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111-401: Navidad Bank is a shallow underwater area composed of coral and sand that almost reaches the ocean's surface, but is wholly submerged. It covers an area of 650 km (251 sq mi). At low tide, a few small locations appear awash at the water's surface. General depths are less than 36.6 metres (120.1 feet). There is a least-known depth of 12.8 metres (42.0 feet) located on the east side of

222-405: A Barquentine . As well as sails, Endurance had a 350 hp (260 kW) coal-fired steam engine , making the ship capable of speeds up to 10.2 kn (18.9 km/h; 11.7 mph). At the time of her launch in 1912 Endurance was arguably the strongest wooden ship ever built with the possible exception of Fram , the vessel used by Fridtjof Nansen and later by Roald Amundsen . There

333-736: A glacial-fed lake, Arctic waters, the Great Lakes , etc.) slows the degradation of organic ship materials. Decay, corrosion and marine encrustation are inhibited or largely absent in cold waters. Many modern shipwrecks contribute to marine pollution , mainly as sources of significant oil spills . A 2005 survey of shipwrecks since 1890 found that over 8,500 of the submerged wrecks may still contain oil. Oil spills can have devastating effects on marine and coastal environments as well as fisheries. In addition to being toxic to marine life, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), found in crude oil , are very difficult to clean up, and last for years in

444-572: A blanket ban on all diving; for other wrecks divers may visit provided they do not touch, interfere with or penetrate the wreck. In the United States, shipwrecks in state waters are regulated by the Abandoned Shipwrecks Act of 1987. This act is much more lenient in allowing more open access to the shipwrecks. Following the beaching of MSC Napoli , as a result of severe damage incurred during European storm Kyrill , there

555-446: A certain age, the original owner may have lost all claim to the cargo. Anyone who finds the wreck can then file a salvage claim on it and place a lien on the vessel, and subsequently mount a salvage operation (see Finders, keepers ). The State of North Carolina questionably claims "all photographs, video recordings, or other documentary materials of a derelict vessel or shipwreck or its contents, relics, artifacts, or historic materials in

666-782: A greater or lesser degree in an Australian case and in a Norwegian case. The American courts have been inconsistent between states and at federal level. Under Danish law, all shipwrecks over 150 years old belong to the state if no owner can be found. In Spain, wrecks vest in the state if not salvaged within 3 years. In Finland, all property on board shipwrecks over 100 years old vests in the state. The British Protection of Wrecks Act , enacted to protect historic wrecks, controls access to wrecks such as Cattewater Wreck which can only be visited or investigated under licence. The British Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 also restricts access to wrecks which are sensitive as war graves . The Protection of Military Remains Act in some cases creates

777-417: A leak was discovered in one of the fittings and they had to be pumped out, repaired and then refilled. The following day a lead of open water was seen ahead of the ship. Only one boiler had been lit and there was insufficient steam to use the engine, so all the sails were set to try to force the ship into the loosening pack ice, but without success. In the late afternoon of 18 October, the ice closed in around

888-421: A new pressure wave swept through the pack ice. The forward topgallant mast and topmasts collapsed as the bow was finally crushed. These moments were recorded on film by expedition photographer Frank Hurley . The mainmast was split near its base and shortly afterwards the mainmast and the mizzen mast broke and collapsed together, with this also filmed by Hurley. In the late afternoon of 21 November, movement of

999-470: A northerly direction towards land. By 24 January, the wind had completely compressed the ice in the Weddell Sea against the land, leaving Endurance icebound as far as the eye could see in every direction. All that could be done was to wait for a southerly gale to start pushing in the other direction, which would decompress and open the ice. In the early morning of 24 January, a wide crack appeared in

1110-516: A pool of water, afloat again for the first time in nearly six months. The broken sections of floe closed in around the ship on all sides, jarring the Endurance forward, backwards and sideways in violent fashion against the other slabs of ice. After over a quarter of an hour, a force from astern pushed the ship's bow up onto the floe, lifting the hull out of the pressure and with a list of five degrees to her port side. A gale overnight further disturbed

1221-564: A preprint of their paper on the navigation of Endurance , which had been previously submitted to the Journal of Navigation in July 2021. The paper was based upon a re-analysis of the original lunar occultation timings made by Frank Worsley and Reginald W. James , the expedition physicist, using modern lunar ephemerides and catalogues of star positions, which allowed the authors to refine the predicted sinking position of Endurance . According to

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1332-451: A ship's crew has died or abandoned the ship, and the ship has remained adrift but unsunk, they are instead referred to as ghost ships . Historic wrecks are attractive to maritime archaeologists because they preserve historical information: for example, studying the wreck of Mary Rose revealed information about seafaring, warfare, and life in the 16th century. Military wrecks, caused by a skirmish at sea, are studied to find details about

1443-461: A shipwreck) and adventurae maris (material still at sea), which are treated differently by some, but not all, legal systems. Wrecks are often considered separately from their cargo. For example, in the British case of Lusitania [1986] QB 384 it was accepted that the remains of the vessel itself were owned by the insurance underwriters who had paid out on the vessel as a total loss by virtue of

