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LAST UPDATE | 9 Mar 2022
THE WRECK OF renowned polar explorer and Kildare man Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance has been found 107 years after it became trapped in sea ice and sank off the coast of Antarctica.
The wooden ship had not been seen since it went down in the Weddell Sea in 1915, and in February the Endurance22 Expedition set off from Cape Town, South Africa, a month after the 100th anniversary of Shackleton’s death on a mission to locate it.
The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust said Endurance was found at a depth of 3,008 metres and approximately four miles south of the position originally recorded by the ship’s captain Frank Worsley.
Aileen Crean O’Brien, granddaughter of Tom Crean, the renowned Irish explorer who was on board the Endurance, told The Journal: “It’s so exciting. It’s fantastic that new technology has allowed this to happen and just to see the image of it in the video, it’s so pristine. It’s amazing altogether.”
She said that she hopes the discovery will bring further attention to the fact that three of the crew on board the Endurance were Irish – Crean, Shackleton and Cork man Tim McCarthy.
Crean O’Brien said that conditions in the area are tough, and that a couple of weeks ago the crew that found the wreck got stuck in the ice themselves, while on board a South African ice breaker. “Even with that, the conditions down there are so severe. You have to respect nature,” she said.
Nothing can be raised from the spot, she said, but the fact the ship is still so intact showed how well made it was. “It would be wonderful if it had happened in my mum and aunts’ lifetime,” said Crean O’Brien, as her mother was the daughter of Tom Crean. She said she hopes the discovery will revitalise interest in the Tom Crean story and that of the other Irish men involved in Antarctic exploration. “It’s important for the kids to read about that and learn about it, and be inspired by local heroes,” she said.
The expedition’s director of exploration said footage of Endurance showed it to be intact and “by far the finest wooden shipwreck” he has seen.
Mensun Bound said: “We are overwhelmed by our good fortune in having located and captured images of Endurance.
“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.”
Dr John Shears, the expedition leader, said his team, which was accompanied by historian Dan Snow, had made “polar history” by completing what he called “the world’s most challenging shipwreck search”.
He said: “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 and his crew set out to achieve the first land crossing of Antarctica but Endurance did not reach land and became trapped in dense pack ice, forcing the 28 men on board to eventually abandon ship.
John O’Reilly of the Shackleton Exhibition told The Journal that the discovery was “something that nobody really expected”. “The images I’ve seen so far are extraordinary,” he said. He said that it’s incredible to be able to see the ship in place because no one was sure how much of it had survived after it was crushed by ice.
He’s curious about what might still be on board. There are stories that photographer Frank Hurley broke glass plates that the crew weren’t going to take with them, but that other stories say boxes of plates were left on board.
“There might be artifacts left behind which would be absolutely extraordinary,” he said.
“They abandoned ship in October [and it sank in November], so they had quite a bit of time to retrieve bits and pieces,” he said. “They went back to take things off. What would be interesting is what they did leave behind, what articles or what pieces of personal items, or ship equipment they couldn’t take with them. That would be fascinating – that would give more insight into what was their thinking and why did they decide to leave certain things behind.”
Trapped
Shackleton and his crew were forced to abandon the Endurance after it was trapped and crushed by Antarctic ice. With no other options available, they undertook a perilous lifeboat trip to safety before setting up a makeshift camp on the tiny Elephant Island – on the edge of the continent.
Six men set off on the James Caird, including Shackleton, Tom Crean, captain Frank Worsley, English seaman John Vincent, Cork sailor Tim McCarthy and McNish, the carpenter.
Shackleton’s own account of the James Caird voyage underscores why it’s regarded as such an incredible sailing feat.
From his book ‘South’:
The tale of the next sixteen days is one of supreme strife amid heaving waters. The sub-Antarctic Ocean lived up to its evil winter reputation.
The men endured freezing conditions, their epic ordeal finally coming to an end on 10 May when they arrived at South Georgia’s King Haakon Bay.
