Ernest Shackleton’s lost Endurance ship seen like never before in 3D scan

Explorers located Sir Ernest Shackleton’s sunken ship two years ago, ITV News’ Amy Lewis reports on the recent findings

The wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, which lay hidden in icy waters for more than a hundred years, can now be seen in a detailed 3D scan.

The high resolution images reveal its condition in intricate detail.

The wreckage of the vessel was found 3,000 metres at the bottom of the Weddell Sea in 2022 after it sank in 1915.

Now, a digital scan of 25,000 4K images, reveals the ship as if it were lifted from the sea floor.

The Endurance, frozen and keeled over from the pressure of the ice. / Credit: BFI/Frank Hurley

The scan has been released as a part of a new National Geographic documentary called “Endurance”.

The images show dinner plates, flare guns and boots left on the deck by the Shackleton’s crew when they abandoned the ship.

The flare gun was referenced in one of the journals kept by the crew.

White plates seen on the deck of the ship. / Credit: Falklands Heritage Maritime Trust / National Geographic

Dr John Shears, who led the expedition that found Endurance, said: “Hurley gets this flare gun, and he fires the flare gun into the air with a massive detonator as a tribute to the ship.

“And then in the diary, he talks about putting it down on the deck. And there we are. We come back over 100 years later, and there’s that flare gun, incredible.”

The documentary premieres at the London Film Festival on Oct 12 and will be released in cinemas in Britain on Oct 14.

A bold mission destined to fail

Ernest Shackleton aboard the Endurance in 1914. / Credit: PRI/Frank Hurley

Anglo-Irish explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton led the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which intended to make the first land crossing of Antarctica.

He and his crew set sail on the Endurance from England in August 1914 – a journey doomed from the start.

The ship became stuck in ice in January 1915, just weeks after setting sail from the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia.

Endurance crew members sit down for a Midwinter feast on the ship, five months after it became stuck in ice. / Credit: RGS/Frank Hurley

It drifted with the crew onboard for months before being ordered to abandon ship.

The Endurance then sank on November 21 1915.

Shackleton and his crew were then forced to travel miles over ice and land in Antarctica in nothing but a reinforced lifeboat to reach safety.

In 15 days, they sailed 810 across the Southern Ocean to receive help from South Georgia

Luckily all 27 crew members survived.