SHACKLETON'S ENDURANCE

4 November 2024: Here we are in November - less than 60 days left in 2024! Where does the time fly to! U.S. elections loom and other storms still churn in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Some pretty amazing images have been revealed from underwater exploration of the wreck of Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic exploration ship, Endurance which sank in the Weddell Sea during his ill-fated journey in 1915  to the South Pole. From HistoryHits.

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Almost a century since Sir Ernest Shackleton’s abandoned exploration ship Endurance sank beneath the ice floes of the Antarctic’s Weddell Sea, new 3D images compiled from 25,000 photographs show just how much of the ship survives.

The images show Endurance’s hull intact as the vessel rests on its keel on the seabed at a depth of 3,008 metres. They reveal that the ship’s steam engine funnel, masts, anchors and guard rails remain attached, despite the damage inflicted by crushing ice after the ship became immobilised in 1915. Additionally clothing and crockery can be seen on the deck.

 

Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition was halted in its tracks when their ship became beset in pack ice in January 1915. Having drifted in the ice, Shackleton ordered the evacuation of the badly damaged ship on 27 October. A month later, he watched the ship sink and its captain Frank Worsley estimated its sinking position.

In March 2022, the ship was discovered by the Endurance22 team on board the S.A. Agulhas II, mere miles from the position given by Worsley. The subsea team led by Nico Vincent used the Saab Sabertooth AUV to capture thousands of images in 4K resolution, which were combined to create a digital 3D photo mosaic.

 

“It is our hope,” writes Nico Vincent in the book Endurance: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Legendary Ship, “the 3D digital model becomes the lasting testimony of our expedition and awakens a wide audience and new generations to Shackleton and the Endurance story.”

The view of Endurance’s portside bow shows the ship’s broken foremast and both anchors on the forecastle deck, which was dislodged from the hull. It also shows the two intact glass portholes of the galley forward bulkhead.

 

The imagery also shows items on the deck of the vessel. A flare gun, the same gun Frank Hurley recorded firing as the Endurance sank, is among the debris. A seaman’s leather boot is also pictured beside rigging and wooden pulleys. It is speculated to belong to Shackleton’s second-in-command Frank Wild, The images, which depict a ship in a remarkable state of preservation, are highlighted in a National Geographic documentary which features Dan Snow and is co-produced by History Hit. They feature in the accompanying book Endurance: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Legendary Ship by John Shears and Nico Vincent. It documents that months of analysis of the digital photographs and 3D laser data led to the identification of additional artefacts, including a telescope and a sewing machine.who is photographed in a similar boot.

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An exciting series of images of the ship and with amazing detail. The technology used to bring us these remarkable pictures is breath-taking. Really cold water is an excellent preservative! 

Until next time,

                                   Fair Winds,

                                                   Old Salt

U.S. FRIGATE CONSITITUTION LAUNCHED 21 OCT 1787

 21 October 2024: While technically Autumn has arrived, we have been enjoying some nice mild weather for the past weeks with virtually no rain - and that's not necessarily a good thing - the lack of rain, that is. For the moment, it appears that the enormously destructive hurricanes are done beating the South and Southeast into submission (folks in the Carolinas are still recovering, sadly!) and there are a few more weeks of pleasant boating weather still ahead - we hope!

We had another piece planned for today's post, but because today is a notable date and anniversary, we will do that in the next post. 21 October is a special anniversary for those of us who are into American history and especially maritime history. The birthday of (now) U.S.S. Constitution [The prefix "USS" did not come into use until 1907 - before that it was the U.S. Frigate...] from the Hartt Shipyard in Boston in 1787. The following from FOXNEWS.

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The mighty USS Constitution, arguably the most famous warship in American history — a testament to dauntless courage at sea in the nation's infancy — was launched in Boston on this day in history, Oct. 21, 1797.

The mighty warship, today 227 years old, is still afloat in Boston's Charlestown Navy Yard. 

She serves the United States as a reminder of the fight for national sovereignty, a symbol of our unique-at-the-time constitutional foundations and as the centerpiece of the USS Constitution Museum "The ship sailed its first cruise [in 1798] as the Quasi-War with France emerged. Later it served in engagements with pirates off the Barbary Coast in the Mediterranean," the National Park Service writes of the vessel. 