1554-431: A significant loss to Christensen as it barely covered the outstanding payments to Framnæs, let alone the ship's total build costs. Author Alfred Lansing reports that he was happy "to take the loss in order to further the plans of an explorer of Shackleton's stature". Shackleton did not have the money at the time, but Christensen was eager for him to purchase the ship and paid the deposit himself. After Shackleton purchased

1665-421: A spacious dining saloon and galley (with accommodation for two cooks), a smoking room, a darkroom to allow passengers to develop photographs, electric lighting and even a small bathroom. Though her hull looked from the outside like that of any other vessel of comparable size, it was not. She was designed for polar conditions with very sturdy construction. Her keel members were four pieces of solid oak, one above

1776-785: A treasure almost three miles (16,000 ft; 4,800 m) deep. A U.S. federal court and a panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit have upheld the Spanish claim to the contents of the ship Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes ; Spain took control of the treasure in February 2012. A very small number of coins and effects recovered from the ship were deposited in Gibraltar, because they showed clear signs coherent with an internal explosion on

1887-719: Is Queen Anne's Revenge which is undergoing archaeological recovery by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources near Beaufort Inlet, NC. An important international convention aiming at the protection of underwater cultural heritage (including shipwrecks) is the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. The 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage represents

1998-492: Is an international treaty aimed exclusively at the protection of underwater cultural heritage and the facilitation of international cooperation in this regard. It does not change sovereignty rights of States or regulate the ownership of wrecks or submerged ruins. In 2011, the most valuable cargo of a sunken shipwreck was identified near the western edge of the Celtic Sea . This World War II era sinking of Gairsoppa led to

2109-821: Is in "a brilliant state of preservation". The wreck is designated as a protected historic site and monument under the Antarctic Treaty System . Designed by Ole Aanderud Larsen , Endurance was built at the Framnæs shipyard in Sandefjord , Norway. She was built under the supervision of master wood shipbuilder Christian Jacobsen, who was renowned for insisting that all men in his employment were not just skilled shipwrights but also experienced in seafaring aboard whaling or sealing ships. Every detail of her construction had been scrupulously planned to ensure maximum durability: for example, every joint and fitting

2220-400: Is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately three million shipwrecks worldwide as of January 1999, according to Angela Croome, a science writer and author who specialized in the history of underwater archaeology (an estimate rapidly endorsed by UNESCO and other organizations ). When

2331-555: Is that any such finds and recovery must be reported within 28 days to the Receiver of Wreck . Failure to do so is an offence under the Merchant Shipping Act and can result in a criminal record for theft by finding . After several days, the police and Receiver of Wreck, in conjunction with the landowner and the contracted salvors , established a cordon to prevent access to the beach. A similar situation occurred after

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2442-406: Is the historical value of the shipwreck that counts as well as any slight piece of information or evidence that is acquired. Exposed wooden components decay quickly. Often the only wooden parts of ships that remain after a century are those that were buried in silt or sand soon after the sinking. An example of this is Mary Rose . Steel and iron , depending on their thickness, may retain

2553-494: The Antarctic Circle in the 16 years prior to Endurance ' s purchase had been almost uniformly successful with only one vessel, the 30-year-old whaler Antarctic , having been crushed in the ice. With it being felt that little harm could come to a purpose-built ship in a sea in which ice halted all waves, Endurance became the first ship to be insured for her journey. All previous examples had their insurance end at

2664-516: The Antarctic Treaty System . A legal protection perimeter around the wreck is being widened from 500m to 1,500m. The search for the Endurance and its discovery were able to be followed by students around the world, thanks to the efforts of the expedition's educational partner, Reach the World . Reach the World conducted live streams, created educational resources, and published informational updates at regular intervals before, during, and after

2775-614: The Antikythera Mechanism , is perhaps the earliest example of what would be known as today as an analog computer , and the technology it encompasses predates any other recorded description by hundreds or thousands of years. Endurance (1912 ship) Endurance was the three-masted barquentine in which Sir Ernest Shackleton and a crew of 27 men sailed for the Antarctic on the 1914–1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition . The ship, originally named Polaris ,

2886-407: The Endurance once again. In just five seconds the ship was canted over to port by 20 degrees, and the list continued until she rested at 30 degrees, with the port bulwark resting on the pack and the boats on that side nearly touching the ice as they hung in their davits. After four hours in this position, the ice drew apart and the ship returned to a level keel. The ice was relatively still for

2997-399: The Endurance was backed up within her pool as far as possible to allow the ship to ram her way through the channel. As the ship went astern for successive attempts, lines were attached from the bow to loosened blocks of ice, estimated to weigh 20 tons (18 tonnes), in order to clear the path. The pool proved too small for the ship to gain enough momentum to successfully ram her way clear and by

3108-512: The Great Lakes of North America, have remained intact with little degradation. In some sea areas, most notably in Gulf of Bothnia and Gulf of Finland , salinity is very low, and centuries-old wrecks have been preserved in reasonable condition. However, bacteria found in fresh water cause the wood on ships to rot more quickly than in seawater unless it is deprived of oxygen. Two shipwrecks, USS  Hamilton and USS  Scourge , have been at

