Living history - 16th March 2022

A famous ship which sank in Antarctica was discovered. Endurance was owned by the famous British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.

The ship sank in 1915 and the story of the trip became famous. Sir Ernest Shackleton had a group of 27 men with him. They all escaped the ship and travelled on foot across the ice then rowed to safety in small boats. They landed on South Georgia Island.

Archaeologists discovered the ship three kilometres under the Weddell Sea. It was in a very good state.

British biologist Adrian Glover says the environment in Antarctica protected the ship.

Adrian Glover: "Wood is amazingly well-preserved in the Antarctic. And there's only a few other places where that is the case. But it seems that Antarctica may also be a shipwreck vault, if you like, because of the, the lack of particular species which normally eat wood."

A South African icebreaker with lots of devices like drones was used to search for the ship. It took a while to find the ship but Adrian Glover thinks the discovery was all luck.

Adrian Glover: "You know, obviously, they had these very powerful hybrid ROVs - remotely operated vehicles - mini submersibles which were able to survey quite broad areas of the sea floor. But even so, it was right at the end of their voyage, from my understanding, that they, they found it, which shows just how difficult it is and there's obviously therefore a large amount of, of luck."

Archaeologists can't touch or remove anything from the ship. It's a protected historical site. But they've made films and taken photos so we can see it.