However, there was another crew member aboard the Endurance: Mrs. Chippy, a beloved tabby cat known for its devotion to its master, ability to climb rigging and close shaves with death.

Here’s the story of Mrs. Chippy, the Endurance‘s feline crew member.

Mrs. Chippy was a Scottish cat

Mrs. Chippy, a tiger-striped tabby, was bought by Scottish shipwright and carpenter Harry ‘Chippy’ McNish (chippy being a colloquial British term for a carpenter) from his home in Cathcart, Scotland, where he lived in a cottage called Mole Catcher’s House. Mrs. Chippy earned its name by dutifully following Chippy McNish around, like an overly attentive wife.

The name stuck. When Chippy McNish was chosen to be part of the crew on Shackleton’s Endurance, Mrs. Chippy came along too. A ship’s cat, Mrs. Chippy was tasked with both catching mice and rats and being a source of company for the whole crew. After a month at sea, it was learned that the robust tabby cat was in fact ‘not a lady, but a gentleman’.

He was an able seaman

The crew having their hair cut onboard Endurance in 1914. Mrs. Chippy would have been present at many of these events.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The expedition photographer Frank Hurley captured the only known picture of Mrs. Chippy. However, many of the crew wrote about him being ‘full of character’ in their diaries and logs and attested to his confidence and ease at sea.

Captain Frank Worsley detailed Mrs. Chippy’s habit of climbing the rigging “exactly after the manner of a seaman going aloft”, while meteorologist Leonard Hussey noted that he used to take a provocative stroll across the roofs of the dogs’ kennels. He also impressed the crew with his ability to walk along inch-wide rails in the roughest of seas.

However, Mrs. Chippy’s sea legs occasionally wobbled. In an entry dated 13 September 1914, Storekeeper Thomas Orde-Lees wrote that “an extraordinary thing happened during the night. The tabby cat jumped overboard through one of the cabin portholes and the officer on watch, Lt. Hudson, heard her screams and turned the ship smartly round & picked her up. She must have been in the water 10 minutes or more”.

He was picked up by the ship’s biologist Robert Clark, who used one of his sample nets. It seems that one of Mrs. Chippy’s nine lives was used up.

He was shot

After the Endurance became trapped in pack ice, the transcontinental plan was abandoned. Shackleton’s focus was now one of survival, and he began drawing up plans to march the crew westward to one of several possible destinations.

Shackleton’s expedition to the Antarctic faithful dogs being fed in the ice kennel, while Endurance was stuck fast. 1916.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Shackleton ordered that the weakest animals who could not support the perilous journey would need to be shot. Along with five sled dogs (including three puppies, one of whom was the surgeon’s pet), Mrs. Chippy was ordered to be killed.

The ship’s crew reportedly doted over Mrs. Chippy in his final hours, giving him hugs and feeding him his favourite food, sardines, which was perhaps laced with a sleeping drug.

In a diary entry from 29 October 1915, Shackleton recorded:

“This afternoon Sallie’s three youngest pups, Sue’s Sirius, and Mrs. Chippy, the carpenter’s cat, have to be shot. We could not undertake the maintenance of weaklings under the new conditions. Macklin [who owned a pet puppy], Crean [in charge of the dog-handling], and the carpenter seemed to feel the loss of their friends rather badly.”

McNish never forgave Shackleton

McNish proved to be an essential crew member when he was chosen, along with 5 others, to sail some 800 miles in a single lifeboat to South Georgia. He refitted the boat to make the journey possible, and arguably saved the lives of the whole crew as a result.

South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands stamp featuring Mrs. Chippy.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

McNish never forgave Shackleton for killing his cat. Their relationship worsened, and Shackleton even threatened to shoot him for arguing that the crew no longer had to take the captain’s orders since their contract had lapsed upon the sinking of the Endurance in November 1915.

Shackleton and McNish’s relationship was so bad that Shackleton refused to recommend McNish for a Polar Medal that the rest of the crew later received. McNish’s family would (in vain) later try and lobby the British government that McNish be posthumously awarded the same medal in 1997.

Before he died in 1930, McNish repeatedly stated to his friends, family and visitors, “Shackleton killed my cat”.

A statue of him is on his master’s gravestone

Mrs. Chippy’s statue by Chris Elliot. On Harry McNeish’s grave in Karori cemetery, Wellington, New Zealand.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

McNish died in destitution in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1930. Though he was buried with full military honours in a Karori cemetery, he was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave.

In 1959, the New Zealand Antarctic Society were shocked to learn that McNish had received only a pauper’s burial, so raised funds for a headstone to stand on his grave.

In 2004, the same society decided to create a marker for Mrs. Chippy. The public donated funds to create a life-size bronze statue of Mrs. Chippy, and later the same year, around 100 people gathered round McNish’s grave and read words of tribute for both the carpenter and his cat.

There are no words on the grave about beloved Mrs. Chippy. However, it is telling that those visiting the grave often present his little statue with flowers.

Read more about the discovery of Endurance. Explore the history of Shackleton and the Age of Exploration. Visit the official Endurance22 website.

Among the crew of the Endurance was the Australian photographer Frank Hurley, who documented many aspects of the ill-fated voyage on film and in still photographs. As the negatives were heavy and the crew were marooned waiting for rescue, Hurley had to destroy or discard many of the images he captured. Some of Hurley’s negatives survived the treacherous journey home, however.

Here are 15 of Hurley’s iconic images of the Endurance Expedition.

Frank Hurley and the Endurance

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

Endurance in the ice

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

The darkness of Antarctica could be difficult for a ship to navigate in. Lights and ropes were attached to ice mounds to help the ship move through the ice.

Navigating Endurance through the ice.

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

Over 5,000 men responded to the advertisement “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success”. 56 were carefully selected and split into two teams of 28, one on the Endurance and one on the Aurora.

The crew from the Endurance Expedition

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

Alfred Cheetham and Tom Crean.

