Historical story

Historic moment:Legendary wreck of Endurance found after 117 years in Antarctica

The wreck of the legendary ship Endurance has been found at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, east of the Antarctic Peninsula, according to the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust.

The ship of the famous explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton has been searched for since 1915, when it collided with ice and sank in the area.

As the Guardian reports, last month the Endurance22 expedition set off from Cape Town, South Africa, a month after the 100th anniversary of Shackleton's death, to locate it.

The wreck was found at a depth of 3,008 meters and about four miles south of the position originally recorded by the ship's captain, Frank Worsley.

As mission leader Dr. John Shears said:"The Endurance22 mission accomplished its goal. We made history with the discovery of the Endurance and successfully completed the world's most difficult search for a wreck."

Mission exploration director Mensun Bound said footage of the Endurance showed it to be intact and "by far the best wooden wreck" he has seen.

"We are overwhelmed by our good fortune to have located and captured images of the Endurance," he added, calling the discovery a "landmark" in history.

"However, it is not all about the past. We are bringing the story of Shackleton and the Endurance to a new audience and to the next generation, who will be entrusted with the essential protection of our polar regions and our planet. We hope our discovery will engage young people and to inspire them with the pioneering spirit, courage and fortitude of those who traveled on the Endurance to Antarctica. We pay tribute to the navigational skills of the ship's captain Frank Worsley, whose detailed records were invaluable in our quest to locate the wreck." , he added.

Historian Dan Snow said the wreck was in an "amazing state of preservation".

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