The USS Constitution was part of the American fleet that bombarded Tripoli in 1804, a powerful show of force on the global stage of the young nation's naval power.

She remains a commissioned US Navy vessel, making the USS Constitution the oldest warship in the world. [ed: oldest warship afloat in the world; HMS Victory wins the title "oldest" but she's on the hard at the Royal Dockyards in Portsmouth England]

The frigate, better known as Old Ironsides for her mighty oak hull  and masts,  [ed: just hull, not masts] was designed by Joshua Humphreys.

It was built over three years at Hartt's shipyard, in what is now Boston's North End. 

Launch of Frigate Constitution by Paul Garnett

 The ship was ordered on March 1, 1794, in anticipation of the passage of the Naval Act of 1794, which President George Washington signed on March 27. 

She enjoyed her greatest glory and earned her status in the annals of naval warfare during the War of 1812. 

"Huzzah, her sides are made of iron!" an America sailor shouted joyfully, as the ship's white oak planks and live oak frame, grown in the swamps of Georgia, repelled volleys of direct cannon fire from British warship HMS Guerriere. 

Constitution vs HMS Guerierre

The battle was fought on the high seas, about 600 miles east of Boston, on Aug. 19, 1812

The Constitution, under Captain Isaac Hull, destroyed the Guerriere and forced her to surrender in the close-combat sea exchange. The British ship was so badly beaten that Hull scuttled it rather than capture it as a trophy of war. 

"The Constitution went on to defeat or capture seven more British ships in the War of 1812 and ran the British blockade of Boston twice," notes History.com. 

She earned 33 victories at sea, with zero defeats. 

"By 1833, Constitution needed repairs and was about to be scrapped when Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem Old Ironsides helped to save her," writes the National Museum of the U.S. Navy. [ed: we have published that wonderful poem in these pages]

 "Recommissioned in 1835, she served in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific, where she became the first U.S. warship to conduct a show of force against Vietnam in May 1845."

She served several more decades in various capacities through the 20th century, before being decommissioned one last time.  

"Following restoration that began in 1925, she was recommissioned in July 1931 and sailed on a 90-port tour along United States' coasts," writes the U.S. Navy Museum. 

"Today, the USS Constitution occasionally sails through Boston Harbor for special anniversaries and commemorations," according to the National Park Service.

At the 200th anniversary of War of 1812

 "The USS Constitution and its U.S. Navy crew go underway with the assistance of tugboats as they sail down the coast to Castle Island. In the harbor near Castle Island, the Navy crew always fires a cannon salute before they turn around to return to the Charlestown Navy Yard."

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So, friends, hoist a glass and give us a resounding "huzzah" for our Ship of State, USS Constitution. And should you find yourself in or near Boston, MA, go see her (she's open to the public for tours) and visit the USS Constitution Museum while you're there; you won't regret it!

Until next time! 

                                             Fair Winds, 

                                                      Old Salt

 

DD 224 -USS STEWART: ADDENDUM

 7 October 2024: It is very rare that we do this here at Maritime Maunder, but it has come to our attention that yesterday's post on the USS Stewart was a trifle obscure in explaining how the United States destroyer came to be in Japanese hands in WWII. Following should explain it more clearly -- from the GreekReporter:

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The USS Stewart’s journey began as an American destroyer, labeled DD-224, sent to Borneo in late 1941, just before the US officially entered World War II.

During the first months of the Pacific War, it operated alongside other US warships, providing escort duties. However, its fate changed in February 1942 during the Battle of Badung Strait near Bali when Japanese warships caused severe damage.

The damaged Stewart managed to make it to Surabaya, a port on the island of Java. However, with Japanese forces advancing, the crew decided to scuttle the ship, sinking it on purpose by using explosives.

 

A year later, the Japanese salvaged the destroyer, putting it back to use as a patrol boat for the Imperial Navy until the war ended in 1945.

After Japan’s surrender on September 2, 1945, the ship returned to US control. The US Navy briefly recommissioned it as DD-224, but it was in poor condition by that time. In May 1946, the vessel was officially decommissioned and then used for target practice.

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We hope this will clear up any confusion as to what happened and how the ship came to be part of the Imperial Japanese Navy. 

And to you folks in Southwest Florida: hang tough and stay safe! You're in our prayers!

        Until next time,

                                              Fair Winds,

                                                      Old Salt