Expedition to survey two legendary shipwrecks launches this month
· UPIJuly 2 (UPI) -- Researchers will launch an expedition Thursday to survey two shipwrecks linked to polar explorers Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott.
CBC News, which will have reporters aboard the research vessel Atlantis, said the 21-day expedition will leave the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and travel first to the wreck of Quest, Shackleton's ship, at its resting place about 1,300 feet under the Labrador Sea.
Following that, the expedition will travel to the wreck of Terra Nova, Scott's ship, farther to the north off the south coast of Greenland. It's about 550 feet under the surface.
"It's a once-in-a-generation thing," said David Mearns, a scientist and expedition co-chief. "You don't get a chance to do this very often."
Shackleton and Scott competed to reach the South Pole in the early 1900s. Shackleton died on his ship in 1922 of a heart attack; Scott and his team died in Antarctica in 1912.
The ships sailed on: The Quest was used for Arctic rescues and as a Royal Canadian Navy ship and as a sealing ship before it sunk in 1962; Terra Nova was also used as a sealing vessel as well as a cargo ship before it sunk in 1943. Researchers discovered the wrecks in 2024 and 2012 respectively.
The expedition, funded by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society through donors and corporate sponsors, is the first comprehensive visual survey of the wrecks. The researchers will use high-definition video cameras and Voyis subsea imaging technology, CBS News reported. The expedition will include both human-occupied and remotely controlled vehicles.
The Canadian Voyis photogrammetic technology will create digital copies of the ships rather than disturbing the wrecks, The Independent reported.
"By coming Canadian and American technologies and an international team of experts, we will document Quest and Terra Nova in unprecedented detail, creating an extraordinary record of two historic shipwrecks and sharing these important stories with the world," said John Geiger, expedition leader and RCGS chief.
Mearns said Shackleton and Scott inspired generations of explorers over the years.
"Our hope is that by documenting their last ships, we too can inspire the next generation of explorers worldwide," he said.