life - but not of the type that would consume it. "It would appear that there is little wood deterioration, inferring that the wood-munching animals found in other areas of our ocean are, perhaps unsurprisingly, not in the forest-free Antarctic region. The Endurance, looking like a ghost ship, is sprinkled with an impressive diversity of deep-sea marine life - stalked sea squirts, anemones, sponges of various forms, brittlestars, and crinoids (related to urchins and sea stars), all filter feeding nutrition from the cool deep waters of the Weddell Sea.," commented deep-sea polar biologist Dr. Michelle Taylor from Essex University. The 'S.A. Agulhas' wrapped up the survey of the wreck and departed the search site on March 8. The icebreaker was now heading for its home port of Cape Town. But the intention was to call into the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia where Shackleton is buried at the Grytviken Whaling Station on South Georgia. Report with photos and video: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60654016

Reaearch ship stuck in ice

On its expedition to find the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship 'Endurance' in the Antarctic, the 'SA Agulhas II' found itself stuck in the ice in the Antarctic near the spot it was believed the 'Endurance' was lost. Six days ago the team announced that they had reached the Weddell Sea. Temperatures dropped to minus 10C and the team encountered an unnerving experience after their research vessel also got stuck in ice. The expedition, the second by the team in three years, set out in January on the hundredth anniversary of Shackleton’s birth to search for his lost vessel. The wreck of the 'Endurance' is thought to lie in about 3,000 meters of water deep below the Antarctic ice. Their prior attempt in 2019 was forced to turn back after the loss of equipment and the unrelenting ice failed to give up any of its secrets. The ship reached the area of the Wendell Sea on Feb 16, and the following day they reported that they had made history when their underwater vehicle was deployed and reached the seabed for the first time. On Feb 20, they were still reporting that the ice conditions were remaining favourable calling the upcoming days critical to their mission. The ice is constantly moving in the area and can rapidly change. If the 'Endurance' is found, the wreck will be surveyed by the Sabertooths laser scanner to produce a 3D model and full photogrammetric coverage of the wreck and its debris field. The resulting graphical data will be precisely scaled allowing the wreck, together with its equipment, fittings, and contents, to be recorded to a level of accuracy comparable to that of an archaeological survey on land. The expedition plans to be at sea for 35 days, but the mission can be extended up to 45 days if required.

Search for lost expedition ship started

In the morning of Feb 5, 2022, the 'S.A. Agulhas II' left with a crew of 46 and a 64-member expedition team aboard, including scientists from top international institutions, Cape Town in search of Ernest Shackleton's ship 'Endurance', which sank off the coast of Antarctica in 1915 after being crushed by pack ice. As part of the renowned polar explorer's Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition between 1914 and 1917, the 'Endurance' was meant to make the first land crossing of Antarctica, but it fell victim to the Weddell Sea. East of the Larsen ice shelves on the Antarctic peninsula, it became ensnared in sea-ice for over 10 months before being crushed and sinking about 3,000 meters deep. After the ship sank, for the next five months, the men drifted on the equivalent of a melting ice cube, 1,000 miles from civilization. Desperate and hungry, finally they had no choice but to shoot their animals, eat them, and take to their lifeboats. They eventually made it to an outpost called Elephant Island. Almost as soon as the men reached land,Shackleton picked five volunteers and prepared the sturdiest of the life boats, the James Caird, for an even more extraordinary voyage. They set sail in a 22 1/2 foot boat for South Georgia Island, more than 800 miles away to get help. The 22 men left behind on Elephant Island had no idea whether Shackleton and the others were alive or dead. Weakened, malnourished, demoralized, they still packed up every day just in case Shackleton appeared to rescue hem. After four months and four tries, Shackleton did appear, on Aug. 30, 1916.