Shackleton's Endurance: Discovery team honours 'The Boss'
- Published
Knowledge Bengu, Mensun Bound and John Shears at the graveside
The team that found Ernest Shackleton's lost ship, Endurance, on the Antarctic seafloor will get home on Sunday.
The Endurance22 project, external would have returned to Cape Town earlier but diverted to the island of South Georgia to honour the 20th Century explorer.
Shackleton is buried in an old whalers cemetery at Grytviken on the British Overseas Territory.
Endurance22 wanted to commemorate the life and achievements of the man who was referred to simply as "The Boss".
WATCH: First pictures reveal lost Antarctic ship Endurance
A short ceremony was held at Shackleton's graveside.
Endurance22 leader, Dr John Shears, said the event was a fitting way to complete his team's discovery mission. "It was a magical day," he told BBC News.
The visit to the grave was regarded as a kind of bookend to a story that has captivated the world for decades - of how Shackleton led his men to safety against all the odds when their expedition ship was trapped and then holed by ice in the Weddell Sea in 1915.
Grytviken today. The old whalers cemetery is the white square at centre-left
South Georgia was where Shackleton set out on his ill-fated attempt to make the first crossing of Antarctica, and it's where he sought help for his stranded crewmates after traversing the savage Southern Ocean in a small lifeboat.
It's also where he died of a heart attack in January 1922 as he was about to undertake a later Antarctic venture.
Historian and broadcaster Dan Snow (orange jacket) makes his contribution
In a remarkable coincidence, Endurance22's submersibles found the sunken Endurance on 5 March 2022 - exactly one hundred years to the day that Shackleton's funeral was held at Grytviken.
The graveside ceremony saw contributions from Dr Shears; Knowledge Bengu, the skipper of Endurance22's South African icebreaker, Agulhas II; the historian and broadcaster Dan Snow; and the marine archaeologist on the project, Mensun Bound.
Below, Mensun Bound, exploration director for the Endurance22 project, describes the graveside ceremony at Grytviken.
A comparison between the discovered wreck and an Endurance model in the museum
'Modern parallels' - from Mensun Bound
"Coming into Cumberland Bay with the Allardyce Range (that Shackleton crossed to get help) before you, was, as usual, a tad mystical. Mist hung over the sea and the mountains were wreathed in thick, low, linear cloud formations.
Everybody on the deck was awestruck and when they spoke, it was sotto voce - under the breath. It reminded me of that feeling you get when you enter some great Medieval Cathedral, like Chartres or Notre Dame de Paris.
We all wended our way to the whalers cemetery where we gathered beside Shackleton's grave.
I began by calling upon Captain Knowledge Bengu who, not once but twice, battled us through to the heart of the Weddell Sea's pack ice and got us out again. He extemporised beautifully and then laid a laminated picture of the stern of the Endurance on the grave before the headstone.
I then called upon John, who read a very moving piece he had written in which he drew parallels between Shackleton and WWI and our expedition and the current war in Europe.
I then spoke about the meaning of Shackleton and read a few lines from Kipling's poem 'If'. And, finally, Dan Snow, with his great voice, read one of Shackleton's favourite poems, 'Prospice'."
The Endurance22 team also visited the South Georgia Museum, operated by South Georgia Heritage Trust, to see an exhibition dedicated to Shackleton.
The Endurance22 discovery mission was mounted by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, external.
Sir Ernest Shackleton: His crew referred to him simply as The Boss
