Shackleton’s Doomed Ship: First-ever images of the wreck of the ‘Quest’

A CBC News report features these fantastic underwater images. The ‘Quest’, which had been converted from a research vessel into a seal hunter, sank in 1962 north-west of St John’s. It had become trapped in an ice field and taken on water; footage of its sinking has been preserved.

Even its rediscovery two years ago was a sensation from a scientific point of view. We reported on it at the time and also showed the pictures of the Quest sinking into the ice.

According to the CBC, a remotely operated underwater vehicle has now brought the first images of the wreck to the surface during a night-time dive. These revealed that the ship is in a poor condition. Not only is it heavily overgrown, but numerous fishing nets have also become entangled in the wreck. This is making the planned documentation work considerably more difficult.

The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, which is funding the expedition, aims to use the images to document the condition of the wreck for future research. There are also plans to create a digital 3D model from the images so that the wreck can be explored virtually in future.

In addition to the remotely operated submersible, a manned deep-sea submarine was also deployed. John Geiger, Director of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, took part in the first dive in person. He later described it as a “moving experience”.

​More on this topic:

• As early as 2022, the *Endurance*, Shackleton’s equally famous expedition ship, had been found on the seabed of the Weddell Sea. Here is the video.
• You can find out all about the fascinating history of the “Endurance” and Shackleton’s Antarctic expeditions here.