Endurance: Shackleton's lost ship is found in Antarctic
What was one of the world's greatest undiscovered shipwrecks is identified on the Antarctic seafloor.
www.bbc.com
Shackleton's Endurance Found
- Thread starter Leeward Rail
- Start date
The story is an amazing read. Had he been able to control his ego, they might have sailed under better conditions and been successful.
Are you saying Shackleton knowingly embarked at a less than ideal time?
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 22,980
It was a race to be the first. Eve of World War One. Others are seeking the glory of first to discover. The Antarctic is the last left mystery of the 20th Century.
That was a huge factor.
They left almost at the same moment Germany declared war.
Had he waited, his crew would have been in the war and he wouldn't have had the money to make the trip.
When they stopped at Eastbourne, Germany had declared war and he offered to do his duty and stop the expedition, but got final permission from the King to continue the trip.
Bad timing in hindsight, but no crystal ball was working.
He also had big financial pressures to get started. The whole thing was touch and go as to it ever being attempted.
Had they turned back for a later attempt, the expedition would never have happened and the financial fallout would have been worse.
The big problem..is we now know, and as the wreck expedition crew said.. the Weddell sea is always full of ice.
When a team with a modern icebreaker with modern weather monitoring, says that their own mission was very difficult due to the prevailing conditions there..
Edit: short of reading his diary which is available online, and modern books.. here is a good summary of the WW1 connection.
The ‘White Warfare of the South’: Shackleton’s Endurance Expedition and the First World War
This week the country is marking the 100th anniversary of Britain’s entry into the First World War. As Dr Robin Eagles, Senior Research Fellow in our House of Lords 1660-1832 section, explains, thi…
thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com
Last edited:
So, I'm not sure I understand the logic of an international treaty that leaves shipwrecks alone. It certainly is not environmentally beneficial to leave it there and it does not enhance our understanding of history or anything else for that matter to leave it there. This smacks of…. “I don’t want you to have it so lets agree we both can’t have it”.
Help me understand this.
Help me understand this.
If it was a modern ship with fuel leaking I would agree. But since contamination is likely not an issue now, due to it being a steam powered ship I can't see the problem ?
It is evidently a home to some creatures now so that can be good. That might be the issue, since the treaty has rules against disturbing flora and fauna there ?
Isn't there also a rule about disturbing historical artifacts there ? Is that the regulation they are talking about ?
That said... If anyone wants to dive down and get me that wheel for my livingroom wall...
Last edited:
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 22,980
I was talking with a diver yesterday. Took up the hobby when the quality of fishing declined. Said he dove on a wreck in the Georgia Strait not far from Nanaimo. Said it was the coldest 20 minutes in his life. Now he dives off the Hawaiian Islands.
Interesting read... but I still contend that this is a case of "we don't want you to have it so nobody can have it.".
I, for one, would love to see that sitting in a museum semi (or fully) restored.
Assuming it was possible to retrieve it, more or less intact from 10,000ft down, and bring it to the UK, I doubt the cost would justify the small museum fees that people would pay.
At best they would haul parts up, like the ships wheel, bell etc.
It's not like the Vasa, which was sitting in a harbour 1400 yards from her launch ramp, in 100 feet of water, not crushed by ice.
I don’t know much about the treaty but when Titanic was found Ballard wanted it “left alone” out of respect (so claimed) for those who suffered the tragedy and died when the ship went down. International salvagers did not see it way, however. No one died on the Shackleton expedition, so no need for the reverence. Great story of the voyage in the books, but it did not produce much of an enduring nature. Bring it up and put it on display for posterity if anyone really wishes to, IMHO.
It’s similar to the stuff you read here. A ship is never really “ready.” “Just go.”
I find it interesting that in the account of the rediscovery of Endurance, they state that this year presented a rare opportunity to find the wreck because "This past month has seen the lowest extent of Antarctic sea-ice ever recorded during the satellite era, which stretches back to the 1970s. The conditions were unexpectedly favourable."
The wreck site is 575nm NNW (470 due north) of southernmost point that she sailed to in open water before being trapped in the ice. Endurance sank because the sea ice was beginning to break up and the resulting pressure waves would open and close the floes around her like a giant nut cracker. Her final sinking was one of these times when the ice opened up and she sank in a pool of open water which then closed over her.
The wreck site is 575nm NNW (470 due north) of southernmost point that she sailed to in open water before being trapped in the ice. Endurance sank because the sea ice was beginning to break up and the resulting pressure waves would open and close the floes around her like a giant nut cracker. Her final sinking was one of these times when the ice opened up and she sank in a pool of open water which then closed over her.
The Antarctic Treaty rules have nothing to do with reverence.
She's at a shallower depth than the Titanic but in a much more inhospitable place, so any attempt at recovery now would likely be difficult and expensive. I can't see it making any financial sense unless some billionaire has a Shackleton fetish, and is willing to try get special international permission to do recovery.
Alas, I can't see enough average people willing to pay much to see it or artifacts from it.
The James Caird is in Dulwich College, and isn't much of a draw or revenue generator. If anything, SHE is a boat worth seeing because she had a much bigger role in the resulting story.