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Dublin Live
Dublin Live
National
Thomas Telford

Ernest Shackleton's Endurance found on Antarctica seabed solving 107 year mystery

The ship of Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton has been found just days after the 100th anniversary of his burial.

The Endurance was crushed by ice in the Weddell Sea after it sank in 1915.

Last month, an expedition set off from South Africa to try and locate The Endurance before the 100th anniversary of the Kildare man's death.

The explorer and his crew had set out to be the first to carry out a land crossing of Antarctica but unfortunately their ship never reached land and was crushed in pack ice forcing Shackleton and the 28-strong crew, including Kerryman Tom Crean, to abandon ship.

The crew managed to walk across the sea ice living off wildlife before launching three lifeboats that brought them to Elephant Island.

The island was uninhabited so Shackleton and a few other crew members rowed over 1,300 kilometres in the lifeboat to South Georgia to seek help from a whaling station.

On the fourth rescue attempt, Shackleton rescued the remaining crew members from Elephant Island, two years after they had set sail on the Endurance for the Antarctic.

The Endurance was found at a depth of 3,008 metres and approximately four miles from south of where captain Frank Worsley originally recorded its location in 1915.

Dr John Shears, the expedition leader, said: "The Endurance22 expedition has reached its goal. We have made polar history with the discovery of Endurance, and successfully completed the world's most challenging shipwreck search.

"In addition, we have undertaken important scientific research in a part of the world that directly affects the global climate and environment.

"We have also conducted an unprecedented educational outreach programme, with live broadcasting from on board, allowing new generations from around the world to engage with Endurance22 and become inspired by the amazing stories of polar exploration, and what human beings can achieve and the obstacles they can overcome when they work together."

Shackleton was born on February 15, 1874, in Kilkea, Kildare and dies on January 5, 1922, in South Georgia, where he is buried.

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