Explorers Find One of History’s Great Wrecks

The Endurance, which sank over 106 years ago, has been found in the Antarctic. The ship belonged to the infamous Ernest Shackleton.

• Explorer Ernest Shackleton left England with a crew of 27 in 1914, with the goal of crossing Antarctica. However, he never made it to the pole as his ship became stuck in the ice and eventually sank.
• Although Shackleton is not remembered for being the first to make it to the South Pole, he is remembered for his leadership which saved his entire crew and made him a hero in British history.
• Every shipwreck has an innate value, however the source of this value is in the eye of the beholder. For some there is profit in discovering lost treasures, which have long been lost at sea.
• For others, it is a chance to explore our cultural heritage. Other people see value in the shop itself, which holds an array of hidden stories offering a connection to forgotten ancestors.
• Sourcing and studying shipwrecks has an array of benefits. In recent years, shipwrecks have inspired renewable energy projects in the Irish sea.
• The marine renewable energy (MRE) sector aims to capitalize on wave and tidal resources and studying wrecks can help scientists understand what will happen to the MRE infrastructure underwater.