A shipwreck hunting expedition has cracked the case of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s final journey in the Atlantic Ocean. His last ship, the Quest, was discovered in the Labrador Sea, sitting intact on the ocean floor between Greenland, Newfoundland, and Greenland.
John Geiger, the expedition leader, described finding the Quest as the closing chapter of Shackleton’s remarkable life story. Shackleton was renowned for his leadership during times of crisis.
During a press conference, Geiger highlighted the significance of the discovery, especially as this year marks Shackleton’s 150th birthday. Shackleton commanded British Antarctic expeditions for three years before passing away aboard the Quest in 1922, a ship that remained in service until 1962.
Geiger and his team of international deep-sea divers spent a month combing through historical documents like newspaper clippings and ship logs to locate the wreck accurately.
Sonar technology was then used to pinpoint the wreckage 1,280 feet below the sea’s surface. The high-resolution images confirmed the vessel’s identity, matching its known structural details and dimensions. The ship sat upright on the seabed, with the broken mast visible on the portside.
The team plans to use a remote-controlled vehicle to capture close-up images of the wreckage, shedding more light on this historic find. Shackleton’s original intentions to use the ship as a raft were abandoned due to political decisions, redirecting him to Antarctic expeditions.
While Shackleton’s most famous tale involved the ill-fated Endurance expedition to the South Pole, his Quest saga adds another intriguing chapter to his enduring legacy in polar exploration.
