By Agencies
The ruins of the last expeditionary ship of the famous British polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton were found at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Canada.
The head of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, John Geiger, said the wreckage was found in the Labrador Sea, at a depth of about 390 metres. “It is a historically very important ship. It was Sir Shackleton’s last expeditionary ship,” Geiger explained.
“He died on this ship on his final expedition” on his way to Antarctica, Geiger added. The ship remained in service for several decades until sank in the 1960s. Investigators discovered the ship on Sunday using a sonar instrument.
Wreck hunter David Mearns said they accurately measured the ship’s dimensions and compared them to known measurements of the Quest, “and they’re spot on.”
“The remains are also consistent with known data from the sinkingand it is in the right place, where there are no other ruins of its kind at all. This gives us the confidence to say that it is the Quest,” he explained.
The legend of Shackleton
Shackleton became a legend of polar travel following an epic escape by himself and 27 of his fellow expedition members—on foot and in boats—after another of their ships, the Endurance, sank in Antarctic waters in 1915.
The crew first camped on the sea ice, drifting north until it broke up, then boarded lifeboats, sailing first to the Elephant Islanda desolate place where most of the men were left.
Using only a sextant to navigate, Shackleton set out with five other men in the strongest boat capable of carrying them on the 800-mile journey to South Georgia, where a whaling station was located. Braving mountainous seas and freezing temperatures, the 17-day journey in the small vessel is considered one of the most remarkable achievements in maritime history. All 28 men survived.
Sank in 1962
Seven years later, Shackleton died of a heart attack aboard the Quest at the age of 47. Quest continued to be used on other expeditions, rescues, and by the Canadian Navy as a minesweeper before returning to her original role as a sealing vessel. In 1962, damaged by ice, it sank off the coast of Newfoundland.