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

Cheetham served as third-officer and was known to be popular and cheerful. After the expedition, Cheetham returned home to Hull where he was informed that his son had been lost at sea. He then enlisted in the Mercantile Marine, serving on the SS Prunelle where, on 22 August 1918, the ship was torpedoed and Cheetham was killed. Crean had taken part in 3 major Antarctic expeditions with this being his last. After returning home to County Kerry, he retired from naval service, started a family and opened a pub.

Dr Leonard Hussey and Samson.

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

The team was not just made up of humans, 100 dogs from Canada accompanied the crew. The dogs were cross-breeds from strong dogs including wolves, collies and mastiffs that would help pull crew and supplies across the ice. After the crew was left stranded on the ice, the men made the dogs igloos – or dogloos as the crew named them – for the dogs to live in. The men formed incredibly close bonds with their dogs.

Crean with the new puppies.

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

During the expedition, puppies were born to ensure that the number of dogs was kept high for work.

After the Endurance sank and the men became trapped on the ice, they made the difficult decision to shoot the dogs. Shackleton said that “it was the worst job that we had had throughout the Expedition, and we felt their loss keenly”.

From left to right: James Wordie, Alfred Cheetham and Alexander Macklin washing the galley floor of the Endurance.

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

Life aboard a ship could be hardwork and incredibly demanding. The conditions of work were even more challenging when facing the harsh climate of Antarctica.

Hurley captured a game of football that was played to pass the time.

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

The frustrations felt by the crew after becoming trapped in the ice could have led to low morale. To keep their spirits up, the crew would play games including chess and enjoy dinners together.

The crew eating dinner together.

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

Food was vital to the daily lives of the crew and would occupy their minds. It was important that the men had a hearty meal for energy and warmth but to also ensure that supplies were kept to last the entire expedition. You can see from this photograph that the crew appear to be tucking into a plate of baked beans! Shackleton and the crew even sat down for a Christmas dinner in 1914 that included a feast of turtle soup, christmas pudding, rum, stout and whitebait.

Observing the wreck of the Endurance.

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

Despite their best efforts, the Endurance was eventually crushed by the ice on 27 October 1915. Remarkably, all members of the crew survived and enough supplies were saved to set up camps on the ice.

Members of the team arriving on Elephant Island.

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

Due to the ice beginning to crack, the crew had to journey to a new location, Elephant Island, to make camp. After 497 days at sea in desperate search of land, they landed on Elephant Island on 15 April 1916.  Though the Island was not their first choice, due to its treacherous landscape and inhospitable climate, the men were overjoyed to finally be on land.

A hut was made on Elephant Island out of the two remaining boats Starcomb Wills and Dudley Docker which sheltered 22 men for 4 months. When food started to become scarce, the crew would hunt and eat the wildlife of Antarctica including seals and penguins. The crew also had to endure ill health and frostbite as well as not knowing if they will be rescued or if they will die before help arrives.

The hut that would be the home for 22 men for 4 months.

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

Shackleton, knowing that if they did not get help the men would starve, decided to journey to South Georgia Island in search of help. He was accompanied by 5 members of the crew – Worsley, Crean, McNish, Vincent and McCarthy.

Shackleton Worsley, Crean, McNish, Vincent and McCarthy preparing to leave Elephant Island.

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

After 4 months, Shackleton returned to his crew on Elephant Island. Through courage and determination, all 28 men of the Endurance survived.

The men cheering the rescue boat.

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

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Remembered as much for his failures as his successes, Shackleton has something of a complex legacy. Despite this, he remains a symbol of the unquenchable thirst for knowledge and indefatigable spirit which characterised the ‘heroic age of Antarctic exploration’, and his sheer will to survive remains remarkable to this day.

But behind this semi-mythical figure, there was a very human one. Here is the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton.

A restless youth

Ernest was born in County Kildare, Ireland, in 1874. The Shackletons, an Anglo-Irish family, had 10 children in total. They moved to Sydenham, south London, in 1884. A voracious reader with a taste for adventure, the young Ernest found school dull and left education as soon as possible.

He became an apprentice with the North West Shipping Company, spending the next 4 years at sea. At the end of this period, he passed his examination for second mate and took up a more senior position as third officer. By 1898, he had risen through the ranks to become a master mariner, meaning he could command a British ship anywhere in the world.

Contemporaries remarked Shackleton was far from the standard officer: he might not have liked education, but he picked up enough of it to be able to quote poetry at random, and some described him as a more ‘sensitive’ type than his contemporaries. Shackleton’s career in the Merchant Navy was short-lived, however, after he found himself commissioned into the Royal Navy to embark on the Discovery expedition in 1901.

Discovery 

The British National Antarctic Expedition, known as the Discovery expedition after its main ship, embarked from London in 1901 after years of planning. It was hoped the expedition would make significant geographical and scientific discoveries in Antarctica.

Led by Captain Robert Scott, the expedition lasted 3 years. Shackleton proved himself to be an asset to the crew and well-liked and respected by his fellow officers, including Scott himself. Scott, Shackleton and Wilson, another officer, marched southwards, hoping to achieve a record latitude, which they achieved, albeit with the consequences of scurvy, frostbite and snow blindness.

Shackleton suffered in particular and was ultimately sent home in January 1903 on the relief ship on account of his health. However, some historians have speculated that Scott felt threatened by Shackleton’s popularity, and wanted to remove him from the expedition as a result. There is scarce evidence to support this theory, however.

A pre-1909 photograph of Ernest Shackleton.

Image Credit: National Library of Norway / Public Domain.

Antarctic aspirations

On his return from the Discovery expedition, Shackleton was in demand: his knowledge and first-hand experience of the Antarctic made him valuable to a variety of organisations who had interests in Antarctic exploration. After an unsuccessful stint as a journalist, attempting to stand as an MP and a failed investment in a speculative shipping company, it became clear that the only thing really on Shackleton’s mind was returning to the Antarctic.

In 1907, Shackleton presented plans for an Antarctic expedition, which aimed to reach both the magnetic and geographical South Pole, to the Royal Geographical Society, before beginning the arduous process of finding donors and backers to fund the trip. The final amount was raised just 2 weeks before the Nimrod was due to depart.

