Ernest Shackleton’s ‘last ship’ has finally been found, more than 60 years after it sank.
The vessel, called Quest, was located on the seafloor off the coast of Newfoundland.
Shackleton, who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic, died aboard Quest in 1922 while en route to Antarctica, although the ship continued to be used until the 1960s.
‘Finding Quest is one of the final chapters in the extraordinary story of Sir Ernest Shackleton,’ said expedition leader John Geiger, CEO of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS).
‘Shackleton was known for his courage and brilliance as a leader in times of crisis. The tragic irony is that his was the only death to take place on any of the ships under his direct command.’
Ernest Shackleton’s ‘last ship’ has finally been found, more than 60 years after it sank. The vessel, called Quest, was located on the seafloor off the coast of Newfoundland
Researchers found the remains of the Quest upright on the sea floor in an area of the Labrador Sea. This map shows the estimated last voyage of Quest as it travelled on a sealing expedition in 1962
Mr Geiger led an international team of experts, including world-renowned shipwreck hunter David Mearns, in a search for the remains of Shackleton’s final ship.
Using sonar equipment, the team spotted the remains of the 38m-long Schooner-rigged steamship, 390m (1,280ft) below the Labrador Sea.
Remarkably, the wreck is still largely intact and is sat upright on the seafloor – despite the area having been previously scoured by passing icebergs.
Besides a broken mast, which hangs over the portside, the explorers found that the ship was almost exactly as it had been before it sunk.
Although Shackleton died aboard Quest, he was not the one responsible for its sinking.
After Shackleton’s death aboard the ship, Quest was sold to the Schjelderup family in Norway where it was put to work as a seal hunting vessel.
While Shackleton died aboard the vessel he was not responsible for its sinking and was, in fact, the only person to ever die aboard a ship under his direct command
Sir Earnest Shackleton (pictured) died four months into an expedition on Quest while anchored off South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic Ocean
During the 40 years in which Quest continued to sail without Shackleton, it was used in Arctic rescues and served in the Royal Canadian Navy during WWII.
At one point, Quest was even selected to bring Norwegian troops to Svalbard but suffered an engine failure on route – the ship which replaced it was bombed and sunk during the mission.
However, it was on a seal hunt in 1962 that Quest finally sunk after being crushed by thick sea ice.
Quest’s hull was pierced with such pressure that the cabin doors were warped and deck screws in the engine room snapped.
Ironically, this was the exact same fate which befell Shackleton’s Endurance during his ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition between 1914 and 1917.
Shackleton’s own final voyage aboard Quest began in September 1921 as he embarked from London for the very last time.
His original plan had been to explore the Arctic regions of Canada, North of Alaska, but had to change his goal when the Canadian government withdrew financial support.
Instead, Shackleton once more set his sites on the Antarctic, planning to map and collect samples from the continent’s islands.
A team of researchers led by John Geiger, CEO of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society used sonar equipment and historical records to track down the final resting place of the Quest
Before setting out, Shackleton, now 47, told reporters that the expedition was to be his ‘swan song’.
Unfortunately, the famed explorer’s remarks proved prophetic and he died in his cabin four months into the voyage after suffering a heart attack due to extreme stress
To find Shackleton’s last vessel the researchers combined cutting-edge technology with what information could be found in the historical records.
The team consulted ship’s logs, newspaper clippings, and legal documents; cross-referencing these with historic weather and ice data.
Critically, the researchers were also able to access two logs from Kvitfjell, the ship which rescued some of Quest’s crew.
These logs did not reveal the Quest’s location directly, but they did give them a box covering 24 square nautical miles where they thought the ship might be.
Using sonar equipment, the crew (pictured) spotted the 38m-long steamship lying upright 390m (1,280ft) below the Labrador Sea
Although the team’s calculations turned out to be almost spot on, their expedition was plagued with mechanical issues.
Initial tests of the solar beacon failed and problems were discovered with the hydraulics in their ship’s tow winch.
After an unscheduled stop to make repairs, the expedition only had 24 hours left to complete their search by the time they reached the target area.
And, with less than 7 hours remaining, the sonar equipment finally revealed the outline of Quest lying on the sea floor.
Shipwreck Hunter Mr Mearns says: I can definitively confirm that we have found the wreck of Quest.
‘Data from high resolution side-scan sonar imagery corresponds exactly with the known dimensions and structural features of this special ship, and is also consistent with events at the time of the sinking.’
In this picture taken by one of her crew, you can see as Quest sinks into the water after having been crushed by sea ice
For now, the crew are holding back the exact coordinates of the wreck but plan to return next year for a more thorough investigation.
Since the wreck lies in an area which is protected for wildlife they don’t plan to move the wreck and instead will photograph it with a remote vehicle.
After Quest was spotted, one of the first to be told was Alexandra Shackleton, Earnest Shackleton’s granddaughter and patron of RCGS survey.
‘I was thrilled, really excited to hear the news; I have relief and happiness and a huge admiration for the members of the team,’ she told BBC News.
She added: ‘For me, this represents the last discovery in the Shackleton story. It completes the circle.’
Sir Ernest Shackleton: Famed Anglo-Irish Antarctic adventurer
Sir Ernest Shackleton during the 1908 expedition to Antarctica
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three expeditions to the frozen continent.
He was at the heart of a period in history that later came to be known as the ‘Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration’.
Born in Ireland, Shackleton moved to London with his family when he was 10 and first experienced polar climates as an officer on Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Discovery expedition of 1901–1904.
He was sent home early from that expedition after work experiencing poor health that had been ascribed to scurvy. New studies suggest he had beriberi.
During the Nimrod expedition of 1907–1909, Shackleton and his companions created a new recorded of farthest south latitude at 88 degrees south.
Disaster struck his next expedition, the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–1917, when the ship, the Endurance, became trapped in pack ice.
The crew were able to escape by launching lifeboats and reaching nearby islands, travelling through stormy oceans for 830 miles.
He returned to the Antarctic for one final time in 1921 with the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition, but died of a heart attack on January 5, 1922, while his ship was moored in South Georgia.
While Shackleton is best known for his exploration, his legacy is also one of enabling a considerable amount of scientific research.
His expeditions helped produce comprehensive scientific and geographical surveys — among which were the first surveys of Antarctica’s interior and the effective location of the Magnetic South Pole.
‘Shackleton is an iconic figure of Antarctic history with the most incredible legacy of courage and endeavour,’ noted the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust’s CEO, Camilla Nichol.
‘But we sometimes overlook the contribution his expeditions made to science.
‘To this day Antarctica is an essential barometer for climate change at the heart of climate science.
‘We preserve Shackleton’s legacy to inspire the next generation of pioneering scientists and explorers.’