New 3D scan reveals Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance in amazing detail

Stunning 3-D details of polar explorer ’s ship have been revealed more than a century after it sank. The pin-sharp scan makes it look as if the vessel, crushed by ice in 1915, has been lifted back on to dry land. Clearly visible are dinner plates, a discarded boot and a flare gun.

Underwater robots took 25,000 images when Endurance was found three kilometres down in the pitch-dark Weddell Sea in 2022. They were stitched together in an extraordinary digital scan for a new documentary. Nico Vincent, who helped develop the , said: “It’s absolutely fabulous. The wreck is almost intact like she sank yesterday.”

Endurance was crushed as Shackleton headed for in a bid to make the first crossing of the continent. The boot seen in the 3-D images may have belonged to his second-in-command Frank Wild.

READ MORE:

The flare gun was fired by photographer Frank Hurley to salute the ship as she began her plunge to the ocean floor. He then replaced it on the deck. Other remarkable details include the ship’s name on the stern, the steering gear and dents on the sea bed where it ground to a halt.

Trapped in the ice, Endurance drifted north for 10 months before she was crushed and sank. Her 28 crew dragged the ship’s boats across the pack ice before it broke up and they were able to sail to freezing, deserted Elephant Island.

Shackleton then sailed 650 miles to South Georgia to get help, leaving most crew to over-winter on the is- land. He returned to rescue them four months later. Amazingly, all survived. Their story was recorded in diaries and in Hurley’s photos, which have been colourised for the documentary.

Endurance premieres at the London Film Festival on Saturday and will be in cinemas on Monday.