110 years later we finally know what sank the ‘endurance’ in the Antarctic. The culprit was not the ice: it was much worse

He Endurancethe legendary ship of Ernest Shackletonbecame a symbol of resistance and heroism after its sinking in the icy waters of the Weddell Sea in 1915. There began the myth, because during more than a centuryits end was wrapped in a halo of mystery, attributed to the lethal coup of the ice against its rudder. Now, science He has revealed That the truth was more complex and, in a way, disturbing: the ship was never prepared to survive.

The myth and the truth. As we said, for more than a century, 110 years to be exact, Ernest Shackleton’s heroic story and his antarctic ice crew was accompanied by the conviction that the endurance was the wooden ship more robust of his timevictim of a fatal blow of the ice against his helm.

However, Recent research They have dismantled that narrative. The thorough analysis of the wreck discovered in 2022 reveals that the ship I was convicted From the beginning: it was not a single impact that sank it, but the accumulation of compressive forces that crushed their weak structure and, very important in the final story, Shackleton I probably knew When he left for Weddell.

The expedition trapped. Endurance sailed in 1914 with the ambitious plan of cross the Antarctica on footbut at the beginning of 1915 he was caught in a solid ice. For ten months the crew resisted on board until the pressures began to deform the ship.

The covers were combined, the helmet vibrated with a crash and the newspapers of the sailors picked up the sound of the creak of the wood under huge forces. On October 27, 1915 Shackleton ordered to leave the shipand weeks later the helmet ended up sinking after a succession of pressure onslaught that started masts and opened the structure in two.

Idealized cross sections of the first Antarctic ships. The endurance was of the type (a); The type Deutschland (B)

Fortress with mud feet. Far from being the invulnerable ship of the legend, the endurance was born as a ship of Polar and Hunting Tourism of bears and morsas in the Arctic. Its design lacked the critical reinforcements to survive trapped in an icy sea: it had no diagonal beams that kept the bands of the helmet or racks that supported the machine room, its most fragile area.

Over there, According to witnesses As the scientist Reginald James or Captain Frank Worsley, the iron plates combined and the soils bulging while the ice pressed incessantly. The Rudder and the keel departed, but they were not the cause but the consequence of that structural weakness.

Pecio discovered in 2022

Shackleton knew it. It is one of the keys that light has seen now. The most revealing thing is that Shackleton I did not ignore Those defects. He had participated in rescues from other ships shattered by ice and advised the German Wilhelm Filchner reinforce with diagonal beams Your Deutschlandthat thus managed to survive eight months trapped.

Even in a letter to his wife he admitted that the endurance was not as solid as The Nimrodthe ship of your previous expedition. Even so, He acquired it Without modifications, moved by the urgency of undertaking a colossal project in the midst of their debts, their personal failures and competition with other explorers for reaching Antarctic glory.

The re -written history. He New study of Jukka Tuhkuri Disassemble the myth of the invulnerability of the endurance, showing that it was an inappropriate ship faced with a relentless environment. However, this finding does not decrease the figure of Shackleton, but it frames it With more realism: A leader who risked aware that the adventure could cost the ship, but that miraculously saved his entire crew.

At a time when polar exploration was a jump of faith towards the unknown, the wreck of the endurance was not only the end of a ship, but the proof that even the stronger wood yields Before ice pressurewhile human will manages to survive where the technique fails.

Shared destination. The truth is that the Endurance drama It was not an isolated episode. Decades earlier, in 1876, twelve American whales They sank in front of Alaska for lacking the necessary reinforcements against compressed ice, dragging with him the livelihood of hundreds of families. Something similar happened in 1903 with The Antarctica Swedish ship trapped and shattered in the Weddell Sea.

And, in contrast, the case of Deutschland It demonstrates how simple modifications could make the difference between sinking and survival. If you want also, all these episodes draw a pattern: polar ice does not forgive improvisations or risk economies. Shackleton, with his leadership instinct, achieved what other captains They did not achieve: save all his men, although at the expense of expose them to sacrifice of a ship that had never had to face the brutality of the white continent.

Image | Picryl, PicrylFalklands Maritime Heritage Trust

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