Nimrod 

Nimrod departed in January 1908 from New Zealand: despite inclement weather and several early setbacks, the expedition established a base in McMurdo Sound. In doing so, Shackleton broke a promise he had made to Scott that he would not interfere in ‘his’ area of the Antarctic.

The expedition achieved some notable successes, including reaching a new furthest south latitude, the discovery of the Beardmore Glacier, the first successful ascent of Mount Erebus and the discovery of the location of the Magnetic South Pole. Shackleton returned to England a hero, with the admiration of his men, but still deeply in debt.

Whilst Shackleton continued to tell those at home that his place was “at home now”, this was not quite true. The Antarctic still captivated him. Even after Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the South Pole, Shackleton decided there were still more achievements he could aim for, including completing the first continental crossing.

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 

Perhaps Shackleton’s most famous, and most disastrous expedition, was the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (often nicknamed Endurance, after the name of the ship), which departed in 1914. Financed almost entirely by private donations, the aim of the expedition was to cross Antarctica for the first time.

Trading somewhat on his name and the glamour and rewards Antarctic success provided, he received over 5,000 applications to join his crew: after years in the inhospitable conditions of expeditions, Shackleton was well aware temperament, character and the ability to get on with people were vital attributes – often more so than technical or practical skills. He chose his crew personally.

A photograph by Frank Hurley of one of the dog sledding expeditions from Endurance.

Image Credit: Public Domain

Endurance became trapped in the ice, and sank after 10 months, in November 1915. Shackleton and his men camped on the ice for several more months before sailing in a small lifeboat to Elephant Island. Known for his dedication to his men, Shackleton gave his mittens to Frank Hurley, one of his crew, on the journey, getting frostbitten fingers as a result.

He subsequently led a smaller party to South Georgia Island: after landing on the wrong side of the island to the whaling station, the men traversed the mountainous interior, eventually reaching the Stromness whaling station 36 hours later, in May 1916, before returning for his men. The expedition has gone down in history as one of the most remarkable feats of human endurance, courage and sheer luck.

Endurance remained lost to the depths of the Weddell Sea for 107 years, until it was discovered during the Endurance22 expedition in a “remarkable state of preservation”.

Death and legacy

When the Endurance expedition returned to England in 1917, the country was caught up in World War One: Shackleton himself tried to enlist and was given diplomatic posts, achieving little success.

In 1920, tired of civilian life and with the Antarctic still beckoning, he embarked on his final expedition, aiming to circumnavigate the continent and engage in further exploration. Before the expedition could begin in earnest, however, Shackleton suffered a heart attack and died on the island of South Georgia: he had begun to drink heavily and it’s thought this hastened his demise. He was buried on South Georgia, in accordance with his wife’s wishes.

Shackleton died with some £40,000 of debt to his name: a biography was published within a year of his death as both a tribute and as a way of helping his family financially.

As time went on, Shackleton faded somewhat into obscurity against the memory and legacy of Scott’s Antarctic expeditions. However, this reversed in the 1970s, as historians became increasingly critical of Scott and celebratory of Shackleton’s achievements. By 2022, Shackleton was ranked 11th in a BBC poll of ‘Greatest Britons’, cementing his hero status.

Read more about the discovery of Endurance. Explore the history of Shackleton and the Age of Exploration. Visit the official Endurance22 website.

As his Endurance sank in the Weddell Sea in late 1915, Shackleton restated his determination that he would lose no man under his command. He confided to his diary, “I pray God I can manage to get the whole party to civilisation.” Then he added, “and then this part of the expedition will be over.” This second thought may be a reference to the fact that there was another part of the expedition, an equally courageous team who were working independently thousands of miles away in pursuit of Shackleton’s goal of crossing the continent.

Amid all the celebration of Shackleton’s astonishing heroism, tenacity and skill as he saved the crew of Endurance from death, history has overlooked the tragedy that befell their support team, the Ross Sea party.

A great leader

Ernest Shackleton was a magnificent leader in a crisis on the ice. Years later, an Antarctic comrade of Shackelton’s, Raymond Priestly, famously wrote, “when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems to be no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.”

Shackleton was, however, not at his best in the build-up to an expedition. In fact, it seems to me that Shackleton had to be superhuman on the ice, because his chaotic planning, patchy equipping and eccentric recruitment methods made some kind of crisis inevitable. The scramble to get two ships ready for the Trans-Antarctic Expedition was haphazard. Money was short, promises were made and broken.

While Endurance was to head down, with Shackleton aboard, to the Weddell Sea to disembark the team to cross the continent, the Ross Sea party were to head to the other side of Antarctica and lay a series of food depots that would sustain Shackleton and his party on the journey from the South Pole to the far coast.

To lead the Ross Sea group, Shackleton had wanted Dr. Eric Marshall, a proven veteran on the ice. But Marshall simply didn’t trust Shackelton’s plan and refused. So Shackleton signed up Aeneas Mackintosh, who had lost an eye on a previous expedition south.

Readying the Aurora

Shackleton’s Ross Sea party: the crew of the Aurora, photographed by Frank Hurley.

Image Credit: via Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Mackintosh was sent to Australia with hardly any money, a completely uncertain arrangement over their ship, Aurora, and a crew mainly formed of excitable novices. Victor Hayward, for example, was a London finance clerk seeking adventure. He had once worked on a ranch in Canada and Shackleton thought that was experience enough.

They had to rely on the charity of friends and supporters in Australia to get the Aurora fitted out and supplies embarked. Somehow, the expedition left Sydney in mid-December 1914. A witness said, “it was difficult to imagine a state of greater confusion.” They knew that Shackleton was on his way to the Antarctic already and for all they knew, he might be on his way across the continent by early 1915.

Shackleton had, unforgivably, neglected to tell the Aurora team that he was running late and would be unable to make the crossing during the Antarctic summer of late 1914 to early 1915. As such, they felt a terrible burden to lay down supply dumps on which Shackleton’s men were depending.

They could not know that on top of departing late, Shackleton had not even made it to the coast of Antarctica at all and that by late January 1915 he was frozen into the Weddell pack ice, moving slowly north, away from Antarctica, with his ship inevitably squeezed to death.

