The wreck of Endurance, the ship of the Antarctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton, has been discovered. She was located on 5th March 2022, 107 years after she sank, by the search team Endurance22. By coincidence, it was the 100th anniversary of Shackleton‘s funeral in 1922. Lying 3008 metres (9869 feet) deep on the ocean bed, Endurance is—thanks to the absence of wood-eating worms in the cold polar waters—still in excellent condition, the name ENDURANCE clearly visible across the stern. Apart from the fallen masts and some damage to the bow, the ship looks much the same as it did when photographed for the last time by Shackleton's film-maker Frank Hurley, in 1915.

15th March 2022

The search team were indebted to the navigational records kept by Endurance's captain Frank Worsley. They found the wreck just 6.4 kilometres (4 miles) south of Worsley's location, which he had calculated by using an instrument called a sextant to record the position of its sinking. They were also helped by the fact that thick sea ice, which covers the Weddell Sea all year round and normally makes underwater exploration almost impossible, was at its thinnest since satellite observations were begun in the 1970s. The search team, on board the research vessel Agulhas II, used remotely operated submersibles to film the wreck extensively. They also carried out an ultra-high-definition 3D scanning. The wreck is a protected historic site and monument under the Antarctic Treaty, so no part of it was salvaged.
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Endurance was the ship in which Shackleton and a crew of 27 men (plus one cat) sailed for Antarctica in December 1914. The men formed the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition and their goal was to become the first people to cross the icy continent from coast to coast. They were to travel by dog-sled from the Weddell Sea via the South Pole to Ross Island in the Ross Sea, a distance of about 2900 kilometres (1800 miles).
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Endurance was to sail across the Weddell Sea to reach the Antarctic coast—but she never made her destination. The sea froze and the ship became trapped in the pack ice. After drifting northwards, she was crushed by the ice and finally sank on 21st November 1915. Shackleton and his crew crossed to Elephant Island in lifeboats. Then, leaving behind most of his crew on the island, Shackleton and five companions set off for South Georgia to seek help. Nearly five months later, the crew on Elephant Island were picked up. All of them—apart from the ship's cat—survived.