The wreck and, inset, Quest in her heyday (Picture: Canadian Geographic)
The last ship on which famous explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton made his final voyage has been found.
The vessel, named ‘Quest’, was found by wreck hunters off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
Shackleton, one of the pioneers of polar exploration, was on board the ship and bound for the Antarctic again when he suffered a fatal heart attack on January 5, 1922.
He was 47.
The Quest continued to sail until 1962, when it was crushed by sea ice – just like Shackleton’s most famous ship Endurance, which sank in the Antarctic in 1915.
The connection to Shackleton and his adventures means the latest wreck has significant historical significance.
Quest, the ship on which Ernest Shackleton made his final journey
Speaking to BBC News, shipwreck hunter David Mearns said: ‘His final voyage kind of ended that Heroic Age of Exploration, of polar exploration, certainly in the south.
‘Afterwards, it was what you would call the scientific age. In the pantheon of polar ships, Quest is definitely an icon.’
Quest’s final journey (Picture: Canadian Geographic)
Mr Mearns led the team that discovered Quest, a 38 metre-long steamship, in the Labrador Sea on Sunday. Sonar equipment pinpointed the wreck almost 400m beneath the waves.
Although its main mast is broken, hanging over the port, or left, side, the ship is otherwise intact.
In its final days, Quest was being used by Norwegian sealers, but with Shackleton on board was bound for Antarctica. The explorer had planned to turns his attentions to the Arctic, sailing north of Alaska, but after the Canadian government withdrew financial support, he turned south once again.
Sir Ernest Shackleton (Picture: Getty)
However, while docked in the Port of Grytviken on the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia, he died from a heart attack. Researchers believe he may have had a hole in his heart, a congenital heart defect.
He led three expeditions to Antarctica, including the famed journey in 1914 on the Endurance. With a crew of 27 men, he set sail for the White Continent, only for the ship to be crushed by ice. With the hull pierced, frigid sea water flooded the ship and sending it to the sea floor.
Thankfully the crew survived – many going on to serve on Shackleton’s final voyage – but it wasn’t until 2022 that Endurance was discovered again, in the Weddell Sea.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated