However, navigation in this area is very difficult due to the sea ice. John Shears and his colleagues do not give up, although their last mission failed. After their previous submarine is lost, they embark on a search equipped with other machines, writes the BBC News server.
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If the team succeeds in finding Endurance, it maps and photographs the wreckage, but does not remove any artifacts from it. Shackleton’s ship is a historically significant place, according to the International Treaty of Antarctica it is a monument. No one may disturb it in any way.
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“The ship has become an icon,” says John Shears. “Shackleton’s impressive survival story has been known throughout history. And of all the wrecks that have not yet been discovered, this one is the most famous and also the most difficult to locate, ”he says. “If we can identify it, we will examine it and use lasers to create detailed 3D scans. We hope to be able to broadcast it at the same time, “the scientist told BBC News.
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The ship was crushed by ice
Who hasn’t heard of Ernest Shackleton and his exceptional transantarctic expedition from 1914 to 1917? The ship Endurance was then trapped by sea ice for more than 10 months, the vessel sailed through the Weddell Sea, until it was finally crushed by ice floes and sank to the bottom. How Shackleton and his men then managed to escape on lifeboats and escape on foot became a legend.
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The crew managed to escape during the shipwreck.
Photo: Profimedia.cz
The sinking place Endurance is well known, located at a depth of 3000 meters. Captain Frank Worsley recorded the position using sextant and theodolite gauges. However, getting to this part of the Weddell Sea – east of the Larsen Shelf Glacier off the Antarctic Peninsula – is extremely challenging even for modern icebreakers.
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Shears and his colleagues succeeded in 2019 on the research ship Agulhas II. They sent an autonomous submersible vessel to the presumed wreck site. After twenty hours, however, she lost contact with the crew.
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The new mission, funded by the charity Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, still needs the dedication of the British Foreign Office. Assuming that happens, the Endurance 22 team could be in Antarctica in February next year.
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They are not clear about the condition
The expedition will be led by Shears together with marine archaeologist Mensun Bound, both of whom fascinate Shackleton’s ship for most of their lives. They set out for the Weddell Sea again aboard the Agulhas II, which have a crew that scientists trust. However, they will use another submersible vessel, namely two Sababoth Saab machines. These robots are designed for deep water, are capable of long expeditions and can be either autonomous or controlled by an optical rope.
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The famous ice floes in the Weddell Sea remain a major challenge, confusing Shackleton and thwarting all attempts to find a sunken ship. The chance of success requires a continuous supply of radar images taken from the satellite. Endurance 22 will again obtain these maps from the TerraSAR-X platform of the German Aerospace Center.
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The ship was eventually crushed by ice floes.
Photo: Profimedia.cz
One of the biggest questions remains: What is the condition of the wreck? The water is too deep to be destroyed by a passing glacier. And the rate of sediment deposition in the area is estimated to be low enough that wood can still be expected to be visible on the seabed. However, pieces of the vessel could be scattered over a large area. The waters around the wreck are almost certainly also well oxygenated, which means that organisms that can withstand the local cold could destroy much of the ship’s wooden structure.
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“It is true that we do not know the condition. We know that mollusks that eat wooden shipwrecks in the north cannot survive in the cold waters of Antarctica. But there is a great source of carbon in wood, so we may find very interesting things to live on in the wreck. Maybe we’ll even discover some new species, “Shears said.
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