Unfortunately for the exhausted men, the whaling station where they had been hoping to seek help was on the far side of the island. Leaving the others camped out with the boat, Shackleton, Crean and Worsley set out on foot to begin another never-before-attempted journey – traversing the island’s mountainous interior.
Accounts tell how Shackleton was unrecognisable when he showed up at the ‘Stromness’ station on the far side of South Georgia, covered in blubber-smoke, with long hair and beard.
A whaling boat – with Worsley on board – was dispatched straight away to pick up McCarthy, Vincent and McNish from the south of South Georgia, and soon all six were enjoying a hot meal.
It took almost four months and two failed attempts before the Shackleton was able to mount a successful rescue operation, eventually reaching his stranded crewmen on Elephant Island aboard Chilean steam tug the Yelcho.
Remarkably, of the 28-strong crew who had set sail on the Endurance, he hadn’t lost a single man.
- With reporting from PA
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Poor man.. Who wants to die at 58 yrs? Cancer is a terrible disease.. It’s obvious the Venezuelan people loved him immensely and he was good for them too… I wish we had a leader that was a real man and would stand up for his people like Chavez did ..we haven’t had those kind of leaders in this country in 100yrs.. doubt ill see it in my lifetime either I’m sorry to say…
Forgetting about Charlie?
Charlie who? cant think of any Charlie who’s relevant to what Joan said
Its rumoured Hugo was listening to Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel in his final hours, thoughts and prayers with the deceaseds family….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiCRZLr9oRw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Joan,
My sentiments exactly, a real woman would be great too, this old boys club in the dail has to be broken.
Charlie and the Charvet Factory
Shirts that is.
“Self anointed successor” -he’s his democratically elected Vice President so of course he takes over in the event of the death of the president. Like in many other countries! There will be elections shortly to determine who takes over unless the US decides they need ‘democracy’ now and parachute in a right wing puppet.
@ Pamela .. I thought that was kinda strange too!? ‘ Self anointed successor’…? I didn’t think he was either but thought I might’ve got my facts wrong so didn’t comment on it..
It is associated press after all
Chaves was not sworn in so technically he was no longer President. And as such neither is the vice president. Hence the requirement for fresh elections. Or would you have them just ignore the constitution like they usually did.
Nicholas Maduro is Venezuela’s vice president. He is a democratically elected member of the Venezuala national assembly and appointed by former president Chavez to vice president in 2012. The term “self anointed” is designed to imply Venezuala is undemocratic, just because the Venezualan people choose to elect a government that does not say “how high” when the US says “jump”.
And I believe that when they are referring to ” his self appointed successor” they are referring to the party leadership. Usually when a party loses its leader their is a vote for a new one but not seemingly in this case.
He hasn’t been elected yet.
Chavez was not sworn in and neither was he.
The courts ruled that the constitutionally the leader of the National Assembly should be interim leader until the elections are held.
Maduro has decided to ignore the courts and declare himself leader.
Hence self anointed.
Looks like he is a real chip of the old block at least.
Actually I stand corrected.
The issue is not that he wasn’t sworn in.
The constitution states that the leader of the national assembly is the executive vice president and should be in charge in the event the president dies with elections held within 30 days.
Mr Maduro however is above concepts like law and constitutions.
I bet you Muduro and the rest of the gang have their “get out of Dodge” money stashed in off shore accounts. And it won’t be in their local currency either.
Nor is it the case in the United States. There when the President dies the Vice President succeeds him as soon as he can be sworn in. Its seems to be the same system with the Chavez regime as the US, so whats the problem they were elected in fair elections weren’t they.
Martin He was not sworn in. He went to Cuba for treatment before being sworn in. The Speaker of the Parliament is the legal Authority until a new President can be sworn in and that means New Elections.
Well said Pamela. The US hates a democratic state that dissents from their agenda, they call that terrorism
RIP Hugo Chavez.
I admired his resolve to rid his country of all the “international interests”.