3219-615: The Natural History Museum , London correctly suggested the Antarctic Circumpolar Current could preserve the wreck on the seabed by keeping wood-boring "ship worms" away. A Weddell Sea Expedition to locate and possibly photograph the wreck using long-range autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) was underway in the Antarctic summer of 2018–2019. This expedition failed when the researchers' AUV

3330-499: The Scott Polar Research Institute , the known conditions on the sea bed suggested that Endurance should not be damaged and that she would likely be in the same state as she was when she sank in the pack ice in 1915. He also noted that any future attempts at finding the Endurance would be "add-ons" to other main scientific expeditions to the area, such as the one in 2019, which was launched chiefly to study

3441-596: The Weddell Sea off Antarctica on 21 November 1915. All of the crew survived her sinking and were eventually rescued in 1916 after using the ship's boats to travel to Elephant Island and Shackleton, the ship's captain Frank Worsley , and four others made a voyage to seek help . The wreck of Endurance was discovered on 5 March 2022, nearly 107 years after she sank, by the search team Endurance22. She lies 3,008 metres (9,869 ft; 1,645 fathoms) deep, and

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3552-401: The forecastle . A large portion of the provisions had been left on the submerged lower deck. The only way to retrieve them was to cut through the main deck, which was more than a foot thick in places and itself under three feet of water. Some crates and boxes floated up once a hole had been cut, while others were retrieved with a grapple . In total, nearly 3.5 tons of stores were recovered from

3663-615: The sediment and marine environment. Shipwreck pollution may also originate with a ship's cargo or munitions, such as unexploded ordnance or chemical weapons canisters. German trawler V 1302 John Mahn , sunk in the North Sea in 1942, has multiple unexploded depth charges on board which render the wreck hazardous. Samples taken from the wreck and nearby sediment show the presence of heavy metals like nickel and copper, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons , arsenic and explosive compounds into surrounding waters, which have changed

3774-548: The Dominican Republic . Navidad Bank has a wealth of corals and is a safe haven for marine mammals, including the humpback whale . The humpback whales have long used the bank as a breeding and calving ground. As such, tourism focuses on tours to view the whales and other sea life. The Bank is visited by scuba divers . Just to the northwest is the Silver Bank ( Spanish : Banco de la Plata ), also under

3885-491: The German government, although Nazi Germany (the government at the time) is long-defunct. Many military wrecks are also protected by virtue of being war graves . However, many legal systems allow the rights of salvors to override the rights of the original owners of a wreck or its cargo. As a general rule, non-historic civilian shipwrecks are considered fair game for salvage. Under international maritime law , for shipwrecks of

3996-518: The artifacts on and around the wreck at Pickles Reef and the over-lapping wrecks at the Molasses Reef Wreck , or contemporary pollution in bodies of water, that severely affect shipwrecks by changing the chemical structures, or further damaging what is left of a specific ship. Despite these challenges, if the information retrieved does not appear to be sufficient, or a poor preservation is achieved, authors like J.A. Parker claim that it

4107-531: The authors their latest paper is "a more complete, accurate and reliable basis for determining the most probable sinking location of Endurance". David Mearns delivered the 2022 EGR Taylor Lecture on their analysis and the final paper appeared online on 21 February 2023. Bergman, Mearns and Stuart were awarded a special Certificate of Achievement by the Royal Institute of Navigation "in recognition of their pioneering data analysis and modelling leading to

4218-529: The berg. On 18 January, the gale began to moderate and Endurance set the topsail with the engine at slow. The pack had blown away. Progress was made slowly, until hours later Endurance encountered the pack once more. It was decided to move forward and work through the pack, and at 5:00 pm Endurance entered it. This ice was different from what had been encountered before, and the ship was soon amongst thick but soft brash ice, and became beset. The gale increased in intensity and kept blowing for another six days from

4329-415: The boats and stores overland on sledges, Shackleton realised the effort was much too intense and that the party would have to camp on the ice until it carried them to the north and broke up. More parties were sent back to the Endurance , still with her masts and rigging intact and all but her bow above the ice, to salvage any remaining items. By then, two days after abandoning her, the ship was submerged up to

4440-513: The bottom of Lake Ontario since they sunk during a violent storm on August 8, 1813, during the War of 1812 . They are in "remarkably good" condition. Wrecks typically decay rapidly when in seawater . There are several reasons for this: An important factor in the condition of the wreck is the level of destruction at the time of the loss or shortly afterwards due to the nature of the loss, salvage or later demolition. Examples of severe destruction at

4551-549: The catastrophic Titanic , MV Doña Paz , Britannic , Lusitania , Estonia , Empress of Ireland , Andrea Doria , Endurance or Costa Concordia . There are also thousands of wrecks that were not lost at sea but have been abandoned or sunk. These abandoned, or derelict ships are typically smaller craft, such as fishing vessels. They may pose a hazard to navigation and may be removed by port authorities . Poor design, improperly stowed cargo , navigation and other human errors leading to collisions (with another ship,

