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Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship - 16th March 2022

Archaeologists found a famous ship. Its name is Endurance. It was British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship.

Endurance sank in Antarctica in 1915. But Shackleton and his men got home safely. They walked in the freezing cold. Then, they travelled in small boats to South Georgia Island.

The archaeologists found Endurance under the Weddell Sea. The ship had very little damage. The cold Antarctic ocean saved it.

There aren’t any wood-eating microbes in the Antarctic ocean. The ship looks perfect. Adrian Glover works at London’s Natural History Museum.

Adrian Glover: "Wood is amazingly well-preserved in the Antarctic. And there’s only a few other places where that is the case. But it seems that Antarctica may also be a shipwreck vault, if you like, because of the, the lack of particular species which normally eat wood."

The archaeologists used an Antarctic research ship. They looked for Endurance with special underwater drones. They spent a long time looking for the ship. In the end, they were very lucky.

Adrian Glover: "You know, obviously, they had these very powerful hybrid ROVs – remotely operated vehicles – mini submersibles which were able to survey quite broad areas of the sea floor. But even so, it was right at the end of their voyage, from my understanding, that they, they found it, which shows just how difficult it is and there’s obviously therefore a large amount of, of luck."

Endurance is a special, historic site. No one can touch the ship. No one can take things from it. But the archaeologists filmed and scanned it. And the images are amazing.