Effectively by February 1915, Shackelton’s dream was completely destroyed, but there was no way of communicating this to the Ross Sea party. As a result, everything that followed, all the hardships, death and disaster, were all for nothing.

Aurora adrift

On the opposite side of Antarctica to Shackleton’s planned destination, the Ross Sea party desperately shuttled supplies inland, despite inadequate equipment, training and expertise. They faced a slew of problems from the outset and throughout. A motorised tractor had failed. All their sled dogs had died.

In May 1915, the Aurora was torn from its moorings and dragged miles offshore by the pack ice into which she had frozen. 10 men had not been aboard when the gale struck and so were marooned at Cape Evans on Antarctica, with only the clothes they were wearing, and a stack of supplies intended for Shackleton.

Aurora was stuck in the ice for months. In February 1916, she was freed, but because of a damaged rudder returned to New Zealand rather than rescuing the stranded men on Cape Evans.

The men left behind

Interior of Captain Scott’s hut, Hut Point, McMurdo Sound, Ross Sea, Antarctica. 2008.

Image Credit: Nature Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo

Trapped in Antarctica without a ship, the 10 beleaguered men searched Hut Point, which had been used by both Captain Scott and Shackleton during previous expeditions. The Ross Sea party rifled through the supplies left behind there and found extra clothes and food.

They survived the first winter, through the middle of 1915, and heroically set up towards the end of the year to lay more food depots for Shackleton who they now assumed must be coming across in the summer of 1915-1916. The Ross Sea party experienced appalling conditions as they dragged supplies out, spending 198 days on the ice, a record at the time.

One of their number, Spencer Smith, died of scurvy. Others, including Mackintosh, became incapacitated by injury and cold, only making it back by being dragged on sledges by their companions. After a gruelling journey, the depot-layers reached Hut Point, but were still cut off by sea ice from the four members of the party who had remained at Cape Evans.

Driven to desperation, after recovering a little strength eating seal flesh, Mackintosh and Hayward disappeared into a blizzard announcing that they were going to walk to Cape Evans. Neither was ever seen again.

The rescue

A rescue operation was launched. There was no money and so the British, Australian and New Zealand governments reluctantly took control of the Aurora, replaced the crew and sent it south in December 1916. Shackleton had by this time reached safety in the distant south Atlantic and arrived in New Zealand just in time to beg that he should accompany the expedition. He was allowed to sail only as a supernumerary officer with no executive authority.

When Aurora arrived at Cape Evans in January, the survivors were astonished to see Shackleton on the deck: they had expected him to come from the interior of the continent, not New Zealand. It is hard to imagine what they would have felt when they realised that all their hard work and sacrifices had served absolutely no purpose.

It can be easy to forget that not everyone did come home from the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. They deserve to be remembered as much as their brethren on the Endurance.

Read more about the discovery of Endurance. Explore the history of Shackleton and the Age of Exploration. Visit the official Endurance22 website.

The Endurance22 team have carried out minutely detailed laser scans, filmed the wreck with high-resolution 4k cameras and broadcast those images to the world.

The wreck is in an astonishing state of preservation, at the absolute upper limit of what the Endurance22 team were hoping to find. The cold water temperatures mean that no wood-eating organisms live in this part of Antarctica. The paintwork is glistening, the nails still shine, the planks look like new. The name Endurance on the stern is still in its original colours.

As we watched the footage from the seabed there were amazed exclamations. After weeks of searching, and several false dawns, we had found Endurance.

The elusive ship

Shackleton entered the Weddell Sea in 1914, despite warnings from whalers on South Georgia that it was a record ice year and attempting to sail through the Weddell Sea to the Antarctic mainland would be impossible. As predicted, Endurance was caught in the ice in January 1915.

Endurance, stuck in the ice of the Weddell Sea, 1915.

Image Credit: GRANGER / Alamy Stock Photo

By October 1915, Shackleton and his men were forced to abandon her as the ice snapped her beams and tore off her rudder. On 21 November 1915, her stern swung into the air and she descended into the black water. Within minutes the pool that she left froze over.

Rediscovered

I came aboard the South African icebreaker Agulhas II in early February 2022 with the Endurance22 expedition. We left Cape Town and spent 10 days negotiating the swells and winds of the Southern Ocean.

By 5 March 2022, we were into our last week searching for the wreck in the Weddell Sea. The temperature was plummeting, ice was building and we could have been forced to abandon the search at any minute.

Then the AUV pilot and monitoring team saw something. It was big, and it had height, sitting well clear of the seabed. In a vast area of featureless seabed, it looked manmade.

The bow of Shackleton’s sunken Endurance. Weddell Sea, Antarctica, March 2022.

Image Credit: Endurance22

Finding Endurance

As the AUV went in for a closer look, a wall of wood appeared out of the darkness. It was Endurance’s port side. The paintwork was still intact, the planks looked like new, held in place by twinkling nails. All hell broke loose.

I was overwhelmed by a wave of relief, of deep gratitude that we would not be going back empty-handed. That the hard work and belief of so many people would be rewarded.

The drone was recovered and recharged. People worked fast, the deck fizzing with energy. Back into the water went the drone, every pass over the target yielding stunning images and data. Endurance lay on her keel, as intact as she had been in the last photos of her by expedition photographer Frank Hurley. There were smashed plates on the deck, hatchways and ladders clearly visible.

The water was clear, with a visibility of 30m at least. It felt like time travel. It was overwhelming. As the drone was piloted around the stern of the ship, we got the view we hadn’t dared hope for: the five-pointed star, and above it, the letters spelling out Endurance, still bright gold.

The sunken stern of Endurance, with the gold star and lettering visible. Weddell Sea, Antarctica, March 2022.

Image Credit: Endurance22

Celebrations

In the hours that followed, the crew headed onto the surrounding ice flow to celebrate. We played football and watched penguins. I took myself off with my copy of Shackleton’s book. I read the passages about the loss of Endurance.

