Last ship of famed Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton found off the coast of Canada

The wreckage of the Quest, the vessel used by famed Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, was found earlier this week, 62 years after it sank off the coast of Canada. The discovery was made by an international team of researchers, oceanographers and divers from the Royal Canadian Geographic Society.

“Finding Quest is one of the final chapters in the extraordinary story of Sir Ernest Shackleton,” expedition leader and chief executive officer of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society said in a statement on Wednesday. “Shackleton was known for his courage and brilliance as a leader in crisis. The tragic irony is that his was the only death to take place on any of the ships under his direct command.”

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Discovery of the Quest's wreckage

The Quest was discovered using sonar equipment on June 9, lying at a depth of 390 meters in the frigid waters off the coast of Canada’s Labrador and Newfoundland province. The discovery was aided by extensive research of historic ship logs and maps along with data on currents and weather conditions to try and pinpoint the Quest’s location, search director David Means on Wednesday.

“I can definitively confirm that we have found the wreck of the Quest. She is intact. Data from high resolution side scan sonar imagery corresponds exactly with the known dimensions and structural features of this special ship. It is also consistent with events at the time of the sinking,’ Means added.

The Quest, which sank on May 5th, 1962, after being damaged by ice, was discovered just 2.5 kilometers from its last reported position.

Shackleton's final journey

Shackleton died aboard the Quest at the age of 47 in 1922 while the vessel was anchored off South Georgia Island, enroute to what would have been the famed explorer’s fourth expedition to the Antarctic. While the 1921-1922 Shackleton-Rowlett Expedition briefly tried to continue on, Shackleton’s death is widely considered to mark the end of the so-call “Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.”

The Quest’s journey was far from over, however. Following Shackleton’s death, the Norwegian-built schooner spent the next four decades participating in the 1930-1931 British Arctic Air Route Expedition, serving with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War, and eventually working as a sealing ship.

In 2022, shipwreck explorers discovered the Endurance, the ship which Shackleton used during his 1915 expedition. The Endurance was found at a depth of nearly 10,000 feet in the Weddell Sea, located east of the Antarctic Peninsula, having sunk after being trapped in dense pack ice. Following the sinking of the Endurance, Shackleton organized the rescue of vessel’s 27-man crew.

Max Hauptman is a Trending Reporter for USA TODAY. He can be reached at MHauptman@gannett.com