The team that discovered Sir Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship Endurance in the frozen waters of the Antarctic is to speak at a special event in Perth.
Last year, the wreck of the Endurance was discovered at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, more than 100 years after she was crushed by ice and sank in 1915.
Now the team behind the ground-breaking discovery will give a special one-off talk at Perth Concert Hall about the challenges of preparing for and filming an expedition of this significance.
First hand accounts
In the talk hosted by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, a first-hand account will be given by expedition leader Dr John Shears, subsea manager Nico Vincent, and documentary director Natalie Hewit.
They’ll recount their amazing discovery and their journey beneath the ice to photograph and film the legendary ship.
Braving heavy sea ice, freezing temperatures and the harsh weather of the Antarctic, the Endurance22 expedition brought together world-leading marine archaeologists, engineers, technicians, and sea-ice scientists on South African icebreaker SA Agulhas II, one of the largest and most modern polar research vessels in the world.
In March 2022, just over 100 years after Shackleton’s death, the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust announced that Endurance was found at a depth of 3008 metres.
It was within the search area defined by the expedition team before its departure from Cape Town, and approximately four miles south of the position originally recorded by Endurance’s Captain Worsley.
A gripping story
Polar explorer David Hempleman-Adams said of the forthcoming Perth talk: “The world was gripped by the finding of the Endurance.
“Of course, everybody knows of the heroic and extraordinary journey by Shackleton and his men to safety.
“The film of the amazing discovery of Endurance from the sea bed, brought the story back into our lives. It was like turning back the pages of history.”
Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust chairman, Donald Lamont said: “Sir Ernest Shackleton was secretary of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society between 1904 and 1905, so it is both appropriate and an honour for members of the expedition crew to be invited by the society to give a presentation of their experiences.”
What were Shackleton’s aims?
Embarking upon the Imperial Trans-Atlantic Expedition, it was Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ambition to achieve the first land crossing of Antarctica from the Weddell Sea via the South Pole to the Ross Sea.
The Ross Sea party which was landed at Hut Point on Ross Island had the task of laying supply dumps for Shackleton’s crossing party, and achieved its objective, but at the cost of three lives lost.
In the Weddell Sea, Endurance never reached land and became trapped in the dense pack ice and the 28 men on board eventually had no choice but to abandon ship.
After months spent in makeshift camps on the ice floes drifting northwards, the party took to the lifeboats to reach the inhospitable, uninhabited, Elephant Island.
Shackleton and five others then made an extraordinary 800-mile (1,300 km) open-boat journey in the lifeboat, James Caird, named after the wealthy Dundee jute baron, to reach South Georgia.
Shackleton and two others then crossed the mountainous island to the whaling station at Stromness.
From there, Shackleton was eventually able to mount a rescue of the men waiting on Elephant Island and bring them home without loss of life.
How to get tickets
Shackleton’s Ship Beneath the Ice, hosted by the RSGS, will take place on Tuesday March 28 at 7.30pm at Perth Concert Hall, Mill Street, Perth, PH1 5HZ.
Tickets are £16 for general admission, £12 for RSGS members, plus a £2.50 booking fee, and £8 for students and U18s.
To book tickets visit www.perththeatreandconcerthall.co.uk or call 01738 621031.
100 years on – Remarkable survival mission by the Dundee-funded James Caird in the Antarctic
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