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https://theconversation.com/the-wreck-of-endurance-is-a-bridge-to-a-bygone-age-and-a-reminder-of-antarcticas-uncertain-future-179021>
"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.
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. His evocative images of the sinking ship helped the expedition gain
widespread attention and cemented Endurance’s place in Antarctic history. But
what became of the sunken ship?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