The “international interests” were willing to flush Venezuela down the tubes of hunger and poverty just like Nigeria and the other oil producing nations of Africa and then tell us…(I meant them, it would never happen here…would it???) them they were lucky because IT’S JUST SOOOO EXPENSIVE TO EXPLORE AND VERY LITTLE MONEY TO BE MADE.
My Arse!!!!!
These pillagers will be back with a vengeance in Venezuela and all the roads and schools and hospitals and services for the poor and the elderly and higher wage cuts and taxes for our ( …I meant those in Venezuela) those people and luckily the IMF etc will help them to structure their “debts” and tell them sell off their resources to pay for it.
I’m so glad I live in Ireland, a democracy that puts its people first!
Viva Chavez.
My vote for comment of the week goes to billy
All the fancy clinics and things are already starting to close as Chavez squandered all the Oil revenue buying votes.
There was a reason he went to the Chinese for 38bn, secured on the country’s oil reserves, the country is going bust.
With Chavez gone the suppression of the free press and anyone who disagreed with him will lessen hopefully and we’ll hear more about the corruption.
Although already the pro Chavez mobs have been out brandishing guns and beating up protesting students.
Sadly he won’t be around to see the consequences of his actions and will no doubt be exonerated of his part of what awaits Venezuela.
The 32% devaluation of their currency last month is just the beginning.
i second that
Top comment. Well done.
Viva Chavez siempre!
I implore all of you have had the wool pulled over your eyes by Chavez’s cult of personality to read this
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/03/05/venezuela-chavez-s-authoritarian-legacy
A report from Human Rights Watch on Chavez’ brutal reign.
Ah but you see Carl, he was always slagging off the US so therefore he was a legend. Never mind the fact that a lot of the time he did it he was just trying to put a smile on the faces of his good friends/dictators/thugs Putin, Castro and Ahmadinejad.
So true brian…all the commies on here with their crocodile tears,this man was a tyrant.Hated the U.S but he still sold them his oil “with the kennedy family doing his bidding. He could’nt be seen to be getting treatment at the best cancer Hospitals in the world in Miami or New York .Instead he went to some witch doctor in Cuba.
@Brian and Paul – I doubt if there are any / many commies on here – and if u want a brutal regime – look up tne USA – or would u rather stay with comfortable lies . Look up Znet , John Pilger , Noam Chomsky , Democracy Now – ———–or stay as u are – your choice .
C4 did a good graphic on before and after – he achieved a lot – including getting Venezuala and other S American countries away from being vassal states of USA .
Here is graphic
http://www.channel4.com/news/hugo-chavez-how-did-he-change-venezuela-graphic as u can see unempolyment and extreme poverty came down dramatically and GDP/capita rose dramatically – as did oil revenue exports .
now if Irish Govet blueshirt had done that — or anyting remotely like it — instead of selling off the country to save their banker freinds ??
as for the witch doctors in Cuba – Cua has an excellent health service – and were first in with 400 doctors and Nurses after the Haiti earthquake . The USA arrived with destroyers and troops – to safeguard their interests .
Lets look at Venezuela today. The economy is in the toilet with rampant inflation, the currency has been devalued by 37-38% there are shortages of food stuffs in the shops, power cuts are a regular occurrence, the murder rate is equal to LA, Washington DC and New York combined and general crime has increased 10 fold.
Now I don’t know about you but you would think that lifting people out of poverty would make the crime rate fall not increase exponentially.
@brian…you should have added ollie stone and micheal moore to your list.As for chomsky even his buddy christopher hitchens exposed him as nut. For what its worth I too use to belive in this left wing socialist stuff,but then I left college and had to get a job…..
I wonder if the ordinary people of Venezuela could afford to go to Cuba for cancer treatment, or is it as George Orwell said, that “some pigs are more equal than others”.
I’m not sure why Chavez had to travel to Cuba for treatment anyway, given that his supporters are constantly claiming that Venezuela has a world class health system of its own…
RIP Hugo.