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4662-590: The custody of any agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions" to be its property. Some countries assert claims to all wrecks within their territorial waters, irrespective of the interest of the original owner or the salvor. Some legal systems regard a wreck and its cargo to be abandoned if no attempt is made to salvage them within a certain period of time. English law has usually resisted this notion (encouraged by an extremely large maritime insurance industry, which asserts claims in respect of shipwrecks which it has paid claims on), but it has been accepted to

4773-448: The damage of marine creatures that create a home out of them, primarily octopuses and crustaceans. These creatures affect the primary state because they move, or break, any parts of the shipwreck that are in their way, thereby affecting the original condition of amphorae , for example, or any other hollow places. Finally, in addition to the slight or severe destruction marine animals can create, there are also "external" contaminants, such as

4884-476: The end of July. The 'tween deck was converted into a cargo hold, and the crew made their quarters in the forecastle . The darkroom remained, abaft of the boiler. The refit also saw the ship repainted from white and gilt to black. She retained the large five-pointed star on her stern that had referred to her original name. Her new equipment included three ship's boats . Two were 21 ft (6.4 m) transom-built rowing cutters purchased secondhand from

4995-417: The end of the day the ice began to freeze up again. By 3:00 pm, the Endurance had made 200 yd (180 m) of distance through the ice, with 400 yd (370 m) still to go to clear water. Shackleton decided that the consumption of coal and manpower, and the risk of damage to the ship, was too great and called a halt. After this frustration, Endurance ' s boilers were extinguished, committing

5106-416: The expedition. The crew of Endurance on her final voyage was made up of the 28 men, including Sir Ernest Shackleton, listed below. They were accompanied by Mrs Chippy , a male ship's cat , and originally sixty-nine sledge dogs with additional litters of puppies born during the expedition. After the Endurance became trapped in pack ice and was destroyed, Shackleton decided that Mrs Chippy and some of

5217-460: The floe, driving it against the starboard side of the hull and forcing a sheet of ice upwards at a 45-degree angle until it reached the level of the scuppers . Despite the ordeal of the past few days, the ship remained undamaged. Two pressure waves struck the ship on 29 August without incident. On the evening of 31 August, a slow-building pressure gripped the Endurance , causing her hull and timbers to creak and shudder continuously. The ice around

5328-485: The floes. Shackleton wrote that the entire aft of the ship "had been crushed concertina fashion", the forward motor engine was pushed into the galley , and gasoline cans stacked on deck were pushed through the deckhouse wall halfway into the wardroom. The ship's Blue Ensign was hoisted up her mizzen mast so that she would, in Shackleton's word's, "go down with colours flying". After a failed attempt to man-haul

5439-416: The force of the weather, while also clearing water in the north of the Weddell Sea. This provided a long fetch for the south-setting wind to blow over and then for the broken ice to pile up against itself while individual parts moved in different directions. This caused regions of intense localised pressure in the ice field. The ice began "working", with sounds of breaking and colliding ice audible to those on

5550-813: The historic event; they reveal much about the battle that occurred. Discoveries of treasure ships , often from the period of European colonisation , which sank in remote locations leaving few living witnesses, such as Batavia , do occur as well. Some contemporary wrecks, such as the oil tanker Prestige or Erika , are of interest primarily because of their potential harm to the environment. Other contemporary wrecks are scuttled in order to spur reef growth, such as Adolphus Busch and Ocean Freeze . Many contemporary and historic wrecks, such as Thistlegorm , are of interest to recreational divers that dive to shipwrecks because they are interesting to explore, provide large habitats for many types of marine life, and have an interesting history. Well-known shipwrecks include

5661-478: The hull—"just as it appears she can stand no more, the huge floe weighing possibly a million tons or more yields to our little ship by cracking across ... and so relieves the pressure. The behaviour of our ship in the ice has been magnificent. Undoubtedly she is the finest little wooden vessel ever built". Despite this, the ship's decks were permanently buckled following this ordeal. By October, temperatures of up to nearly 29 °F (−2 °C) were recorded and

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5772-418: The ice 50 yards (46 m) ahead of the ship. Initially 15 ft (4.6 m) across but 1 mi (1.6 km) long, by mid-morning the next day the break was over 0.25 mi (0.40 km) wide, giving the men on the Endurance hope that the ice was breaking up. But the break never reached the ship itself, and despite three hours under full sail and full speed on the engine, the ship did not budge. Over

5883-579: The ice cracked to relieve the pressure. Polaris was originally built for the Belgian explorer Adrien de Gerlache and the Norwegian philanthropist Lars Christensen . Financial problems led to Gerlache pulling out of their partnership, leaving Christensen unable to pay the Framnæs yard the final amounts to hand over and outfit the ship. For over a year, Christensen attempted unsuccessfully to sell

5994-410: The ice showed further signs of opening up. The floe against the ship's starboard broke up on 14 October, casting the Endurance afloat in a pool of open water for the first time in nine months. On 16 October, Shackleton ordered steam to be raised so the ship could take advantage of any openings in the ice. It took nearly four hours for the boilers to be filled with freshwater melted from ice, and then

6105-591: The ice to reach them. The fourth attempt, in the Yelcho (lent by the Chilean government) was successful, and all of the twenty-two members of the crew who had remained on Elephant Island were safely rescued on 30 August 1916 – 128 days after Shackleton had left in James Caird . The actual retrieval of the men from the beach was done as quickly as possible, before the ice closed in again. But, even in that haste, care

