A South African crew hope to make history this summer in a daring mission to locate a legendary ship that sank in Antarctica more than a century ago.
The SA Agulhas II sets sail next weekend to the Weddell Sea to look for the Endurance, the lost ship of early 20th century polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.
The vessel sank in 1915 after being crushed by ice during the failed Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition to cross the Antarctic mainland.
Shackleton and some of his crew then sailed almost 1,300km in a lifeboat to reach safety and arrange the rescue of the shipmates they left behind.
• 3,000m: Estimated depth of the Endurance wreck in the Weddell Sea
• 1,300km: Distance travelled by Ernest Shackleton and his crew to reach safety
— IN NUMBERS
The South Africans, under the command of Captain Knowledge Bengu, will join a multinational team which first needs to reach the approximate wreck site sandwiched between icebergs, then locate the wreck with the help of hi-tech submersibles.
The team includes world-renowned scientists and marine archaeologists, whose presence partly explains the expedition’s billing as “the history event of the year”.
Another standout feature is an expedition partnership with a video and content company, which will broadcast live from expedition ice camps, turning the mission into a global media event.
It is the second mission to find the Endurance aboard the SA Agulhas II. The previous voyage in 2019 was abandoned when the Weddell Sea started freezing over. In the process, the team lost one of their submersibles, which joined the wreck of the Shackleton deep underwater.
“The master, ice pilot and crew of the South African vessel, Agulhas II, are experienced and in 2019 showed their ability to get to the wreck site,” said Donald Lamont, chair of the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, which is co-ordinating the expedition.
“We are able to deploy the latest technology and have a skilled team of marine archaeologists, scientists, engineers and technicians who can apply their knowledge to locating and surveying the wreck.”
In addition to the SA Agulhas II and her crew, the South African expedition involvement includes:
- Scientists from the South African Weather Service and Stellenbosch University;
- Helicopters provided by Ultimate Heli and ice camp services from Antarctic tourism company White Desert; and
- Medical supplies and polar clothing.
All 43 SA crew have been vaccinated against Covid, and the team includes students from the SA International Maritime Institute’s national cadet training programme.
The ice-strengthened SA Agulhas II was built in Finland and cost R1.3bn. It’s capable of an open-water speed of 16 knots and is managed by SA marine services company Amsol.
Polar explorer and expedition leader John Shears said the expedition required several months of intensive preparation, including sea trials of the submersible technology.
“The sea trials provided a great opportunity for the thorough testing of the search technology. They reaffirmed its capability and gave the engineers and technicians the chance to train and gain invaluable experience in benign conditions, before testing their ability to launch through the ice,” Shears said in a statement.
“While there remains no guarantee of success, we are now fully prepared and ready for this amazing mission of exploration.”
Director of exploration Mensun Bound said: “We will do everything we can to survey and capture footage of the Endurance and to bring the epic tale of her final voyage, and of the leadership, courage and fortitude of her crew, to people around the world.”
Dan Snow, co-founder and creative director of History Hit, which will broadcast the expedition online, said the hunt for Shackleton’s wreck “will be the biggest story in the world of history in 2022”.
For their journey, the survivors were only equipped with boots they had pushed screws into to act as climbing boots, a carpenter's adze and 50 feet of rope
— Description of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 51km hike across South Georgia Island to a remote whaling station during his rescue mission
“We will be able to reach tens of millions of history fans all over the world, in real time. We are able to deploy some of the world’s biggest history podcasts, YouTube channels, Facebook pages and TikTok accounts to reach a massive number of history lovers,” said Snow.
“We are going to tell the story of Shackleton and this expedition to find his lost ship like never before. Live-streaming and podcasting from ice camps, recording a vast amount of content that will live online and be accessible for generations to come. It’s a dream come true.”
The Endurance ground to a halt in an ice floe on January 9 1915. Shackleton waited almost a year, hoping the ice would melt, but instead the ship sank and the polar party had to camp on the floating ice for two months.
When the floe began to break up, the crew boarded three 6m lifeboats and spent five days at sea before reaching the uninhabited Elephant Island.
From there, one of the boats set off for help and sailed 1,300km to a whaling station on South Georgia Island. All the crew were subsequently rescued.
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