Underwater Archeology and the Search for Endurance

I have traveled the world to examine documents, photos, artifacts and other clues about the Endurance, Shackleton’s expedition, and the seabed conditions in and around the Weddell Sea. All of this research will help myself and the expedition team know where to look, and it also helps me predict what this special ship will look like 107 years after slipping beneath the ice. Nobody knows the answers to those questions for sure, but based on my research, I have a pretty good guess.

When the expedition team reaches the Endurance sink site, here’s what is going to happen. We will send a high-tech AUV/ROV marine robot down 10,000 feet to the seabed far below the icy surface of the Weddell Sea. Once the AUV/ROV locates the wreck site, we will use high-definition cameras and special lasers to conduct a complete survey and mapping of the Endurance in its present condition. We will not touch the ship or attempt to retrieve any artifacts–the entire Endurance wreck site is considered a historic monument. The value in finding the ship is confirming its exact resting place, surveying its current state of preservation, and producing a detailed map that other archeologists, historians and interested people can use to write the final chapter of the ship’s story. The treasure is the knowledge that we gain.

Many people ask me: What do you expect the Endurance to look like after 100+ years at the bottom of the sea? Most wooden ships would have long-since decayed, but the bottom of the Weddell Sea is also not like most seabeds.

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