Have you ever been on a trip that didn’t go exactly to plan? Sometimes expeditions do not go the way you think they will go. This can be for many reasons. In Antarctica, the ice and weather are always changing, and when they change, the expedition plan often has to change, too. One of the most famous expeditions that did not go to plan, but became one of the greatest stories of survival and leadership, was Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-1916. Endurance, the vessel used in Shackleton’s expedition, became trapped in the ice and was slowly crushed, eventually sinking to the bottom of the Weddell Sea. Very soon, the Weddell Sea Expedition 2019, on board the vessel S.A. Agulhas II, will be using advanced technology to scan the seabed and locate the wreck of Endurance; this is something that hasn't been possible up until very recently.
When exploring one of the most remote and harshest environments in the world, the sea ice and weather are in charge! It was true back in 1914 for Sir Ernest Shackleton and the Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-1916, and it is true for The Weddell Sea Expedition 2019 today.