6216-400: The icy terrain between the ship and the shore was too arduous to travel while carrying the materials and supplies needed for the overland expedition. By March, navigational observation showed that the ship (and the mass of pack ice that contained her) was still moving, but now swinging towards the west-northwest and increasing in the speed of its drift, moving 130 mi (210 km) between

6327-434: The international community's response to the increasing looting and destruction of underwater cultural heritage. It forms part of a group of UNESCO standard setting instruments regarding the domain of cultural heritage, encompassing seven conventions adopted by UNESCO Member States, which constitute a coherent and complementary body guaranteeing a complete protection of all forms of cultural heritage. The UNESCO 2001 Convention

6438-417: The island was remote and rarely visited, Shackleton decided that help needed to be sought. On 24 April, he, Worsley, and four others began a voyage in a ship's boat , named James Caird , for South Georgia. After reaching South Georgia, Shackleton worked on arranging a rescue mission for those left on Elephant Island. Shackleton and Worsley made three voyages in different vessels that were unable to get through

6549-523: The jurisdiction of the Dominican Republic. Navidad Bank, Silver Bank , as well as Mouchoir Bank further northwest, plus the Turks and Caicos Islands, are considered a geographic continuation of the Lucayan Archipelago . This Dominican Republic location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that

6660-598: The last port of call before their journey into the ice. Lloyd's of London and the Indemnity Marine Insurance Company underwrote Endurance at the value of £15,000. Embarking on her maiden voyage, Endurance sailed from Plymouth on 8 August 1914 and set course for Buenos Aires , Argentina , under Worsley's command. Shackleton remained in Britain, finalising the expedition's organization and attending to some last-minute fundraising. This

6771-410: The law of subrogation (who subsequently sold their rights), but that the property aboard the wreck still belonged to its original owners or their heirs. Military wrecks, however, remain under the jurisdiction – and hence protection – of the government that lost the ship, or that government's successor. Hence, a German U-boat from World War II still technically belongs to

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6882-450: The local microbial ecology. Iron and steel wrecks are subject to corrosion, which is most rapid in shallow sea water where the salinity induces galvanic corrosion, oxygen content is high and water movement replenishes the oxygen rapidly. In deeper water and in still water the corrosion rates can be greatly reduced. Corrosion rates of iron and steel are also reduced when concretions, solid layers of rust, or layers of marine organisms separate

6993-601: The melting and retreat of the Larsen ice shelves. In July 2021, the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust announced Endurance22, a new expedition to search for the wreck of Endurance that would launch in early 2022 using Saab submersible technology. If found, the wreck would not be disturbed, but instead scanned in 3D . On 7 February 2022 Lars Bergman, David Mearns and Robin Stuart released

7104-712: The metal from the ambient water, and encourage the development of a layer of relatively stable black oxide in the hypoxic layers. Ships that sink upright onto a sand bottom tend to settle into the sand to a similar level to that at which they would normally float at the surface. The thinner materials of the upper works tend to break up first, followed by the decks and deck beams, and the hull sides unsupported by bulkheads. The bow and stern may remain relatively intact for longer as they are usually more heavily constructed. Heavy machinery like boilers, engines, pumps, winches, propellers, propeller shafts, steering gear, anchors and other heavy fittings also last longer and can provide support to

7215-489: The next days, the crew waited for the southerly gale to release the pressure on the ice, but while the wind backed to the hoped-for south/southwest direction, it remained light and erratic. Unseasonably low temperatures of around −2 °F (−19 °C) additionally kept the ice together. Occasional breaks in the ice were spotted, but none reached the ship and all closed up within a few hours. On 14 February, an open channel of water opened up 0.25 mi (0.40 km) ahead of

7326-528: The north end of the bank. It is not suitable for boating navigation of any kind, except by small craft, whose operators must be extremely careful. From the earliest colonial times, Navidad Bank has been the scene of multiple shipwrecks . This area is considered part of the Dominican Republic. A Dominican presidential decree on July 5, 1996, included the area in the Sanctuary for the Marine Mammals of

7437-435: The order to abandon ship on 27 October at about 5:00 pm. The position at abandonment was 69° 05'S, 51° 30'W. During the course of the next day, parties were sent back to the ship to recover more supplies and stores. They found that the entire port side of the Endurance had been driven inwards and compressed, and the ice had entirely filled the bow and stern sections; only one of the six cabins had not been pierced by

7548-406: The other, adding up to a thickness of 85 in (2,200 mm), while her sides were between 30 in (760 mm) and 18 in (460 mm) thick, with twice as many frames as normal and the frames being of double thickness. She was built of planks of oak and Norwegian fir up to 30 in (760 mm) thick, sheathed in greenheart , an exceptionally strong and heavy wood. The bow, which

7659-419: The position as 68°39′30″ S, 52°26′30″ W but had been unable to obtain a sextant sight at the time and based the position on that of Ocean Camp at noon the following day. The crew remained camped on the ice in the hopes that the floe would bring them closer to one of various islands. In April 1916, they set off in the Endurance ' s three ship's boats and eventually landed on Elephant Island . Because