I kept thinking about those 28 men who watched Endurance sink, metres away from where I sat. At the time, the idea that one day humans might be able to reach down and inspect the wreck was absurd. Subsea operations were in their infancy. The primitive submarines being used in World War One were tested to depths of 50m. Some scientists had managed to broadcast moving images but certainly not from underwater. Yet here we are just over 100 years later able to watch a live feed from the seabed kilometres below us.

I think they would have been thrilled that the story of Endurance had not come to an end that day in November 1915. The story of Endurance is still being told.

Read more about the discovery of Endurance. Explore the history of Shackleton and the Age of Exploration. Visit the official Endurance22 website.

Now, the wreck has been found, filmed and surveyed by members of the Endurance22 expedition, which set out in search of the shipwreck in February 2022. After weeks of surveying the seabed, the shipwreck was located in early March 2022, 100 years after Shackleton died in 1922.

In footage captured by the Endurance22 team using submersible vehicles, Endurance can be seen in exquisite detail, with coils of rope draped across the deck, the ship’s wheel stood upright and the brass ‘Endurance’ lettering emblazoned upon the stern, still shimmering after a century underwater.

Mensun Bound, Endurance22’s Director of Exploration, said of the discovery, “we are overwhelmed by our good fortune in having located and captured images of Endurance. This is by far the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen. It is upright, well proud of the seabed, intact and in a brilliant state of preservation.”

The bow of Shackleton’s sunken Endurance. Weddell Sea, Antarctica, March 2022.

Image Credit: Endurance22

The Endurance22 expedition departed from South Africa for Antarctica aboard SA Agulhas II, an icebreaking polar supply and research ship captained by Knowledge Bengu. The expedition had 35 days to search for the lost wreck, with the possibility to extend that to 45 days. The extension was taken, and the wreck was located in the final week of available search time.

Endurance was found at a depth of 3,008m. The wreck is protected by the Antarctic Treaty, under which it is classed as a ‘Historic Site and Monument’, meaning it cannot be disturbed. The Endurance22 team made use of state-of-the-art underwater search vehicles, SAAB Sabertooths, to survey and document the wreck site without touching it.

History Hit and media network Little Dot Studios joined as media partners of the Endurance22 expedition, which was funded by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust. History Hit Co-Founder and Creative Director Dan Snow documented the expedition in real-time across History Hit TV, HistoryHit.com and History Hit’s podcast network and social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

National Geographic has partnered exclusively with History Hit, Little Dot Studios (an All3Media company) and impact-driven production company Consequential on an epic documentary detailing the successful search and discovery of Endurance. It’s set to premiere in Autumn 2022, as part of National Geographic’s EXPLORER series, on National Geographic Channels and Disney+.

The wider Endurance22 team comprised marine archaeologists, engineers, scientists and extreme environment filmmakers.

The wreck of Shackleton’s Endurance, with the wheel visible. Weddell Sea, Antarctica, March 2022.

Image Credit: Endurance22

When Endurance sank, her approximate location was calculated by her captain, Frank Worsley. It was an overcast day, however, so Worsley couldn’t use the sun to fix its position. Instead, he used previous days’ sextant readings and estimated the direction of ice drift to plot the rough coordinates of where the ship went down.

To try and locate the wreckage more than a century later, the Endurance22 team plotted a search area around Worsley’s estimated coordinates and used hybrid underwater vehicles to search the seabed looking for shapes and anomalies. Endurance was located roughly 4 miles south of Worsley’s estimated position.

Dr. John Shears, the polar geographer who headed the Endurance22 expedition, said, “we have made polar history with the discovery of Endurance, and successfully completed the world’s most challenging shipwreck search… We have also conducted an unprecedented educational outreach programme, with live broadcasting from onboard, allowing new generations from around the world to engage with Endurance22.”

Shackleton’s Endurance trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea, 1915. Photo by Frank Hurley.

Image Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917) hoped to accomplish the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. The plan was to sail from South Georgia to Antarctica’s Vahsel Bay. From there, the men would travel by dog sleds and on foot to the Ross Sea, on the opposite side of the Antarctic landmass, via the South Pole.

On 5 December 1914, Ernest Shackleton departed from South Georgia for Antarctica, despite warnings from whalers in South Georgia that the Weddell Sea would be unnavigable due to the thick ice coverage that year.

Soon after, on 18 January 1915, Endurance became trapped in the ice of the Weddell Sea. She endured 10 months wedged within the pack, until an increase in pressure forced the ship’s stern into the air and tore off its rudder. Endurance sank on 21 November 1915.

The stranded crew then endured a treacherous journey across land, ice and sea back to South Georgia and civilisation. All 28 men survived. Endurance remained unseen, lost in the icy waters of the Weddell Sea, for nearly 107 years.

Read more about the discovery of Endurance. Explore the history of Shackleton and the Age of Exploration. Visit the official Endurance22 website.

Many shipwrecks have been condemned to lie in Davy Jones’ locker forever, slowly becoming a home to sea life and eventually disappearing altogether. However, a number of famous shipwrecks have  been re-discovered and raised from the sea bed. They offer a fascinating insight into the lives of those who sailed them. Some shipwrecks which remain underwater have been found with troves of priceless treasures and are popular destinations for scuba divers.

Here are the most famous shipwrecks to have ever been found.

1. Endurance (1915)

For over a century, the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance was lost beneath the ice floes of the Weddell Sea in the Antarctic. The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition had set out in 1914 to cross the Antarctic continent via the South Pole.

However the Endurance never reached land. It became stuck in sea ice, and in its clutches the ship drifted northward until it was eventually crushed and sunk in 1915, stranding the 28 men of the expedition on the ice. From there they would begin an extraordinary journey home.

107 years later, however, in February 2022, a crew of scientists and archaeologists, as well as filmmakers led by historian Dan Snow, departed Cape Town, South Africa on board the icebreaker Agulhas II towards the presumed location of Endurance’s sinking. Led by polar geographer Dr. John Shears and marine archaeologist Mensun Bound, the Endurance22 expedition located the wreck at a depth of 3008 metres, approximately four miles south of the position originally recorded by Captain Worsley.

