Amazingly, Shackleton and all the crew escaped from the sinking ship and made it safely home, but the Endurance had remained one of the world's most enduring maritime mysteries until the ground-breaking find. A century after Shackleton's death in 1922, the vessel was finally located 10,000 feet below the sea’s surface.
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Miraculous find
The crew of the South African research ship, the Agulhas II, found the Endurance on 5th March 2022 - the centenary of Shackleton's funeral. The modern-day Endurance 22 Expedition had set sail on 5th February 2022 to retrace the adventurer's route.
Locating the lost vessel was a miraculous find for the crew, including the famous TV historian, Dan Snow, who said it was "ground-breaking for maritime archaeology". In relatively good condition, the ship has been preserved in the icy waters that became its final resting place.
Battling freezing cold climates, icy seas and stormy weather, the researchers and crew of the Agulhas II found themselves surrounded by massive plates of Arctic ice. This was a daunting experience, considering ice had sunk the Endurance more than 100 years earlier.
The expedition was scheduled to last for at least 35 days, so finding the HMS Endurance after just one month was nothing short of miraculous. The researchers used underwater search vehicles to locate, study and film the vessel.
Shackleton's story
Shackleton was a hero who ventured into the unknown, in an era before high-tech navigational aids existed. His bravery and leadership qualities enabled all his crew to escape to safety when the Endurance went down.
Born in 1874, in County Kildare, Ireland, he travelled the world's oceans for four years as a Merchant Navy officer, before joining the troopship, Tintagel Castle, during the Boer War in 1899.
With a taste for travel and adventure, he embarked on his first National Antarctic Expedition from 1901 to 1903. The British Antarctic's Discovery Expedition was a huge success, leading to a second trip, the Nimrod Expedition, from 1907 to 1909.
On his return home, he was made a knight by King Edward VII.
Endurance expedition
After five years on dry land, Shackleton departed on the three-year Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition on the Endurance in 1914. Two ships, the Endurance and the Aurora, set off on the 1,800-mile journey, each with 28 crew members.
On 5th December 1914, the expedition departed from South Georgia, heading for Vahsel Bay in the Weddell Sea. It was quickly beset by freezing and hazardous weather conditions. The Endurance became frozen in solid ice in the Weddell Sea on 19th January 1915.
The vessel was still trapped on 24th February, when Shackleton realised they wouldn't be freed until spring, so the Endurance became a fixed base for around six months. In September 1915, the ice began to crack, but rather than releasing the ship to continue its voyage to Vahsel Bay, the pressure cracked the ship's hull.
Sea water began leaking in and Shackleton gave the order to abandon ship on 24th October 1915. The crew saved food and equipment and fled unscathed across the sheets of ice. The Endurance finally sank on 21st November 1915.
Camping on ice
The men camped on the drifting ice floe for two months, 250 miles from Paulet Island, where extra provisions were stored. They set off on foot, but it was too hazardous, so they set up a new base, Patience Camp, on the drifting sheets of ice.
They floated to within 60 miles of Paulet Island, but the ice under Patience Camp broke in half on 9th April 1916, so they had to get into the three lifeboats. They drifted for five days before docking at Elephant Island, 346 miles from where the Endurance had gone down.
Shackleton was suffering from frostbite, but his only thought was saving the crew. Elephant Island was remote, inhospitable and not on any shipping routes. He set off with five crew members in a 20 ft lifeboat, the James Caird, on a 720-mile voyage to the nearest South Georgia whaling stations to seek help.
Leaving Elephant Island on 24th April 1916, they took only minimal food and water. Navigating stormy seas to reach the remote South Georgia cliffs during a hurricane on 9th May 1916; Shackleton and navigator Frank Worsley completed a 32-mile journey by land across the island to Stromness whaling station, where they arrived on 20th May.
Once they had radio contact with the outside world, Shackleton organised the complex rescue mission, picking up the three crew members from the other side of the island and the rest of the crew from Elephant Island. Despite being seasick and ill with dysentery, they all arrived safely home to a heroes' welcome.
Shackleton died suddenly of a heart attack on 5th January 1922, aged 47, just days before he was due to set off on a fourth Antarctic expedition.
Endurance 22 Expedition
The modern-day explorers on the Endurance 22 Expedition, coordinated by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, followed Shackleton's original route to find the lost ship. Led by veteran polar explorer Dr John Shears, the Agulhas II enabled the team to complete the most difficult shipwreck search in history, battling drifting sea ice, blizzards and temperatures of -18°C.
After submarines combed the search area, checking various targets, Endurance was found. The team has been compiling detailed videos and photographs, as no artefacts can be recovered due to its status as a monument under the international Antarctic Treaty.
The ship looks much the same as when Frank Hurley, Shackleton's filmmaker, photographed it for the last time in 1915. With some damage to the bow, the hull remains largely intact. Cameras captured images of the tangled rigging, anchors, abandoned crockery and boots and even Shackleton's cabin, giving it a "ghost ship" feel.
Home to plenty of deep-sea marine life including anemones, brittlestars and sponges; the team is also carrying out scientific research into the global climate and environment, broadcasting live as part of a unique educational outreach programme.
Although no divers can be deployed, as the wreck is too deep for humans, modern technology has enabled the expedition's success. The deepest a diver has reached is 700 metres, but the wreck is 3,000 metres deep, so only robots can dive to that depth. It's the first expedition to use Saab's Sabertooth underwater vehicles.
Underwater videos and images are recorded on state-of-the-art equipment that produces data to the same standard as archaeological exhibitions on land. This will help to construct a 3D model of the Endurance and a permanent museum display.