Last Ship Of Polar Explorer Shackleton Discovered Near Canada After More Than 60 Years

The ship that witnessed the death of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton has been found in remarkable condition on the seafloor around 15 nautical miles from the coast of Canada.

A team of international experts led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) located the ship, called Quest, at a depth of 390 meters (1,280 feet) along the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Shackleton was aboard the ship when he died of a heart attack in January 1922. At the time, the ship was anchored at South Georgia, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, during a journey toward Antarctica. The ship continued its work for several decades, but eventually sank in 1962 after getting damaged by ice. All the crew were saved and survived.

“Finding Quest is one of the final chapters in the extraordinary story of Sir Ernest Shackleton,” John Geiger, expedition leader for the search and CEO of the RCGS, in a statement.

“Shackleton was known for his courage and brilliance as a leader in crisis. The tragic irony is that his was the only death to take place on any of the ships under his direct command,” added Geiger.

The wreckage was located using historical documents and maps, which were cross-referenced with modern technology and live information on currents and weather conditions, as well as knowledge from local Indigenous people.

“I can definitively confirm that we have found the wreck of the Quest. She is intact. Data from high resolution side scan sonar imagery corresponds exactly with the known dimensions and structural features of this special ship. It is also consistent with events at the time of the sinking,” explained David Mearns, a world-renowned shipwreck hunter and oceanographer who worked on the project. 

Shackleton was a major player in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, leading three British expeditions to the Antarctic. His most famous adventure was made in 1914 on the ship Endurance, the wreck of which was discovered in 2022 at a depth of 3,000 meters (almost 10,000 feet) in the Weddell Sea. 

In early 1915, the Endurance vessel became trapped in the dense pack ice of the Weddell Sea, unable to break free. For several months, the crew attempted to release the ship, but the shifting ice continued to tighten its grip. Eventually, in October 1915, the pressure from the ice began to crush the Endurance and it sank. Stranded thousands of miles from the nearest human, Shackleton and his crew survived on the ice for months before embarking on a perilous journey in lifeboats to reach safety. 

Against the odds, all 28 crewmembers of the Endurance managed to survive the ordeal – a feat that’s often credited to Shackleton’s leadership.