On Friday 20 September, British maritime archaeologist Mensun Bound delivered an awe-inspiring speech to the Shackleton Society. He provided incredible insights into his highly successful career, spanning more than 40 years—from hilarious encounters with animals, to terrifying moments stuck fast in sea ice, and the indescribable feeling experienced after finding Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance. It was certainly an evening that the boys of Eton will remember for years to come.
After being welcomed with rapturous applause, Bound began his talk by describing his first-hand account of the discovery of Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic ship. Having sunk 3,008 meters after being crushed by Antarctic ice, which now covers it all year round, the Endurance was widely considered the most difficult ship to locate in the world.
The expedition was brought about ten years ago in Café Nero in South Kensington of all places, when Bound found out that he had been beaten to finding another Polar ship, the Terra Nova, of Scott of the Antarctic fame. This prompted him and his friend to think of a new target – the project to find the famed Endurance. This involved ten years of research and preparation until finally, after a failed expedition in 2019 when an AUV submersible was lost, the expedition team, with Bound as Director of Exploration, set out for the Weddell Sea in February 2022.
To reach the location where the ship had sunk, the team battled through perilous conditions, ramming through five metres of thick sea ice with their ship and experiencing water temperatures of minus two degrees Celsius. After three days of intense storms and blizzards, with the temperature plummeting to almost -50 degrees Celsius and a crew-mate’s eyelid frozen shut, Bound feared the worst. He recounted that at this point, he was continually reminded of their previous attempt at the discovery and how they had become stuck in the ice and immobilised. The Captain worried that “neither man nor ship can take much more of this” and decided that the next few days, when the weather looked as if it might change for the better, would be their final chance to discover the ship.
The news came while Bound and a friend were out walking on the ice. An image appeared on the screen of the ship’s sonar scanning device, and at once, the technicians knew that whatever it was, it must be man-made and therefore the Endurance. Nothing else out there could have been man-made, explained Bound.
As a freezing cold, tired Bound returned to the ship, still unaware of the news, he was called to the bridge. He initially feared that something had gone wrong. However, after seeing the Captain smiling from ear to ear, Bound knew that success had finally come! “Gents, let me introduce you to the Endurance,” said the Subsea Manager, Nico Vincent, as he held up high the image of the ship, which he had transferred onto his phone. The entire bridge erupted in “undiluted euphoria” with cheers, shouts, and some even shed a tear or two. In the next couple of weeks, over 1,500 articles were written and published, as individuals eagerly described the newest addition to the history books.
However, the bad weather was nearly upon the expedition team. They were given two dives of the submersible machine to capture footage and explore the ship. The first was to capture data of the ship and the second to explore the archaeology of the ship. Bound described that second dive as “one of the greatest parts of a marine archaeologist’s life.” As he switched on the lights of the submersible, he told how he was completely “blown away” by the sight of the Endurance. He stressed that it is preserved magnificently, to the extent that the paintwork and the Captain’s wheel could still be seen – “It was as if it had sunk yesterday.” They also found a flare gun on the ship’s deck, which Bound explained was what Shackleton himself had fired in respect to the ship before leaving it for the very last time…a truly fascinating insight!
Along the way, Bound also filled the talk with jewels of humour, often resulting in echoing laughter. Tales of penguins interrupting their football match, which they had played as a pastime (just like Shackleton and his crew), and how a minke whale blew right in Bound’s face as it had come up to breathe, entertained the audience.
Bound also enlightened us about the research his team had conducted about the sea ice during the trip and the educational impact the expedition had, influencing 3,200 students and completing over 30 hours of streaming to school children. The expedition was conducted under the Falkland’s Maritime Trust.
Overall, the talk was a mighty success, offering fascinating insights and descriptions of a genuinely inspiring part of history, that of which Bound himself is an integral part. The evening was certainly something the boys will continue to cherish.
To find out more:
- Read Bound’s Sunday Times best-selling book, The Ship Beneath the Ice – The Discovery of the Endurance and Wonders in the Deep: Extraordinary Shipwreck Discoveries from Spanish Gold to Shackleton’s Bible.
- Watch out for the National Geographic film Endurance all about the discovery of the ship, to be premiered at the London Film Festival on 12 October, and which will be released on Disney+ from 2 November 2024.
