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Wreck of last Shackleton ship found in Labrador Sea

A Royal Canadian Geographical Society-led expedition aboard the 'Leeway Odyssey', which set off from St. John's on June 6, 2024, has discovered the wreck of the exploration vessel 'Quest' in the Labrador Sea. The polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton died aboard the 'Quest', while en route to Antarctica, marking the end to the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration. The wreck was found upright and intact on the seabed in 390 metres of water northwest of St. John’s and east of Battle Harbour, Labrador. The 'Quest' was damaged by ice while on a seal hunt off the Labrador coast in the traditional waters of the Mi’kmaq, Innu and Inuit, and sank on May 5, 1962. The vessel’s ultimate resting place is poignant given that Shackleton originally intended to use the 'Quest' for a Canadian Arctic expedition before the government of then-Prime Minister Arthur Meighen pulled the plug. Forced to change plans at the eleventh hour, Shackleton then headed south to Antarctica. The find creates a tangible link between Canada and a towering figure in polar exploration. Expedition members aboard the 'LeeWay Odyssey' hailed from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway and included oceanographers and historians, as well as people with close familial ties to the 'Quest'. In a statement provided ahead of a press conference on June 12, announcing the find to the world, expedition co-patron Chief Mi’sel Joe of Miawpukek First Nation congratulated the team on the find. The Society worked with Joe and Miawpukek Horizon Maritime Services Ltd. to conduct the search in a way that would respect the peoples of the lands and waters in which Quest worked for much of her life. The Shackleton-Rowett Expedition left London, England, on Sep 17, 1921. in the early hours of Jan 5, 1922, while the 'Quest' was anchored at Grytviken Harbour on South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic, Shackleton died in his cabin of a massive heart attack, aged 47. He was buried on South Georgia at his wife’s request. The expedition continued, but after six months, the 'Quest' returned to London, where she was subsequently sold to the Schjelderup family of Norway and put to work as a sealer. At the outset of the Second World War, she was requisitioned by the Royal Canadian Navy to ferry coal from Sydney, N.S. to Halifax. Later that year, she was refitted as a minesweeper, but plans changed and she spent the rest of the war working as a water supply boat in England. On April 1, 1962, while stuck in the ice of the Labrador Sea, she was crushed with enough force to break deck screws in the engine room and warp cabin doors. A persistent leak that had been present for months grew worse. On the morning of May 5, water overwhelmed the engines, and her captain, Olav Johannessen, decided to abandon ship. The crew, some cargo and valuables were evacuated to nearby ships, and at 5:40 p.m., the 'Quest' slipped beneath the waves. In a telegram to the ship’s owners in Norway, Johannessen noted Quest’s final position: 53’10 N, 54’27 W. The search began in the wee hours of June 9. the 'Quest' was spotted almost 18 hours later, at 7:41 p.m. Newfoundland time, on the sixth of 17 lines, about 2.5 kilometres from her last reported position. Subsequent passes to either side of the target revealed features that exactly matched the plans for the 'Quest'. The next step will be to return to the site with an ROV to survey the wreck. Report with photos: https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/wreck-of-quest-famed-antarctic-explorer-sir-ernest-shackletons-last-ship-found-in-labrador-sea/