Sleep well Chavez. One can only hope that the USA doesn’t get it’s filthy hands on the oil. Chavez did amazing things for the poor but pissed off a lot of rich folk, hence the bad reporting all over the world including the hrw reports which have been discredited by many sources.
Mic
So you don’t want Venezuela to sell its oil to the biggest consumer in the world which would result in an increase in the Global price of oil and thus petrol pumps in Ireland.
You just have to be a member of the Extreme Left as your comment is so economically illiterate.
Peter Daly. That is Ireland’s problem being part of the American imperialism We have our own oil out in the sea sold to foreign investments who are laughing their bollocks off especially Stanoil. It is time to learn from Chavez how to run the country of our own.
Mic, Venezuela exported its oil to the US under Chavez! Are you thick?
You do know that Venezuela exports its oil to the U.S. Chavez was a hippcrite, what was he doing with all this yankee money? Maybe he should have built a modern Hospital with a world class cancer wing.Venezuela is better of without this self appointed dictator,the true voice of the people in this country will be heard
Peter, if you read my comment properly you would see that I said I hoped the USA didn’t get it’s hands on the oil like it had before Chavez. Of course I know that Chavez sold oil to the states. Venezuela is the fourth largest supplier of oil to the states. Independent sources?! Ha ha ha!
Declan, don’t call me thick. Read my comment ya tool.
Chavez may have sold oil to the USA on his country’s behalf not under US imperialisation I read views of him in willing to help the poor States of the US. He wasn’t anti American, loved Baseball and had American friends such as Sean Penn. He just couldn’t stand American imperialisation, slaverly and investments going on around Mother Earth
@peter daly. I think he means he doesn’t want America going in themselves to south American countries, buying the oil fields for fractions of their values. They did this all the time I the 40s 50s and beyond. Not just oil either, any resource they could make money on. They hired peasants at slave prices. That’s what got el Che so riled up.
Mic, I did read your comment and that’s why I said you are thick, you tool.
At the end of the day it was the American dollar that funded all his social programs. Do you not get the irony in that. Chavez despised the US but needed the American market to fund his so called revolution.
So I will say again “are you thick”?
The AP doing alot of incorrect reporting this morning.. ie.. ZOO-.. Should be sanctuary( in other post)… SELF ANOINTED SUCCESSOR ???? Who are these people?
The president of the national assembly should be the interim leader according to the constitution.
Maduro has illegally declared himself leader.
It’s OK he is backed my Chavez party which is all that matters in Venezuela not the law.
Is this General suggesting that the US has weaponised cancer?
In fairness weaponised cancer ain’t a new thing. Russians were working on that in the 70s. Whether it was used on the Latin American leaders is another thing.
I read he didnt die on monday but died in cuba on friday and was brought back to Venezuela so the government could tell the people he died in Venezuela.now for ya
Joe turn off Fox News.
Did US Cancer Weapon Kill Hugo Chavez?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZUx8P-BYCuo
Now,now, Sean Penn only visted him a couple of times.
And how did they do it without him noticing? Couldn’t have been an injection he would have felt that. Maybe in his food but again they would have to get close enough to make sure it was only him that ate it. I know!!! They used their “Secret Death Ray” from space. The one they got from the Aliens!!!
Get a grip. The man got cancer. The same way as everyone that ever had it.
The US tried several times in the 60′s to posion Castro and that’s documented are you saying there is not even the slightest chance the US would’nt have considered getting rid of one of there main enemies so cheaply. After all Arafat’s body was found to have plutonium posion present in his bones when the french exumed him.
And where did the Plutonium come from? It can be traced to the particular reactor.
Martin
You mean Polonium.
Had to laugh at fox news calling Chavez “an anti-American terrorist”, fox news that’s a whole different thread!
Asociated Press seem to be American-based? Is this why they’re using the term “self-appointed”? As said above he’s the vice president, just like Joe Biden is in the States. Also Chavez expressed the wish that the Venezuelan people would back Maduro to carry on his reforms.