2. Antikythera wreck (c. 70-60 BC)

In 1900, sponge divers off the tiny Greek island of Antikythera uncovered an ancient shipwreck on the seabed. Subsequent archaeological investigations revealed that it was a Roman ship that sank between 70 and 60 BC during a voyage to Italy.

It took with it a fortune in fine art and treasures, including three corroded pieces of flat bronze, which when reassembled created a device known as the Antikythera Mechanism, which is thought to be the world’s first analogue computer and has since become one of the world’s most treasured archaeological finds.

Researchers have described the wreckage as a ‘floating museum’, with finds including bronze statues, thirty-six marble sculptures, statues, a bronze lyre, several pieces of glasswork, coins, jewellery and even human remains of the crew and passengers. Many of the stunning finds are now on display in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

3. The Mary Rose (1545)

The remnants of the Mary Rose undergoing conservation in Portsmouth.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Mary Rose was one of the most speedy and heavily armed warships in the English fleet. It sank in 1545 while it was leading the attack on a French invasion fleet in Portsmouth Harbour. It has been debated why it sank: most theorise that it was overloaded with soldiers, guns and ammunition. Of the 400 crew and soldiers on board, fewer than 40 people escaped since the ship quickly filled with seawater and sank.

The wreckage was rediscovered in 1971 by a team of divers. Over the following 10 years, it was excavated by more than 500 volunteer divers, and in 1982 it was brought to the surface. In 1986, around a third of the original hull went on display at the Mary Rose Museum.

Extraordinary finds included more than 28,000 artefacts such as hand weapons, tools, cannons and armour, and personal items such as coins, clothing and letters from home which detail life during the English Tudor era. Human remains in the wreck indicate that many had experienced childhood malnutrition, while crew members showed signs of arthritis and bone fractures.

4. Vasa (1628)

When it was launched in 1628, Vasa was one of the most powerful warships in the world and was the jewel of the Swedish Navy. However, upon its maiden voyage, it had barely travelled 1 mile before it was struck by wind, rolled over and sank in front of the crowds on shore that had gathered to cheer its departure.

The wreck of the mighty Vasa was rediscovered in Stockholm harbour in the 1950s and was eventually removed to a dry dock after extensive work and preparation. Since 1990, the wreck has been on display in Stockholm. Remarkably, much of its hull and detailed woodwork is still intact after centuries of submersion, probably due to the harbour’s polluted water preventing wood-eating microorganisms from surviving.

More than a dozen people and thousands of artefacts have also been recovered from the wreck, including hand weapons, ship’s tools, cannons, sails and personal items such as clothes, shoes and coins.

5. Queen Anne’s Revenge (1718)

Salvage of cannon from shipwreck off of North Carolina, possibly from Queen Anne’s Revenge, 1979.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Queen Anne’s Revenge was a former French slave carrier that was then captured and commanded by the feared English pirate Blackbeard. Blackbeard and his crew used it to plunder Dutch, British and Portuguese ships on their way to the Caribbean. However, it ran aground in North Carolina in 1718. Blackbeard escaped on a smaller ship along with most of the treasure, leaving the ship to be wrecked and sunk.

In 1996, the ship’s wreckage was rediscovered lying in around 28ft of water around a mile offshore. Over 300,000 artefacts have since been recovered from the wreck that offer a tantalising insight into the life of a pirate in the early 18th century. In addition, many cannon have been found – far more than normal for a ship of its size – from a variety of European foundries, reflecting the diversity of cannon that had been seized and plundered during the colonial era. Several were still loaded.

Artefacts also include medical supplies and instruments, which backs up the theory that Blackbeard used the latest medical technology to try and keep his crew ready for battle at all times.

6. HMS Victory (1744)

The 100-gun HMS Victory was launched in 1737. It was while on a mission to relieve a British convoy trapped by a French blockade in Portugal that it was separated from the fleet and sank, probably due to a combination of stormy weather, a top-heavy design and rotten timbers. All 1,150 crew members were killed.

In 2008, the wreck was discovered in a location further away than archaeologists and historians had predicted. The discovery of a larger gun which was only carried on a prime vessel of HMS Victory’s size allowed archaeologists to definitively identify the wreck. As well as the cannon, rigging, glass bottle fragments, parts of the hull and anchors were also unearthed.

7. The Sultana (1865)

‘Sultana on fire’, from Harpers Weekly, 1865.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The explosion and sinking of the steamboat The Sultana marks the worst maritime disaster in the history of the US. The ship was chiefly used for the lower Mississippi cotton trade but was increasingly used at the end of the American Civil War to transport prisoners of war from the Union army back home.

Though it was designed to have a capacity of 376 passengers, The Sultana was carrying a staggering 2,137 people when three of the boat’s boilers exploded and caused her to sink near Memphis, Tennessee. The death toll is uncertain, but estimates have ranged from anything from 1,200 to 1,800 people. In spite of the disaster, it was overshadowed in the press by events about the end of the Civil War and the killing of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin. As a result, nobody was ever held accountable.

In 1982, blackened pieces from the wreck of the ship were discovered in a soybean field around 6km from Memphis, which is likely where the Mississippi River used to flow through. A temporary Sultana Disaster Museum was opened in 2015 on the 150th anniversary of the tragedy, featuring relics discovered amongst the wreckage.

8. RMS Titanic (1912)

The Titanic is undoubtedly one of the most famous and luxurious ships of all time. When it was built in the early 20th century, it cost an equivalent of $180 million today and was considered to be ‘unsinkable’. However, after striking an iceberg, the ship took on a massive amount of water and began to sink quickly. A combination of a lack of emergency protocol and a tiny number of lifeboats led to 1,517 people losing their lives.

In 1985, the wreckage was discovered 13,000 feet underwater and nearly 4km off the coast of Newfoundland. A number of treasures were recovered from the cargo hold of the first-class passengers along with other fascinating artefacts.

Though some companies have proposed plans to raise the ship to the surface, the wreckage is incredibly fragile because it is being destroyed by iron-eating bacteria. Scientists suggest that within the next 100 years the wreckage will have all but disappeared. Today, the wreckage is protected under the UNESCO convention.