7770-418: The pump pipes from inside the coal bunkers and then playing a blowtorch over the intake valve. McNish constructed a cofferdam in the shaft tunnel to seal off the damaged stern area while the crew were arranged in spells of 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off on the main pump. After 28 hours of continuous work, the inflow of water had only been arrested—the ship was still badly flooded. At 9:00 pm, Shackleton ordered

7881-406: The remaining hull, or cause it to collapse more rapidly. Vessels that come to rest upside down on a yielding seabed can be relatively stable, although the upper decks usually collapse under the load and machinery and fittings fall. Wrecks that rest on their side tend to deteriorate quickly, as the loads are not what they were designed to support, and poorly supported hull sides give way fairly soon and

7992-420: The remaining wreckage was noticed as another pressure wave hit. Within the space of a minute, the stern of the Endurance was lifted clear of the ice as the floes moved together and then, as the pressure passed and they moved apart, the entire wreck fell into the ocean. The ice surrounding the spot where the Endurance had sunk immediately moved together again, obliterating any trace of the wreck. Worsley recorded

8103-472: The rest of the month. On 20 October, steam was raised again and the engines tested. On 22 October, the temperature dropped sharply from 10 °F (−12 °C) to −14 °F (−26 °C) and the wind veered from southwest to northeast, and the next day, pressure ridges could be seen forming in the ice and moving near the ship. On 24 October, the damaged ship was wracked by further pressure waves, pinning her between both floes. A large mass of ice slammed into

8214-434: The ship and dawn showed the Endurance was afloat in a pool of soft, young ice no more than 2 ft (0.61 m) thick, but the pool was surrounded by solid pack ice of 12–18 ft (3.7–5.5 m) in thickness, blocking the path to the open lead. A day's continual work by the crew saw them hack a clear channel 150 yd (140 m) long. This work continued through the following day (15 February) and, with steam raised,

8325-555: The ship and thus confirmed Spanish claims to the wreck being that of the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes . They were not returned to Spain until 2013, when a court finally ordered Odyssey Marine to return the missing pieces. Archaeologist Valerios Stais discovered one of the most notable instruments of time keeping and prediction of celestial events off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera on May 17, 1902. The device, known as

8436-476: The ship moved and broke throughout the night, battering the port side of the hull. All was quiet again until the afternoon of 30 September, by which time there were signs of spring with ten hours of sunlight per day and occasional temperature readings above freezing. A large floe was swept against the Endurance ' s port bow and then gripped that side of the ship against the built-up ice and snow on her starboard beam. The ship's structure groaned and wracked under

8547-400: The ship through the next day. Breaks in the ice were spotted but none approached the ice holding the Endurance . During July the ship drifted a further 160 mi (260 km) to the north. On the morning of 1 August, a pressure wave passed through the floe holding the ship, lifting the 400-ton Endurance bodily upwards and heeling the ship sharply to her port side before she dropped into

8658-414: The ship to drift with the ice until released naturally. On 17 February, the sun dipped below the horizon at midnight, showing the end of the Antarctic summer. On 24 February, regular watches on the ship were cancelled, with the Endurance now functioning as a shore station. The ship had slowly drifted south and at this point was within 60 mi (97 km) of the intended landing point at Vahsel Bay . But

8769-424: The ship's boats, stores and essential equipment to be moved onto the surrounding ice. The footplates in the engine room were pushed up and would no longer sit in place as the compartment was compressed. The planking of the ship's port side was bowing inwards by up to 6 in (15 cm). Amid temperatures from −8.5 °F (−22.5 °C) in the morning to −16 °F (−27 °C) in the evening, Shackleton gave

8880-490: The ship's structure for decades. As corrosion takes place, sometimes helped by tides and weather, the structure collapses. Thick ferrous objects such as cannons , steam boilers or the pressure vessel of a submarine often survive well underwater in spite of corrosion. Propellers , condensers , hinges and port holes were often made from non-ferrous metals such as brass and phosphor bronze , which do not corrode easily. Shipwrecks in some freshwater lakes, such as

8991-474: The ship, she was rechristened Endurance after the Shackleton family motto, Fortitudine vincimus ("By endurance we conquer"). The ship was originally projected ready by mid-May, but completion was delayed for a month. Shackleton had the ship relocated from Norway to London. She arrived at the Millwall Dock in the spring of 1914, and Shackleton gathered equipment, stores, finances, and crew until

9102-454: The ship, since her unique design as an ice-capable passenger-carrying ship, with relatively little space for stores and no cargo hold, made her useless to the whaling or sealing industries. Meanwhile, she was too big, slow and uncomfortable to be a private steam yacht. In the event, Christensen was happy to sell the ship to Ernest Shackleton in January 1914 for £14,000 , which represented

9213-407: The shoreline, an iceberg, etc.), bad weather, fire , and other causes can lead to accidental sinking. Intentional reasons for sinking a ship include: intending to form an artificial reef ; destruction due to warfare , piracy , mutiny or sabotage ; using the vessel for target practice ; or removing a menace to navigation. A ship can be also used as breakwater structure . Many factors determine

