Maritime
One hundred and seven years after it disappeared, Endurance, the lost vessel of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, has been found at the bottom of the Weddell Sea at a depth of 3,000 metres (10,000 feet), miraculously in almost perfect condition.
Images captured by state-of-the-art autonomous underwater vessels (UAVs) were relayed to the world’s media and across social media thanks to Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress connectivity. Our award-winning high-speed broadband connectivity was not only used to share images but also for live streaming from the vessel.
Hailed as one of the greatest shipwreck finds of all times, the Endurance22 international scientific expedition was led by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust using a South African icebreaker, Agulhas II. The team, which included TV historian Dan Snow, set off to find Endurance in February 2022.
"We have successfully completed the world's most difficult shipwreck search, battling constantly shifting sea-ice, blizzards, and temperatures dropping down to -18C. We have achieved what many people said was impossible," said the mission leader and polar geographer Dr John Shears.
Poignantly, the location of the wreck was initially discovered on Saturday 5 March, exactly 100 years to the day of Shackleton’s funeral. His ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1915 set out to make the first land crossing of Antarctica, but when the vessel became trapped and crushed by ice before sinking, the crew were forced to abandon ship.
The Endurance22 expedition is now on its way back. As a designated monument under the International Antarctic Treaty, the Endurance wreck remains untouched and no artefacts have been removed.