I hope the US doesn’t start to meddle in South American affairs again.
This thread has become a Left/Right argument and both have great merit.
I’ve never bought the cult of Chavez in his political/ideological sense. It’s obvious that he couldn’t run the country’s economy and his time was at the beginning when he did all the right moves. His mistake was to stay on and not let proper economic management happen.
As for the U.S…. I like America and its culture. There is no country without its blemished history and screw ups. For Chavez, he got caught in the “if ya ain’t wid’us, y’all are again’us!” Bush business model and history tells us the rest.
My point is that he recognised the rampant pillaging of Venezuelan natural resources by the “international interests” with little or no return to Venezuelan coffers and did something about it.
We were once a nation that counted for something. We were once a nation that struggled against colonialism and won. In recent times we fought to rid ourselves of Perverts and slavery in the guise of “good morals” and won.
I am a firm believer in the capitalism and entrepreneurial spirit but not at ANY cost. The governments of recent years have behaved spinelessly and allowed unethical and “interests” of dubious integrity in the guise of the IMF/Troika dictate and foist upon us 40% of the EU wide bank debt to be paid by us. Meanwhile, we have abundant resources to meet the bonds under our feet but not in our control but mired in some hogwash of “>>>(whiney voice) nobody will want to drill for it!!!<<<"
You know your sh1t! You should lead us back to prosperity. I’d vote for you:-)
Billy they would drill for it but then the drilling would get stopped by the NIMBY brigade.
@Billy Mann – i agree with a lot of what u say – but I would suggest that the US history is a little more than ”blemished ”- — It is atrocious .
—–and it is still at it warmongering and trying to rule and rob any country that it wants to . It is a Tyranical State – and will not change – as it is wedded to its war economy – which in a way is as unfortunate for it as its victims of whom there are many in US itself .
also how can u believe in capitalism – when the Neo-liberal variety has delivred such a disaster to much of Worlds Economy ?.
RIP, but how did he sacrifice himself for his country?
Estar tranquilo Hugo.
Sorry about last post…page open in the pocket!!!!!
R.I.P. Comandante Chavez
Hi Jim, The issue here isn’t Neo-Lieralism but acquiescence to a complete and total abdication of integrity and honesty to the actions of the few. I think the American people are as ruled and robbed as a nation as any.
I’m not an America basher Jim, I suspect that we tend to have a pot at them and hold them to account far more than we run the rule over other nations. History has shown that when a nation has unified its borders and peoples internally then it will invariably want to expand and that applies to many tyranical states in the world…or perhaps they feel their brand of Humanity is the best. I can’t answer that and I find it hard to demonize a whole nation for whatever reason.
Before you shout at me Jim… I am a stubborn optimist and I genuinely believe in Humanity. As is evident is our country, when we acquiesced to the Church and the State regarding the care and wellbeing of our people without first outlining that there are consequences for their behavior. The same can be said for the American people about the actions of their leaders.
I am a liberal Jim, I believe that people should come and go as they please, sell what they want to sell, pray what they want to pray, eat what they want to eat, sing what they want to sing and loan what they want to loan and on and on.
People should behave like Adults because when we do we intrinsically respect the others right to co-existence and will act with integrity and in the best interests of ourselves and others. We must never acquiesce to the left or the right and allow fundamentalism to dictate rather that we set in stone the penalty for abusing Cause and Effect..
Have higher expectations Jim and demand higher standards of yourself and others. “Neo-Liberal is a vague catch all label that delivered disaster when in fact it is a number of real people who’s greed ran unchecked and the world allowed it and while we all enjoyed the odd new car and holiday, we too must now hold ourselves to higher standards, say “I had a bit to do with it too”…smile and get the **** on with re-building the dream.
I CD c
Maduro will romp away with the election. Ecuador, Argentina, brazil, Bolivia, all socialist governments. The people voted for the governments. More power to them all.
Wishful thinking?
have your say