9324-495: The start of March and 2 May, when the sun disappeared below the horizon and the dark Antarctic winter began. On 14 July 1915, Endurance was swept by a southwest gale, with wind speeds of 112 km/h (31 m/s; 70 mph), a barometer reading of 28.88 inHg (978 hPa) and temperatures falling to −33 °F (−36 °C). The blizzard continued until 16 July. This broke up the pack ice into smaller, individual floes, each of which began to move semi-independently under

9435-402: The state of preservation of a wreck: The above - especially the stratification (silt/sand sediments piled up on the shipwrecks) and the damages caused by marine creatures - is better described as "stratification and contamination" of shipwrecks. The stratification not only creates another challenge for marine archaeology, but also a challenge to determine its primary state, i.e. the state that it

9546-461: The stern, tearing the sternpost away from the hull planking. Around the same time, the bow planking was stove in, causing simultaneous flooding in the engine room and the forward hold. Despite using both the portable manual pumps and getting up steam to drive the main bilge pumps, the water level continued to rise. The main man-powered deck pumps did not work, as their intakes had frozen and could only be restored by pouring buckets of boiling water onto

9657-400: The strain. Carpenter Harry McNish noted that the solid oak beams supporting the upper deck were being visibly bent "like a piece of cane". On deck the ship's masts were whipping back and forth as their stepping points on the keel were distorted. Despite these disconcerting signs, Worsley noted that the strength of the ship's structure was causing the ice itself to break up as it piled against

9768-433: The successful location of Endurance ' s wreck". The wreck of Endurance was discovered on 5 March 2022. Endurance22 announced, in a 9 March 2022 press release, that they had found the wreck in the Weddell Sea at a depth of 3,008 metres (9,869 ft; 1,645 fathoms). Although the wreck's position was initially described as being about 4 miles (6.4 km; 3.5 nmi) south of Worsley's original calculated location,

9879-409: The time of loss are: After the loss, the vessel's owners may attempt to salvage valuable parts of the ship and its cargo. This operation can cause further damage. Shipwrecks in shallow water near busy shipping lanes are often demolished or removed to reduce the danger to other vessels. On charts, some wreck symbols have a line under the symbol with a depth mark, which indicates the water depth above

9990-409: The true position was later revealed to be 68°44′21″ S, 52°19′47″ W which is 4.9 nautical miles (5.6 mi; 9.1 km) South, 2.4 nautical miles (2.8 mi; 4.4 km) East (5.4 nautical miles (6.2 mi; 10.0 km) total distance) of the position given in the log. Mensun Bound , the expedition's director of exploration, said that Worsley's navigational skills had helped the expedition find

10101-697: The whaling industry. The third was a 22.5 ft (6.9 m) double-ended rowing whaleboat built for the expedition to specifications drawn up by Frank Worsley , Endurance ' s new captain. After her refit, Endurance began the short coastal journey to Plymouth on 1 August 1914, the day that Germany declared war on Russia. To find crew for the Endurance , Shackleton reportedly placed an advertisement in The Times , reading: Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success. Voyages to

10212-450: The whaling station at Grytviken on the island of South Georgia , where she arrived on 5 November. She left Grytviken on 5 December 1914, heading for the southern regions of the Weddell Sea . Two days after leaving South Georgia, Endurance encountered polar pack ice and progress slowed to a crawl. For weeks Endurance worked her way through the pack, averaging less than 30 nmi (60 km) per day. By 15 January 1915, Endurance

10323-440: The whole or part of the ship, its cargo, or its equipment. An example was the salvage of the scuttled German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow in the 1920s and 1930s. The unauthorized salvage of wrecks is called wrecking . Shipwreck law determines important legal questions regarding wrecks, perhaps the most important question being the question of ownership. Legally wrecks are divided into wreccum maris (material washed ashore after

10434-475: The wreck of Cita in 1997. Historic wrecks (often but not always defined as being more than 50 years of age) are often protected from pillaging and looting through national laws protecting cultural heritage. Internationally they may be protected by a State ratifying the Unesco Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage . In this case pillaging is not allowed. One such example

10545-535: The wreck of Endurance . By 2003, two rival groups were making plans for an expedition to find the wreck, but no expedition was mounted at the time. In 2010, Mearns announced a new plan to search for the wreck. The plan was sponsored by the National Geographic Society but was subject to finding sponsorship for the balance of the US$ 10 million estimated cost. A 2013 study by Adrian Glover of

10656-409: The wreck was in remarkably good condition, and that they had filmed and photographed it extensively, including with ultra-high-definition 3D scanning. The name Endurance on the stern remains clearly legible. In keeping with the team's promise, they did not salvage any part of the wreck or of its contents, as the ship came under the definition of a protected historic site and monument as set forth in

10767-413: The wreck. On the seabed, wrecks are slowly broken up by the forces of wave action caused by the weather and currents caused by tides . Also, more highly oxygenated water, which promotes corrosion , reduces the strength of ferrous structural materials of the ship. Deeper wrecks are likely to be protected by less exposure to water movement and by lower levels of oxygen in water. Extreme cold (such as in

