Ever since I first read Alfred Lansing’s book Endurance about Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917), I have had a keen interest in Antarctic exploration in general and Shackleton’s Endurance expedition in particular. So needless to say, I was hyper-excited when I heard that the expedition’s ship, Endurance, had finally been found over 100 years after sinking. Since I’ve already written a post about the expedition (you can find that here, but be warned – it is very long.), I decided to share some fun facts about the ship itself. So here you are 4 Fun Facts About the Endurance (along with some extra random facts).

1. Polaris, not Endurance

The ship was first christened Polaris, after the North Star. It wasn’t until Sir Ernest Shackleton had purchased the ship for his expedition, that her name was changed to Endurance. The name came from the Shackleton family motto – Fortitudine vincimus  “By endurance we conquer.”

1.1  Even after the ship was rechristened, the large five-pointed star, a symbol of the North Star, was left in place below the new name Endurance on the stern of the ship.

2. Arctic, not Antarctic

The ship was not built for Antarctic exploration. Although, to be fair, it was made to navigate polar waters. Originally it was built to be an Arctic touring vessel. As such, the ship had passenger cabins, a darkroom (for developing photographs), and electric lighting, as well as other amenities. Needless to say, a significant amount of changes were made to the ship after Shackleton purchased her.

2.1  Before Shackleton bought the ship for his expedition, her previous owner, Lars Christensen, had been desperately trying to sell the ship for over a year. Since she was built for touring, she did not have the cargo space necessary for a whaling vessel, but she also lacked the qualities of a private yacht. And while selling the ship to Shackleton was a significant financial loss for Christensen, he was happy to further the efforts of the already-famous Antarctic explorer.

3. The Strongest Ship

The Endurance is said to have been the strongest wooden ship ever built, at the time of her launch. The only possible exception was Fram, another ship built for Polar regions. The greatest difference between the two ships was that Fram was a bowl-bottomed vessel. This allowed the ship to be squeezed up and out of the ice, if caught in the floes, instead of being crushed, as Endurance was.

3.1  The Endurance weighed 350 tons gross, was 144 feet (44 m) long, and measured 25 feet (7.6 m) across at the beam. She was a barkentine ship, having three masts as well as a 350hp steam engine, and was capable of attaining speeds of up to 10.2 knots (11.7 mph). The ship was launched on Dec 17, 1912 and sank less than three years later.

4. The Final Resting Place

When the ship disappeared below the ice floes of the Weddell Sea on the afternoon of November 21, 1915, her captain, Frank Worsley, recorded that her position at sea was 68° 38.5’S 52° 58’W. On March 5, 2022, the search team Endurance22 found the shipwreck resting 9,869 feet (3,008 meters) below the surface of the water. While Worsley’s navigational records are credited with helping find Endurance, the ship is actually located about 3.5 nautical miles (or 4 statute miles) south of Worsley’s calculation.

4.1  When the wreck was discovered, it was said to be in an amazing state of preservation – it looked as if it had just sunk. Even the name Endurance, written across the stern, has not eroded in the 100+ years during which the ship has been submerged in the depths of the Weddell Sea.

Conclusion:

So there you have it – a few fun facts about the Endurance. She is really such an amazing, unique ship and so closely connected to perhaps the greatest survival stories of all time. I would have loved to share even more details about the construction of this amazing vessel but wasn’t able to fit it into this post. If you are interested in those details, however, I have shared some of them on my Instagram.

As always, thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog, and I pray you have a blessed day today!

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