The durability of the infamous ship that sank into Antarctica in 1915 was not built for polar voyages as previously thought.
Explorer Ernest Shackleton sailed durability to Antarctica in 1914 as part of a failed British expedition to cross the continent on foot. The ship was trapped in the ice of the Weddell Sea and remained for ten months before sinking. But new research shows that there is more to the story.
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After taking part in Endurance22, an expedition to find a stamina wreck that sank in March 2022, Tuhkuri analyzed the vessel’s structure and studied how it responded to moving ice, which compressed and made the vessel’s hull tense. He also reviewed several crew magazines of durability, along with some of Shackleton’s letters to his wife and fellow sailors.
In a new study published on Monday (October 6) in the journal Polar Record, Tuhkuri outlined some structural issues that may have played a role in the end of durability. The ship has a relatively large engine compartment, which is difficult to strengthen, so we weakened a large section of the hull. Also, unlike many other polar ships of the time, the durability was not equipped with diagonal beams to support and strengthen the hull.
The crew magazine also suggested that the loss of the ship’s rudder was not the cause it sinking. While it may have played a role, the ship also suffered severe damage to the stern, keel, hull and deck beams while trapped in ice.
“Even a simple structural analysis shows that the ship is not designed for the ice condition of the compression pack that ultimately submerged it,” Tukuri said. “The dangers of ice and compressive load movement, and how to design a ship for such a condition, were well understood before the ship sailed south. So we really need to wonder why Shackleton chose a vessel that was not strengthened for compressive ice.”
Based on the previous records of the expedition, as outlined in the study, it probably wasn’t Shackleton’s decision made in ignorance. A letter sent to his wife by Shackleton in 1914 lamented that he was more stamina than the other ships he had sailed for his previous expedition. And in 1911 he recommended adding diagonal support to polar ships called German Land. It is unclear why these same diagonal support were not added to endurance before they set sail.
For now, the reasons behind Shackleton’s decision to sail durability into an Antarctic ice pack remains a mystery.
“We can speculate about financial pressures and time constraints, but the truth is that Shackleton may never know why he made the choices he made,” Tukuri said. “At least now, we have more specific findings to embody the story.”
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