10878-491: The wreck; his historic "detailed records were invaluable". Additionally, sea ice, which covers the Weddell Sea year-round and has historically been so thick as to make underwater exploration nearly impossible, was recorded as being at its lowest levels around Antarctica since space satellite records began being kept in the 1970s. The discoverers on board the South African research vessel S. A. Agulhas II said that

10989-418: The wreckage collapses. Wrecks supported by a rocky seabed tend to collapse over and around the rocks relatively rapidly. Submarines tend to last longer as they are built much more strongly to withstand the working loads of external pressure, and may last for centuries. A shipwreck may have value in several forms: Often, attempts are made to salvage shipwrecks, particularly those recently wrecked, to recover

11100-438: The wrecked ship. The party was still camped under 2 mi (3.2 km) from the remains of the Endurance on 8 November when Shackleton returned to the ship to consider further salvage. By now the ship had sunk a further 18 in (46 cm) into the ice and the upper deck was now almost level with the ice. The interior of the ship was almost full of compacted ice and snow, making further work impossible. On 13 November,

11211-596: The younger dogs would not survive and had to be shot. Two Antarctic patrol ships of the Royal Navy have been named Endurance in honour of Shackleton's ship. The first HMS  Endurance , launched in May 1956 and given the pennant number A171 sometime later, served as an ice patrol and hydrographic survey ship until 1986. The second HMS  Endurance was bought from Norway in 1991, where she had been named MV Polar Circle . After initially keeping that name, she

11322-425: Was Endurance ' s first major voyage following her completion and amounted to a shakedown voyage. Built for the ice, her hull was considered by many of her crew too rounded for the open ocean. Shackleton took a steamer to Buenos Aires and caught up with his expedition a few days after Endurance ' s arrival. On 26 October 1914, Endurance sailed from Buenos Aires to what would be her last port of call,

11433-608: Was built at Framnæs shipyard and launched in 1912 from Sandefjord in Norway . When one of her commissioners, the Belgian Adrien de Gerlache , went bankrupt, the remaining one sold the ship for less than the shipyard had charged – but as Lars Christensen was the owner of Polaris , there was no hardship involved. The ship was bought by Shackleton in January 1914 for the expedition, which would be her first voyage. A year later, she became trapped in pack ice and finally sank in

11544-500: Was confusion in the press and by the authorities about whether people could be prevented from helping themselves to the flotsam which was washed up on the beaches at Branscombe . Many people took advantage of the confusion and helped themselves to the cargo. This included many BMW motorbikes and empty wine casks as well as bags of disposable nappies ( diapers ). The legal position under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995

11655-555: Was cross-braced for maximum strength. The ship was launched on 17 December 1912 and was initially christened Polaris after the North Star . She was 144 ft (44 m) long, with a 25 ft (7.6 m) beam, and measured 350 tons gross . Her original purpose was to provide luxurious accommodation for small tourist and hunting parties in the Arctic as an ice-capable steam yacht . As launched she had 10 passenger cabins,

11766-402: Was designed to meet the ice head-on, had been given special attention. Each timber had been made from a single oak tree chosen so that its natural shape followed the curve of the ship's design. When put together, these pieces had a thickness of 52 in (1,300 mm). Of her three masts , the foremast was square-rigged , the mainmast and mizzenmast were both fore-and-aft rigged, making her

11877-406: Was in when it sank. Stratification includes several different types of sand and silt, as well as tumulus and encrustations. These "sediments" are tightly linked to the type of currents, depth, and the type of water (salinity, pH, etc.), which implies any chemical reactions that would affect potential cargo (such as wine, olive oil, spices, etc.). Besides this geological phenomenon, wrecks also face

11988-658: Was lost to the ice. Having examined Frank Worsley 's original log books housed at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, New Zealand, and closely studied his navigational methods, Lars Bergman and Robin Stuart published an analysis of the wreck's likely position relative to the position given in the log. Experts speculated that the wreck rested on flat terrain at around 3,000 metres (9,800 ft; 1,600 fathoms), undisturbed by massive sediment deposition and little to no erosion. According to Julian Dowdeswell of

12099-446: Was one major difference between the ships. Fram was bowl-bottomed, which meant that if the ice closed in against her, the ship would be squeezed up and out and not be subject to the pressure of the compressing ice. Endurance , on the other hand, was not intended to be frozen into heavy pack ice, and so was not designed to rise out of a crush. It was observed on the expedition that she instead tended to resist being crushed by floes until

12210-534: Was taken to collect all the records and photographs of the expedition, as these gave the only hope of Shackleton paying the expenses of the failed expedition. In 1998, wreckage found at Stinker Point on the southwestern side of Elephant Island was incorrectly identified as flotsam from the ship. It instead was from the 1877 wreck of the Connecticut sealing ship Charles Shearer . In 2001, wreck hunter David Mearns unsuccessfully planned an expedition to find

12321-406: Was within 200 nmi (370 km) of her destination, Vahsel Bay . By the following morning, heavy pack ice was sighted and in the afternoon a gale developed. Under these conditions it was soon evident that progress could not be made, and Endurance took shelter under the lee of a large grounded iceberg. During the next two days, Endurance moved back and forth under the sheltering protection of

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