Until this week, Jed Shackleton thought he was just another University of Otago student.
It was soon after the 18-year-old arrived to the breakfast table at Selwyn College to hear his fellow students talking about his great-great-grandfather’s brother, Sir Ernest Shackleton, and the recent discovery of his ship Endurance at the bottom of the icy Antarctic Weddell Sea, that he realised otherwise.
The South Pole explorer’s lost ship was discovered 3km below the surface by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust (FMHT), using South African icebreaker Agulhas 2, and remotely operated submersibles.
Endurance was lost in November 1915, at the start of Sir Ernest’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917) to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic, from the Weddell Sea, via the South Pole, to the Ross Sea.
The ship became trapped in pack ice and was slowly crushed before the shore parties could be landed.
The crew escaped by camping on the sea ice, before launching lifeboats to reach Elephant Island and ultimately a whaling station on South Georgia Island.
Amazingly, the entire crew survived.
Sir Ernest’s other ship, Aurora, which carried supplies for his journey across the continent, broke its mooring in the Antarctic and drifted for months.
It was later towed into Otago Harbour and repaired at Port Chalmers, and Sir Ernest came to Dunedin for a subsequent voyage back to the Antarctic on Aurora.
Mr Peat was astounded at how well preserved Endurance was after being on the sea floor for 107 years.
Jed said the discovery was "definitely perking people’s interest" in exploration.
"I think that’s awesome. It’s quite cool that they’ve found it.
"I’m amazed at the interest it has generated around the world. I didn’t realise that people still thought it was such a significant thing."
"Maybe I’ll get a job looking after Endurance - that would be quite funny."
