"As if it had sunk yesterday" Incredible images show 100-year-old Shackleton wreck

New pictures show the remarkably good condition of Ernest Shackleton's expedition ship "Endurance", which sank over 100 years ago in the icy Weddell Sea in Antarctica.

The famous ship, which sank in 1915 after getting stuck in pack ice, was found in 2022 at a depth of 3,000 meters below what Shackleton described as "the worst part of the worst sea in the world", according to theGuardian.

Now a new 3D scan has revealed previously unseen details of the wreck. The scan gives the impression that the ship, which sank in 1915, was miraculously lifted ashore from the Weddell Sea in one piece. "It's absolutely fantastic. The wreck is almost intact, as if it sank yesterday," says Nico Vincent, whose organization Deep Ocean Search, together with Voyis Imaging and McGill University, developed the technology for the scans.

The images were compiled for the new documentary "Endurance" from 25,000 digital 3D scans of the wreck, which were mapped by underwater robots when the wreck was discovered. They show how little the ship has changed in the century since it sank. The ship's rigging, rudder and woodwork are remarkably well preserved under the icy water. In addition, a number of the crew's dinner plates and a single knee-high boot can be seen on the deck.

Of particular note is that a flare gun can be seen among the debris in the images. This is probably the same pistol that was fired by Frank Hurley, the expedition's photographer, when the "Endurance" sank - an event he described in his diary.

"Hurley picks up this flare gun and fires it into the air with a huge fuse as a tribute to the ship," John Shears, who led the expedition that found the Endurance, told the Guardian. "And then he talks in the diary about putting them on the deck. And here we are. We come back over 100 years later, and there's this flare gun. Unbelievable."

Shackleton's failed Antarctic crossing

Shackleton and his crew of 27 sailed to Antarctica at the end of 1914 to attempt the first land crossing of the continent, but were quickly trapped by ice and became stranded. Eventually, the ship succumbed to the immense pressure of the ice and sank.

Shackleton then led a small group of his men across stormy seas to South Georgia to get help and rescue the 22 men camped on the ice. Miraculously, none of the crew members lost their lives.