Shipwreck hunters have found the wreckage of the “Quest”. This is the ship on which legendary explorer Ernest Shackleton died in 1922.
The famous polar explorer Ernest Shackleton died in 1922 on his ship “Quest” of a heart attack when he was 47 years old. The ship served for another 40 years with different owners until it sank in 1962. Wreck hunters have now found the wreck off the coast of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
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A fateful expedition
Sir Ernest Shackleton was a prominent figure in the heroic period of Antarctic exploration (1879-1922). He led three high-profile expeditions to the South Pole. His last mission began in 1921. He wanted to sail around and map all of Antarctica on his ship Quest.
However, the ship proved to be ill-suited for the adventure, and the crew had to interrupt the expedition several times to repair it. Things also went badly for Shackleton; he suffered two heart attacks, the last of which – on January 5, 1922 – proved fatal. This moment, according to many, marks the end of the heroic era of Antarctic exploration.
Quest was later used on other expeditions and performed several missions in the Second World War for the Royal Canadian Navy. In her final days, Quest was used by Norwegian seals. The aging ship sank in 1962 after piercing thick sea ice. The crew survived the accident.
Quest is practically intact
A team from the Royal Canadian Geographic Society set out to find Quest’s final resting place. To do this, the team members search the ships’ logs, navigation reports, photographs and documents related to the accident investigation.
This allowed them to calculate the location. And it turned out to be pretty accurate; After only five days, the wreckage appeared on sonar images. According to the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, its dimensions and structural characteristics closely match those of the Quest.
The ship is anchored in the Labrador Sea at a depth of 390 meters, the exact location has not yet been announced. Quest is upright and almost completely intact, only the mast is broken.
The next step is to return with a remote-controlled underwater vehicle with a camera to survey the wreck – and hopefully photograph his name on the front of the wheelhouse.
The most famous Endurance
In 2022 another, more famous Shackleton ship was found: the Endurance. It sank in 1915 during an expedition (much like the Quest in 1962) to a depth of 3008 meters. The 28-person crew then had to spend months on the Arctic ice before returning to civilization. It remains one of the most talked about survival stories in history, and you can read the story here.
Sources: RCGS (1), RCGS (2), BBC