Whether or not this story is true remains to be seen, but he was certainly not short of applicants: he received over 5,000 entries from men (and a few women) who were desperate to join his crew. In the end, he left with just 56 carefully chosen men. 28 would be part of the Weddell Sea party, aboard the doomed Endurance, while the other 28 would be on board the Aurora as part of the Ross Sea party.

So who were these intrepid men who joined Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition?

What personnel did Shackleton need?

Antarctic crews needed a wide variety of people, with an assortment of different skills, to be present. In such a hostile environment and difficult conditions, it was vital to have people who were calm, level-headed and hardy. As much as exploration, the expedition also wanted to document what was founded in Antarctica.

The Endurance carried a photographer and artist, two surgeons, a biologist, geologist and physicist, several carpenters, a dog handler and multiple officers, sailors and navigators. It would have taken weeks to decide which men could go. Choosing the wrong men, as much as choosing the wrong equipment, could put an expedition in serious jeopardy.

Leonard Hussey (meteorologist) and Reginald James (physicist) [left & right] in the laboratory (known as the ‘Rookery’) onboard ‘Endurance’ (1912), during the winter of 1915. Hussey can be seen examining the Dine’s anemometer, while James cleans the rime off the dip circle.

Image Credit: Royal Museums Greenwich / Public Domain

Not for the fainthearted

Embarking on an Antarctic expedition meant knowing you would be leaving behind family, friends and a normal life for potentially years at a time. Even the planned length of time of expeditions was extremely long, let alone taking into account any disruptions such as getting stuck in the ice, getting lost or things going wrong en route.

Moreover, the Antarctic was an extremely hostile environment. Not only were there limited food supplies and perishingly cold weather, but it could also be dark (or light) virtually all day depending on the season. Men were required to occupy themselves for weeks or months on end in relatively cramped quarters, with no contact with the outside world and a tiny weight allowance for personal items.

Shackleton was an Antarctic veteran by this point: he set off prepared, allowing one of his men to bring a banjo and encouraging others to play cards, make and perform plays and sketches, sing together, write in their journals and read and swap books to help the time pass. It was also vital men got along well with one another: spending years at a time onboard ships meant that difficult personalities were not welcome.

The crew of the Endurance

The Endurance sank, crushed by the ice of the Weddell Sea, in November 1915. She wouldn’t be seen again for some 107 years, when she was found, beautifully preserved, in the waters of Antarctica by the Endurance22 expedition. Remarkably, all of Endurance‘s original crew survived the treacherous journey to South Georgia following the ship’s sinking. They were not completely unscathed, however: severe cases of frostbite led to gangrene and amputations.

Many of the men aboard Shackleton’s Endurance had no previous experience of polar expeditions. Here are 4 of the most notable crewmembers to accompany Shackleton on his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Frank Hurley 

Hurley was the official expedition photographer, and his photographs of the Endurance stuck in the ice have since become iconic. He used the Paget process to take photographs in colour, which was, by contemporary standards, a pioneering technique.

As time went on, Hurley became increasingly selective in his subject matter. When Endurance sank and the men abandoned her, Hurley was forced to leave behind 400 of his negatives, returning with just 120 shots of life aboard and around the Endurance.

Frank Hurley and Ernest Shackleton camping on the ice.

Image Credit: Public Domain

Perce Blackborow

A stowaway who boarded Endurance in Buenos Aires after he didn’t make the cut to join as staff, Blackborow was discovered three days out of port – too late to turn back. Shackleton was reportedly furious at Blackborow, telling him stowaways were the “first to be eaten” on polar expeditions.

He ended up as a steward on the ship, under the promise he would volunteer as the first to be eaten if they ran out of food on the expedition. Blackborow developed severe frostbite on the journey to Elephant Island, to the extent that he could no longer stand because of his gangrenous feet. His toes were amputated by the ship’s surgeon, Alexander Macklin, and Blackborow survived, his feet relatively intact when the crew were rescued from South Georgia Island.

Charles Green 

The Endurance‘s cook, Green was nicknamed ‘Doughballs’ because of his high-pitched voice. Well-liked amongst the crew, he did his best under extremely difficult circumstances to ensure the men were fed and as healthy as possible, cooking for 28 grown men with extremely limited resources.

Whilst originally the ship was stocked with plentiful supplies, including biscuits, cured meats and 25 cases of whiskey, these dwindled rapidly as the Endurance sat in the ice. After supplies ran out, the men existed almost solely on a diet of penguin, seal and seaweed. Green was forced to cook on stoves fuelled by blubber rather than conventional fuel.

Charles Green, Endurance’s cook, with a penguin. Photographed by Frank Hurley.

Frank Worsley 

Worsley was the captain of Endurance, although he was, much to Shackleton’s frustration, much better at following orders than giving them. Despite having little experience of Antarctic exploration or sailing, Worsley relished the challenge of Endurance‘s situation, although he underestimated the power of the ice and the fact that once Endurance was stuck, it was only a matter of time before she was crushed.

However, Worsley proved to be in his element when it came to open water sailing during the voyage to Elephant Island, and later South Georgia, spending almost 90 hours straight at the tiller without sleep.

He also had impressive navigational skills, which were invaluable in hitting both Elephant Island and South Georgia Island. He was one of the three men to cross South Georgia to find the whaling station: reportedly his crew did not recognise him when he returned, freshly shaven and washed, to pick them up.

Read more about the discovery of Endurance. Explore the history of Shackleton and the Age of Exploration. Visit the official Endurance22 website.

We waited under a roasting sun alongside the quay in Cape Town for the last-minute comings and goings of contractors. Seals lazily rolled onto their backs and looked up at us as we sprawled in the shade waiting for the captain’s decision to set off.

41-year-old Captain Knowledge Bengu, master of the Agulhas II, grew up in a township in Apartheid South Africa. He became the first black African ice pilot in history and was commanding the nation’s Antarctic research vessel by his late 30s. English is his third language and, he jokes, he learned it in a township school, as he briefs us on the ship’s mission and safety drills.

