# Shackleton's Antarctic ship "Endurance" found **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 9, 2022, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741 "2022-03-09T10:01:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/21 "2022-03-09T20:57:53Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Shackleton’s boat journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia remains one of the most amazing sea journeys in the world. Indeed. That he did it without loss of life is nothing short of miraculous. The other journey that comes to mind is Bligh’s 4,000 mile survival trip to Timor after being thrown off the Bounty with his 18 loyal crew members; and he did it by dead reckoning. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > So, are there any famous wrecks left to be found? They’ve found Shackleton’s ridiculously remote _Endurance_ and Grissom’s ridiculously tiny _Liberty Bell_ . John Franklin’s _Erebus_ and _Terror_ have also both been found. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/22 "2022-03-09T21:07:54Z")
I read a book (can’t remember specifically which one – there have been a bunch, and it was years ago) about Shackleton, and it’s still one of the most amazing true life stories I’ve ever read. Just got a NatGeo notification about the discovery of Endurance and got goose pimples. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/23 "2022-03-09T21:10:30Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > So, are there any famous wrecks left to be found? They’ve found Shackleton’s ridiculously remote _Endurance_ and Grissom’s ridiculously tiny _Liberty Bell_. What’s left? Parts of Earhart’s Electra seem to be found very other year or so, but never conclusively. The wreck of Capt. John Paul Jones’s ship has never been found with certainty: [USS Bonhomme Richard (1765) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bonhomme_Richard_(1765)) There’s some dispute as to whether one of James Cook’s ships has been located, either: [HMS Endeavour - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Endeavour#Final_resting_place) Likewise Christopher Columbus’s: [Santa María (ship) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Mar%C3%ADa_(ship)#Shipwreck) ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/24 "2022-03-09T21:39:14Z")
Listened to the audiobook a month ago. Unbelievable (and written in the slightly breathless prose of the fifties). Question–the party only survived because they could kill so many seals and sea lions. Why in the heck did they have SO MUCH ammunition on a polar expedition? It must have been thousands of rounds. Other than sea lions there are no predators in the antarctic, right? (And sea lion predation on humans is not exactly common). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/848f3c/32.png) [@The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Holdsworth_Effect)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/25 "2022-03-09T22:23:48Z")
One of The Endurance’s crew was a man named Tom Crean, the “Irish Giant”. While my husband was alive we had a big picture of Tom holding four big puppies- they brought pregnant Newfoundland looking dogs with them. I took it down- never could look at it without grimacing. They ate dogs. I get it, but still, the damn poster was in the kitchen… ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/26 "2022-03-09T22:30:58Z")
Battleship USS Oklahoma. Sank somewhere between Hawaii and San Francisco. I guess there’s probably not a lot of historical interest in it. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/27 "2022-03-09T23:36:44Z")
> [@Tride](#): > > Why in the heck did they have SO MUCH ammunition on a polar expedition? Simple answer; So they could shoot many seals and sea lions (and penguins) for food. They were prepared for this even without an emergency. This was the primary food for the dog teams too. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/28 "2022-03-09T23:39:13Z")
I highly recommend the TV show [Shackleton](https://www.amazon.com/Shackleton-Kenneth-Branagh/dp/B00005U1ZV). One bit that said a lot about the man was his instruction to the men as they were setting off on foot to only carry the absolute essentials: the expected survival gear, and… their journals. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/29 "2022-03-09T23:50:56Z")
Sure, but once they were away from the edge of the ice, the opportunity would be gone. I guess it makes sense for the folks left on the Endurance, but that was a lot of ammo. Of all the scarcity, that was not mentioned once. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/30 "2022-03-10T00:04:02Z")
The plan was to take very little food for the dog teams; and to hunt seals and penguins to put in a large store of meat. Then this meat could be carried by dogsled teams to the pole and then on to the Ross sea. Carrying a few thousand bullets over the ocean instead of several thousand pounds of meat made a lot of sense. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/31 "2022-03-10T00:09:19Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Is that a nautical term? I didn’t read anything into it other than to mean ‘standing upright’, ‘clear of’. A phrase I might hear in non nautical references (but what do I know - British English is scattered with nautical idioms). It was used in my school woodworking class in the 1960s/70s, to mean a part standing slightly above its neighbours. Sometimes intentionally, mostly not! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/32 "2022-03-10T00:35:35Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Battleship USS Oklahoma. Sank somewhere between Hawaii and San Francisco. I guess there’s probably not a lot of historical interest in it. Interesting - I hadn’t known that: [USS Oklahoma (BB-37) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Oklahoma_(BB-37)#Final_voyage) ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/33 "2022-03-10T00:42:12Z")
> [@Tride](#): > > Why in the heck did they have SO MUCH ammunition on a polar expedition? He must have played the Oregon Trail video game as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/34 "2022-03-10T00:51:32Z")
The NASA starship in _Interstellar_ had a familiar and time-honored name, by the way: [Endurance | Interstellar Wiki | Fandom](https://interstellarfilm.fandom.com/wiki/Endurance?so=search) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/35 "2022-03-10T01:03:10Z")
> [@Tride](#): > > Why in the heck did they have SO MUCH ammunition on a polar expedition? 1. _Somebody_ had to be ready to defend an entire continent from the Kaiser. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/36 "2022-03-10T01:10:03Z")
The condition of that ship is simply amazing. wow. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/37 "2022-03-10T03:23:36Z")
This is the best news I’ve heard in a long time. > [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I can imagine the looks on the faces of the whaling town folks when these bedraggled people came into town from the inaccesible mountain range. The 2000 George Butler documentary _The Endurance_ quotes the whaler who answered Shackleton’s knock on the door: _“Who the Hell are you?”_ ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/38 "2022-03-10T03:37:11Z")
And also film gear, and thousands of glass plates, much of which survived. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/39 "2022-03-10T06:24:37Z")
I read that Frank Hurley the expedition photographer selected the best photographic plates and smashed the rest so he would not be tempted to go back for them. ---
**Author:** ![omenran](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omenran/32/3318_2.png) [@omenran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omenran)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741/40 "2022-03-10T06:56:09Z")
Cold water can really keep wooden ships in surprising good condition. The Swedish ship Vasa sunk famously soon after being launched into the water back in 1628. It wasn’t until recently they pulled her out practically fully intact. (Holes where they went after the cannon and her masts were cut. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shackletons-antarctic-ship-endurance-found/960741.md?page=3)