Endurance22 researchers have unveiled highly detailed 3D scans of Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship from the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1917.
The expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent, from the Weddell Sea on one side to the Ross Sea on the other, via the South Pole.
The Endurance left South Georgia in December 1914, but just a few weeks into the voyage, the ship was caught in the thick pack ice of the Weddell Sea and completely stranded.
After 10 months adrift, the pack ice began to crush the ship’s hull, forcing Shackleton and his crew to abandon the Endurance and set up temporary camps on the exposed ice as they watched the ship sink.
An attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent
The crew eventually reached Elephant Island, an uninhabited ice-covered island located 245 kilometers north-northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Shackleton and five others then made a 1,300km boat journey to South Georgia. After four and a half months, on 30 August 1916, the tug Yelcho arrived with Shackleton on board and rescued the rest of the crew.
A joint study was conducted by researchers from Voyis, Sonardyne International Ltd, EIVA a/s, DECAR, Deep Ocean Search and SEARCH Inc.
The crew eventually reached Elephant Island
The team took 25,000 high-resolution images, which were applied using “True-Colour” machine learning technology to create the natural shades of the wreckage in 3D, they write HeritageDaily.
“Conservation is ridiculous. You could still lean on the bow railings and look through portholes into the dark, black cabin where Shackleton slept,” explained Mensun Bound, director of exploration for the Endurance22 expedition.
An examination of the images shows that the ship’s paint and name “ENDURANCE” are clearly visible, as well as several artifacts, such as Frank Hurley’s signal gun, which fired in tribute as the ship sank. Also visible is an isolated boot that probably belonged to Shackleton’s second-in-command, Frank Wild.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