Disembarking

Mid-afternoon, Captain Bengu makes his decision, and at 1600 sharp on Saturday 5 February the crew on the forecastle haul in the thick shorelines and we edge away from the quay.

Towering above us, the recognisable shapes of Table Mountain, Signal Hill and the Lion’s Head. One of the most obvious landfalls of all the great harbours of the age of sail. After long passages across the Atlantic, or from Bombay in India, the outlines of these hills and mountains would mean a break in a journey, fresh food, water and a break to a long sea voyage.

Dan’s view looking back at Table Mountain.

Image Credit: Dan Snow

The sun was low as we steamed out past Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and other freedom fighters were incarcerated. Whales whipped up white foam attracting scores of little tourist powerboats, but we did not deviate. There are plenty of whales where we are going.

Very quickly the ship lurched from side to side as the ocean swells lifted and dropped our bright red hull gently as they carried on their leisurely progress from east to west. I wedged in my books to the shelves, jammed my toothpaste and shaving cream together on the shelf in my head (toilet) but the whole room rattled and scratched as everything worked its way loose. I didn’t care, I was on deck, basking in the sun, hunched over against 20 knots of breeze blowing around the Cape of Good Hope.

Following in Shackleton’s footsteps

Cleaning the galley floor by Frank Hurley

Image Credit: Royal Geographical Society/Alamy Stock Photo

I thought of Shackleton leaving South Georgia, his last break with the rest of humanity. It was 0845 on 5 December 1914. The weather was less clement, a stiff north-westerly breeze caught the sails, heeling the ship over and bringing sleet and snow with it. There was a mountain of coal piled up on deck, 70 sled dogs tied up forward, and a ton of whale meat suspended in the rigging, sprinkling all below with speckles of blood.

Shackleton had a poem for every occasion, and on this momentous one, he gathered the men together to recite a slightly refined version of Ship of Fools by St John Lucas:

“We were the fools who could not rest in the dull earth we left behind.

But burned with passion for the South.

And drank strange frenzy from the wind.

The world where wise men sit at ease,

Fades from my unregretful eyes

And blind across uncharted seas

We stagger on our enterprise”

He was right about the staggering.

The first night at sea I played dominos with the History Hit team, and then, when they went to bed, climbed up to the very top deck and looked for a long time at the spray of stars overhead. The unfamiliar constellations of the southern hemisphere. The ones that Shackleton and Worsley, his indefatigable skipper, would rely on to steer the open boat back to the safety of South Georgia. It was still warm enough to wear my t-shirt as I star gazed, but we were heading south, and it would not be for long.

Read more about the discovery of Endurance. Explore the history of Shackleton and the Age of Exploration. Visit the official Endurance22 website.

But Shackleton never made it to the depots: Endurance was crushed and sank in the Weddell Sea, forcing Shackleton and his men to battle ice, land and sea to return to civilisation. Famously, every one of them survived. The Ross Sea party wasn’t so fortunate. When Aurora was swept out to sea, 10 men were left stranded on the frosty shores of Antarctica with just the clothes on their backs. Only 7 survived.

At some point during their ill-fated mission, the Ross Sea party abandoned a collection of photographic negatives in a hut on Cape Evans, Antarctica. The Antarctic Heritage Trust (New Zealand) carefully removed the negatives from Antarctica in 2013, then set about developing and digitising them.

Here are 8 of those remarkable photographs.

Ross Island, Antarctica. Alexander Stevens, chief scientist and geologist, looks south. Hut Point Peninsula in the background.

Image Credit: © Antarctic Heritage Trust

The crew of the Aurora faced a litany of problems when they reached Antarctica, including severe equipment failures and the deaths of 10 of their sled dogs.

Big Razorback Island, McMurdo Sound.

Image Credit: © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Aurora was dragged out to sea by drifting pack ice in May 1915. 10 men from the Ross Sea party, who had been onshore at the time, were left stranded. When Aurora was eventually freed from the ice, a damaged rudder forced her to head to New Zealand for repairs rather than to the rescue of the stranded men.

Tent Island, McMurdo Sound.

Image Credit: © Antarctic Heritage Trust

The stranded men continued their depot-laying mission without the support of Aurora and its crew. Some of them spent 198 consecutive days on the ice at one point, setting a record for the time. But 3 of them died in Antarctica. Spencer Smith succumbed to scurvy. Aeneas Mackintosh and Victor Hayward set off from Hut Point to Cape Evans in a blizzard and were never seen again.

Looking south along Hut Point Peninsula to Ross Island.

Image Credit: © Antarctic Heritage Trust

The cellulose nitrate negatives left by the Ross Sea party were discovered, all clumped together, in a small box by the Antarctic Heritage Trust (New Zealand).

Sea ice afloat, McMurdo Sound.

Image Credit: © Antarctic Heritage Trust

The box was found in ‘Scott’s hut’, a small cabin built on Cape Evans by the famed explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his men during his Antarctic expedition of 1910-1913. When 10 members of the Ross Sea party were separated from Aurora, they spent time in Scott’s hut.

Alexander Stevens, chief scientist and geologist on board Aurora.

Image Credit: © Antarctic Heritage Trust

The negatives were found in a part of the hut used as a darkroom by Herbert Ponting, the photographer of Scott’s Terra-Nova expedition. The Ross Sea party also had a resident photographer, Reverend Arnold Patrick Spencer-Smith, though it can’t be said for sure if these photographs were taken by him.

Mount Erebus, Ross Island, from the west.

Image Credit: © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Photographic conservator Mark Strange was recruited by the Antarctic Heritage Trust (New Zealand) to restore the negatives. He painstakingly separated the clump of negatives into 22 distinct images and cleaned each one. The separated negatives were then scanned and converted into digital positives. 

Iceberg and land, Ross Island.

Image Credit: © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Nigel Watson, the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Executive Director, said of the photographs, “it’s an exciting find and we are delighted to see them exposed after a century. It’s testament to the dedication and precision of our conservation teams’ efforts to save Scott’s Cape Evans hut.”

Read more about the discovery of Endurance. Explore the history of Shackleton and the Age of Exploration. Visit the official Endurance22 website.