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Published on March 13, 22 at 11:09 am updated on March 13, 22 at 11:14 am La Presse de la Manche See my news Follow my news
Four underwater researchers took part in an expedition by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Foundation in search of the Endurance, which sank in 1915 and set off to conquer Antarctica. (© DP)
“This is a gift, a unique chance, major discovery ! Endurance was one of sunken ships the most difficult…”
At the end of the week, superlatives were still swirling in people’s minds. Fred Soule, Jeremiah Morise as well as Wave of Maeveall three are located in the Val-de-Sire (Manche), and Gregoire Morizetfrom Cherbourg, took part in endurance discoverya three-masted 44 m long schooner that sank in November 1915 in the Weddell Sea north of Antarctica.
All four have known each other since their studies at Intechmer, the National Institute of Marine Science and Technology based in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. The connections they were able to create in the exploration and underwater community. There they found four more Intechmer graduates, including Nicholas Vincent, director of maritime operations.
Submarines “San Juan” and “Minerve”.
The team already has a good track record in finding very deep wrecks. Thus, she participated in the openingARA San JuanArgentine submarine that went missing in November 2017 on the spot Cairoa British steamer torpedoed in March 1942 south of St. Helena (South Atlantic), with a cargo of 100 tons of silver coins on board.
She was also part of the teams mobilized in the summer of 2019 to locate a French submarine. Minervahalf a century after the shipwreck off the coast of Toulon …
When the Falklands Maritime Heritage Foundation, a charity dedicated to preserving the maritime history of the Falklands, chaired by Donald Lamont, decides to launch the Endurance22 expedition to locate and study the wreck of the Endurance in the Weddell Sea, they are a natural part of a multidisciplinary and international team of marine archaeologists, engineers, scientists and technicians gathered around the leader of the expedition, Dr. John Shears.
Video: now on Actu
This is the most complex underwater project ever undertaken.
Nicolas VincentDirector of Offshore Operations, Underwater Research and Works Company
Endurance was found thanks to autonomous underwater vehicles. (©DP)
Starting point for research
They start to February 5th in Cape Townin South Africa, aboard a polar research vessel SA Agulhas II.
“We had a starting point,” says Fred Soule. Endurance Captain Fred Worsley recorded the coordinates at the time of the sinking: 68°, 39 minutes and 30 seconds south latitude, 52°, 26 minutes and 30 seconds west longitude. The search squares were then defined.
On board the Agulhas II were two helicopters. One option was to place the equipment on an ice floe, Sabertooth autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVS), developed by SAAB, launched from holes dug in the ice. Then studies would be carried out on the drift of pack ice.
Finally, it is from the aft deck of Agulhas that AUVS will be implemented. Until the ship gets stuck in the ice too…
” The worst part of the worst sea in the world Sir Ernest Shackleton agreed a century earlier.
Among the team that found the wreckage are four specialists living in the Cotentin, all former employees of Intechmer. (©DP)
Detection of a sunken ship at a depth of 3000 meters
The robots are equipped with a lateral sonar with a coverage of 1.6 kilometers in each direction and a multi-beam echo sounder that transmits data in real time.
It gives us black and white images, just like an ultrasound. When an element challenges us, we redo the passage, this time with 4K cameras in high definition.
Gregoire Morise and Fred Soul
The wreckage of Endurance at last discovered March 5anniversary of the burial of Ernest Shackleton, 6 kilometers from the shipwreck, at a depth of 3000 meters.
“She stands proudly on the seabed, undamaged, in a fantastic state of preservation,” said Mansoon Bound, mission leader for the Falkland Maritime Heritage Trust. “You can even read its name Endurance, drawn in an arc on the stern. »
The helm of the ship remained intact. The equipment is still stacked at the railing, as if the crew had just left the boat. The mast is broken, but the frame, though damaged, is still standing…
“Fever, pent-up euphoria”
For specialists, the discovery is striking and engraved in memory.
On board there was excitement, euphoria, which we managed to contain. We have worked on many wrecks, but we were all amazed at how well they were preserved.
Fred Soule
But the work was not finished. The AUVS laser scanner created a 3D model and a complete photogrammetric coverage of the debris and debris fields.
The resulting graphical data will be accurately scaled, allowing the wreck, along with its equipment, fittings and contents, to be recorded with an accuracy comparable to that of archaeological research ashore.
The wreck of the Endurance was in excellent state of preservation. (©DP)
On Friday, on the return journey, the Agulhas II made a stop at South Georgia to allow the members of the expedition to pay their respects to Sir Shackleton’s grave. For the most symbolic tribute.
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