FINDING ENDURANCE

The loss of the ship under the ice triggered one of history’s greatest survival stories. Shackleton and his 27 men spent weeks on the ice before using the ship’s lifeboats to reach nearby Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands.

The most remarkable part of the epic, though, saw Shackleton and five others sail the jury-rigged James Caird lifeboat 800 miles from Elephant Island to South Georgia – across treacherous, freezing waters with scant navigational equipment. The remainder of the crew were rescued in August 1916.
A number of previous expeditions to find the Endurance have failed.
Beginning in January next year, a British-led team from Cambridge University’s Scott Polar Research Institute will use autonomous underwater vehicles to travel almost two miles under the ice, using co-ordinates taken by the Endurance’s captain, Frank Worsley, as the ship sunk.
A rival expedition is being launched by US shipwreck hunter David Mearns, who has been studying Endurance for more than 15 years.