"Once-in-a-generation" Expedition Launched to Survey Legendary Shipwrecks of Shackleton and Scott

A "once-in-a-generation" expedition has been launched by Canadian researchers to meticulously survey two legendary shipwrecks in the North Atlantic. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society is deploying both human-occupied and remotely operated vehicles to capture detailed observations and create high-definition "digital twins" of the vessels.

The first wreck is the Quest, famously known as the ship aboard which the iconic polar explorer Ernest Shackleton died in 1922. Shackleton, a pioneer of Antarctic exploration, had a storied career, including his crew's survival after abandoning their ship Endurance when it was trapped by sea ice in 1915.

The second wreck to be examined is the Terra Nova, the ship that carried another renowned polar explorer, Robert Falcon Scott, to Antarctica for his tragic 1912 expedition. Scott and Shackleton, once colleagues, became rivals during the "Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration" in the early 1900s.

The Terra Nova later served as a sealing and cargo vessel before sinking off Greenland in 1943; its wreck was discovered in 2012. The Quest, after Shackleton's death, was used for Arctic rescues and by the Royal Canadian Navy. It sank off Newfoundland in 1970 while operating as a sealing vessel, but its crew survived; the wreck was located in 2024.

David Mearns, a co-chief scientist on the expedition and a leading shipwreck expert, stated the goal is to "inspire the next generation of explorers worldwide" by documenting these historic ships with cutting-edge technology. The international team includes researchers from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Denmark.

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The bravery and leadership demonstrated by these two polar heroes have inspired generations of explorers over the years, and our hope is that by documenting their last ships with the latest technology we too can inspire the next generation of explorers worldwide.