RWSE Day 23: Endurance Found

Actually, the ship was found three years ago today … on 5 March 2022 … where it lies in the icy waters of the Weddell Sea … at a depth of nearly 9,900 feet (3,000m) … over a century after it was crushed in the ice pack … and 100 years and two months after Shackleton died on SGI on 5 January 1922.

That being the case, tonight was the perfect time for an after-dinner screening of a documentary movie about the Endurance … with an introduction and afterword by Tennessee … and popcorn to boot.

A joint production by National Geographic and Disney, the documentary is simply entitled “Endurance.” It opens with a 1910 quote by Theodore Roosevelt: “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena … if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.” A description apropos to what Shackleton attempted with the Endurance Expedition.

The documentary tells the story of the finding of the wreck by the Endurance22 Expedition, which was organized and funded by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust. Footage from the expedition is combined with historic photos and Frank Hurley’s original 35mm footage from the 1914 expedition … color-treated for the first time in this documentary; explanations by the Endurance22 Expedition members; and Shackleton’s and his crew’s words … taken from their writings and recordings, and in their own voices, using AI technology.

The images of the wreck show it to be in an amazing condition — the icy waters having preserved much of the ship … it’s name as clearly visible as it must have been when the ship was crushed in the ice.

Finding the vessel was an incredible feat … considering that overcast conditions at the time Endurance sank made it impossible to mark its position. Endurance22 had to rely on coordinates Frank Worsley, the captain, wrote in the ship’s log … an assumed position based on sextant readings taken the day after the sinking and his estimates of the direction and speed of the ice drift.

Found though the ship is, as stated at the end of the documentary, “The Endurance remains undisturbed. It is protected by international treaties ensuring its conservation.”Leggi altro