Stunning video captured from the bottom of the sea off the coast of Antarctica has revealed the first glimpses of the wreck of Endurance - the ship of British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, which has been discovered more than a century after it sank.
The film, shot by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust and National Geographic at a depth of some 3,008 metres, shows the ship buried on the lifeless, dark and eerie sea bed.
Despite having been submerged in the water for more than 100 years, the Endurance remains well intact, with its name clearly still visible on the stern of the ship, directly below the taffrail.
The helm of the vessel and many of its original wooden features are visible in the clip, whose whereabouts remained a mystery for decades.
The wreck was uncovered by Endurance22, a team that set off from Cape Town, South Africa at the weekend - a month after the 100th anniversary of Sir Ernest’s death on a mission to locate it.
The expedition’s director said footage of Endurance showed it to be in good condition and “by far the finest wooden shipwreck” he has seen.
“We are overwhelmed by our good fortune in having located and captured images of Endurance,” Mensun Bound added. “It is upright, well proud of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation. You can even see ‘Endurance‘ arced across the stern, directly below the taffrail.
“This is a milestone in polar history.”
The wooden ship had not been seen since it went down in the Weddell Sea in November 1915.
It was crushed by sea ice and sank, forcing Sit Ernest and his crew to make an incredible escape on foot, in what would become known as one of the greatest known survival stories.
Sir Ernest and his crew had set out to achieve the first land crossing of Antarctica but were forced to abandon the expedition after the ship got stuck in the ice. They were stuck in the ice for around 10 months, before escaping in lifeboats and on foot
Sir Ernest, who became a national hero, was involved in or led four other British expeditions to the Antarctic between 1901 and 1922. His final trip aimed to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent but on 5 January 1922, he died of a heart attack off South Georgia and he was buried on the island.
