Hardy hikers follow in the footsteps of Shackleton and Worsley across South Georgia. Photo / Michael Baynes, Aurora Expeditions
Hardy hikers follow in the footsteps of Shackleton and Worsley across South Georgia. Photo / Michael Baynes, Aurora Expeditions
The discovery of one of history's most famous shipwrecks this week, found more than 3000m below the ocean's surface and 106 years after it sank, made waves across the globe.
On Wednesday, deep sea explorers found Ernest Shackleton's Endurance in the icy Weddell Sea in the Southern Ocean, just off the Antarctica coast.
The ship sank in 1915 after it was slowly crushed by pack ice, forcing Shackleton and his 27 other crew members to make one of the most legendary expeditions in history.
Dubbed the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, the aim was to make the first land crossing of Antarctica. It failed in its objective, but the expedition went down in history after Shackleton led his team to safety, with all 28 men surviving months in the extreme temperatures with limited provisions.
Trapped: Endurance trying to break through pack ice in the Weddell Sea in 1915. Photo / Frank Hurley, State Library New South Wales
Setting off from England in 1914, the Endurance crew hit trouble early on, when the three-masted ship hit pack ice in the notorious Weddell Sea.
Just east of the Larsen ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula, the timber vessel became surrounded by the ice in January 1915. It was progressively crushed, taking 10 months to finally sink.
The crew first camped on the sea ice, drifting northwards until the ice cracked open, and then took to lifeboats.
They sailed first to Elephant Island, a bleak and treeless place where most of the men were left to camp.
While they stayed there, using just a sextant for navigation, Shackleton took five others in their most seaworthy lifeboat on a 1300km voyage to South Georgia, a British colony where there was a whaling station.
The trek retraces Sir Shackleton's steps. Photo / Michael Baynes, Aurora Expeditions
Defying mountainous seas and freezing temperatures, the 17-day trek aboard the 6.9m open boat is often considered one of the most remarkable achievements in maritime history.
It led to their rescue, with all 28 expedition members surviving.
Tourists recreate treacherous journey
Keen tourists have been able to relive some of Sir Shackleton's harrowing journey since 2001, when tour company Aurora Expeditions launched their recreation of the trek.
The company, an Australian-owned expedition travel operator offers "a small band of adventurous souls to attempt to repeat the epic 1916 crossing of Sir Ernest Shackleton, Frank Worsley and Tom Crean, and trek for up to three days across South Georgia from King Haakon Bay to Stromness".
Teams crossing the Fortuna Glacier in the steps of Shackleton. Picture: Tarn Pilkington/Aurora Expeditions
South Georgia's unpredictable mountainous environment is approached with extreme caution by the team.
"Although the crossing does not involve any actual technical climbing, there is a steep ground crossing from the Tridents down to the Crean Glacier, as well as potential risks with crevasses," Aurora warns.
"This trip is suitable for persons with alpine trekking or mountaineering experience as it traverses glaciated and mountainous terrain."
Aurora Expeditions will offer its next tour on the South Georgia and Antarctic Odyssey from October 21 to November 8 this year.
'Finest wooden shipwreck ever seen'
The expedition to discover Shackleton's sunken ship was organised by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust.
A team with a South African icebreaker left Cape Town on February 5 hoping to find the Endurance before the end of the Southern Hemisphere summer.
"We are overwhelmed by our good fortune in having located and captured images of Endurance," the expedition's exploration director Mensun Bound, who found the ship, said Thursday.
The Endurance was found in incredible condition. Photo / Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, James Blake
"This is by far the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen. It is upright, well proud of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation. You can even see 'Endurance' arced across the stern."
The current-day explorers used underwater drones to find and film the shipwreck.
The swirling current in the Weddell Sea sustains a mass of thick sea ice that can challenge even modern icebreakers.
Shackleton himself described the site of the sinking as "the worst portion of the worst sea in the world".
