With a creak, a crunch and a cry of “She’s going, boys!”, in November 1915 the Endurance at last went under. For ten months, Ernest Shackleton’s ship had been stuck fast in the ice, drifting helplessly as its crew ate penguins and seals.
From a camp beside it, they watched its last moments as their link to the outside world was crushed in the ice sheet. “She then gave one quick dive,” said Frank Worsley, the ship’s captain, “and the ice closed over her forever.”
Or not quite forever. This winter the Endurance, perhaps the most famous wreck never to have been discovered, may be seen again by humans. Next month, an expedition will set out with remotely operated submarines to search the sea bed
