Posted on 02/10/2019 7:03:49 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT
The team broke through thick pack ice on Sunday to reach the vessel's last known position in the Weddell Sea.
Robotic submersibles will now spend the next few days scouring the ocean floor for the maritime icon.
Shackleton and his crew had to abandon Endurance in 1915 when it was crushed by sea ice and sank in 3,000m of water.
Shackleton's skipper, Frank Worsely, was a very skilled navigator and used a sextant and chronometer to calculate the precise co-ordinates of the Endurance sinking - 68°39'30.0" South and 52°26'30.0" West.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Wait. I have to put my Speedo on.
This will be exciting.
I wish them good luck. I’m guessing they are bright guys, and not just some explorer with a bunch of money. I know that finding a lot of these wrecks take into account ocean currents, etc. For some reason they figure it will still be pretty close to where it sank.
For those who have not read Shakleton’s story, it sounds almost as if it had to be made up. Shackleton and his men are true men.
While reading it, get a pic of Dorkbama’s pajama boy printed so that you can spit on it when you realize what progressive “men” are compared to real men.
I have read the story, absolutely boggles my mind.
They had a great exhibit in the Peabody-Essex Museum in Massachusetts that I got to see, they had one of the boats there.
Unbelievable story. What really roasted my bagel was when they said that they became uncomfortably warm trying to sleep when the temperature was about 28 degrees! (IIRC)
And sleeping on an ice floe that cracked and opened under them as they slept...just wow.
And the trip across Georgia Island...astonishing.
That wasn’t the first time Shackleton had a ship crushed or stuck in the ice...
In the Summer of 1903-04 Shackleton and Scott had a ship stuck in the ice at the Antartic for weeks...Shackleton got sick and was sent to NZ on the supply ship the Morning...
My grandfather was an able bodied seaman on the Morning at that time...
:)
Exactly. Those were tough men. Tough men.
Awesome story.
Pretty cool connection there!
Also quoting from the article. “Just getting to the search site is a remarkable effort. The Agulhas has had to fight its way through ice that has thickened over several years.”
...hmmmm, very curious indeed. What say you, Al Gore?
I’ve read almost all of the books about Shackleton and his expeditions including Shackelton’s own book on the Endurance expedition, “South”.
Shackleton is not only the toughest man who ever lived but also the luckiest. He was also a foolish risk taker and the irony of the Endurance expedition was that if it had not sank he would have perished trying to cross Antarctica. The shore party for Endurance was supposed to lay the depots for the trans antarctic crossing but because of the weather and delays couldn’t do it until a year later.
Shackleton would have made it to the South Pole on the Nimrod expedition had he taken Nansen’s advice to use dogs. Instead he followed the advice of British polar explorer Frederick Jackson and took Siberian ponies instead. The ponies were a disaster just like they proved to be for Scott’s Terra Nova expedition.
I hate to be all “girlie” here but I actually cried when Shackleton ordered the dogs killed.
Very sad.
.
Thanks DUMBGRUNT. Underwater archaeology topic. Shackleton is still described as a polar expert.
Amundsen had to do the very same with most of his dogs on the Fram south pole expedition. He wasn’t up for it and had other expedition members do the deed.
They don’t make men like that anymore.
Big Shackleton fan here. Read most every book about early Antarctic exploration. These men were incredible risk takers with goals of exploration and polar conquest. Shackleton’s Endurance expedition is THE ultimate survival story. Apollo 13 can’t even compare. They had hundreds of people helping get them back to Earth while Shackleton had to keep his men alive for nearly 18 months after his ship sank, take an open boat journey across the roughest seas in the world, find a “needle in the haystack” of an island, then cross mountainous unexplored terrain with no climbing equipment, sleepless for 36 hours to get help to go back and get the rest of his men - which took four separate tries by the way. Unbelievable courage, fortitude, and devotion. Not one of his men perished. This story should be standard teaching in every school about the greatness of man and what he can accomplish.
Wow, nice!
Excellent synopsis of a truly mind-boggling feat of superhuman endurance.
I think my body temperature has dropped 5° just thinking about it for a couple minutes .. brrrrrrrrrrrr !
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