Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance has been unveiled through amazing 3D digital scans – over 100 years after sinking,
Sinking in 1915, the public will now be able to see the ship that rests 3,000m beneath the Weddell Sea.
The vessel was discovered back in 2022. Since then, 25,000 high-resolution images have been taken and compiled together, producing an incredible digital scan.
The team has examined the life-like scan for minute details, each of which has a unique story.
Explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton led the imperial Trans-Atlantic Expedition which set out with hopes to make the first land crossing of Antarctica.
However, after setting off from South Georgia, Endurance encountered pack ice just weeks into the ill-fated expedition.
The ship then drifted for months before the crew were eventually given orders to abandon the ship. Following this, the vessel sank on November 21, 1915.
The explorer and his team then had to make their way back through extreme elements, travelling for hundreds of miles over ice, land and sea. All 27 crew members survived.
The crew onboard kept journals during their voyage, which is where this incredible story was recorded. Throughout the diaries, there were references to a flare gun. The scan extraordinarily shows a flare gun lying on the wreck.
The expedition’s photographer, Frank Hurley, fired the gun as the ship was tragically lost to the Antarctic ice.
“Hurley gets this flare gun, and he fires the flare gun into the air with a massive detonator as a tribute to the ship,” Dr John Shears, who led the expedition that found Endurance, tells the BBC.
He adds: “Then in the diary, he talks about putting it down on the deck. And there we are. We come back over 100 years later, and there’s that flare gun. Incredible.”
Endurance was lost until 2022, preserved by the icy waters.
The footage taken of the ship can only be seen through the murky waters. But, the 3D scan shows the complete wooden wreck from bow to stern, which is 44m long.
The new scan was made using underwater robots that mapped Endurance from every possible angle. The photographs taken were then stitched together, creating a digital version.
The footage has now been released as part of a new documentary called Endurance, which will be shown at cinemas.
Shackleton’s descendants say Endurance will never be raised – and its location in one of the most remote parts of the globe means visiting the wreck again would be extremely challenging.
