In March of 2022, we posted about the discovery of the remarkably intact remains of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, which was crushed by pack ice and sank off Antarctica in 1915. Using undersea drones, the shipwreck was located 10,000 feet below the ice-covered surface of the Weddell Sea. 

Recently, the BBC reported that the protection perimeter drawn around Endurance is being widened from a radius of 500m to 1,500m. The measure is part of a newly published conservation management plan (CMP).

The perimeter update is a recognition that debris from Endurance – including crew belongings – may be strewn across a larger area of ocean floor than previously thought.

“Endurance is very well protected where it is now, given its remoteness, depth and a near-permanent cover of sea-ice,” explained Camilla Nichol, the chief executive of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, which drew up the CMP in partnership with Historic England.

“There are however considerable potential risks and it requires an international effort to make sure this wreck is not interfered with so that it can be sustained long into the future,” she told BBC News.

Thanks to Alaric Bond for contributing to this post.