The famous explorer Ernest Shackleton and the shipwreck found on ocean floor

Scientists have uncovered the shipwreck from Ernest Shackleton's final voyage. But who was he, and why is he important?

The shipwreck of the boat used for Ernest Shackleton's final voyage has been discovered.

Shackleton was an explorer, who lead many missions into Antarctica in the early 1900s.

After he died, the boat 'Quest' took a few more voyages, but it sunk in 1962 and was never found.

Read on to learn more about Ernest Shackleton, his missions, and why he was important.

Exploring the world

When Shackleton explored Antarctica, not many people had seen what it was like

Ernest Shackleton was born in County Kildare, in Ireland in 1874, and his family later moved to London, where he went to school.

When he was 16, he ended up joining the merchant navy and travelled to lots of different places.

This gave him his desire for adventure, and he wanted to travel to the North and South poles.

In 1901, alongside another explorer called Robert Falcon Scott, Shackleton got closer to the South Pole than any other European explorer.

Why the South pole?

This photo of emperor penguin chicks was taken during one of Shackleton's missions

For people in Europe at the time, the South Pole was largely unexplored.

It's a very cold place with brutal conditions. Often, all you can see around you for miles and miles is snow, making it very difficult to navigate.

When Ernest Shackleton went on his missions, his kit would have been very heavy, nothing like the high-tech gear that explorers take with them now.

It's still a big deal when people head to the South Pole nowadays, and requires a lot of preparation.

Shackleton lead several difficult missions into the Antarctic, and learned a lot about the landscape for geographers and future explorers.

This period of history is known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, because of just how much was discovered and explored by people like Shackleton, during dangerous missions, at that time.

On board the Endurance

This picture of the Endurance trapped in ice was taken after the crew decided to leave

One of Shackleton's most famous missions was his plan to cross the South Pole on board his ship - The Endurance.

In 1915, the boat became trapped in ice. His crew abandoned the ship, crossing onto floating ice, where they decided they were going to live until they could be saved.

In April in 1916, Shackleton took five crew members in a small boat in search of help for the others. They ended up travelling a huge 1,300km of ocean before reaching the island of South Georgia.

Miraculously, everyone on the small boat - including Ernest Shackleton - survived.

The original shipwreck of the Endurance wasn't recovered until 2022.

Ernest Shackleton and the Quest

The last voyage Ernest Shackleton took was on board a boat called "Quest", in 1922.

He had planned to explore Alaska and islands nearby, but he lost his funding for the trip. Instead, he headed to the South Pole again, to explore islands around Antarctica, and map them.

Shackleton died on the boat, in 1922. Quest continued to be used for other missions, but it sank in 1962.

Using a technology called sonar, scientists have managed to discover the Quest. Can you see its shape on the screen?

Until now, nobody has been able to find the wreck.

The remains of the ship were discovered at the bottom of the Labrador Sea - beneath waters east of the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador by a team led by The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS).

Sonar equipment found it 390m (1,280ft) below the surface, which is a depth greater than the size of the Empire State Building in New York.

The wreck is sitting almost upright on a seafloor that has been scraped at some point in the past by the passing of icebergs.

The main mast is broken and hanging over the the boat's side, but otherwise the ship appears to be mostly intact.

Famous shipwreck hunter David Mearns called the boat an "icon", because of its importance for exploration history.

"Shackleton will live forever as one of the greatest explorers of all time" he said.