Royal Canadian Geographical Society search director, David Mearns, expedition leader John Geiger and assistant Antoine Normandin in front of the research vessel, Leeway Odyssey in the port of St. John's, Nfld., on June 12. Geiger said locating that wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s last ship, Quest, was 'profoundly moving.'Paul Daly/The Globe and Mail
The Canadian leader of the team that discovered the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s last ship, Quest – on which the renowned polar explorer died suddenly during an Antarctic voyage in 1922 – says he was spurred to launch the expedition after hearing that American shipwreck hunters were also hatching plans to search for it.
John Geiger, chief executive of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, said in an interview that he had long known the wreck was located off the coast of Labrador, and had been planning an expedition. But the impetus to finally put together a team came when he learned last summer that Americans may try to beat him to the discovery.
At a news conference on Wednesday in St. John’s, he said locating the wreck of the ship was “profoundly moving.”
Found at sea: Wreck of Shackleton’s last ship discovered off the coast of Labrador
Mr. Geiger told The Globe that the ship where Shackleton had a fatal heart attack at age 47 is “hallowed ground” and that the next phase of the expedition, planned as early as this summer, will include taking underwater photos of the vessel.
But he said, given Shackleton’s worldwide fame, he would not be surprised if others chance heading out to sea to try to find the vessel.
“I think we have a claim on the next stages of this research, but you can’t tell – someone may try to go out there. Frankly it wouldn’t surprise me given the intense global interest in Shackleton,” Mr. Geiger told the press conference. “Shackleton is connected to the U.K. of course. Americans love him. He was an Irishman, born in Ireland. And, of course, he is connected to so many other countries.”
Mr. Geiger said he was told “by someone in the shipwreck hunting community” that well-funded Americans were interested in carrying out a search for Shackleton’s last ship, which spurred him to press ahead with his plans to locate it.
“When I mentioned that I was interested in Quest, he said ‘You’d better move it because there are some people with deep pockets who are keen to do this,’” Mr. Geiger told The Globe. “I had been thinking about it, talking about it for probably for six years. And that was definitely the spark to say ‘I just have to do this.’”
Expedition leader John Geiger tells Alexandra Shackleton, granddaughter of Sir Ernest Shackleton, “We have located Quest,” via a video call. Search director David Mearns adds that the vessel is in one piece, sitting almost upright on the seabed.
Royal Canadian Geographical Society
Mr. Geiger announced his team found the wreck of Quest, intact on the seabed on Sunday, using sonar five days into the expedition. A mast that had broken off as it sank was lying alongside.
After pinpointing Quest’s likely final location using historical maps, logs, records and photographs, the search team found the vessel sitting on its keel under 390 metres of water.
It had sunk while on a sealing expedition in 1962 after thick sea ice pierced its hull.
Shackleton died in his cabin aboard Quest 40 years earlier, while the ship was anchored off the South Atlantic island of South Georgia, where his grave still lies.
The expedition to find Quest was beset by technical difficulties, including with the winch, and launching the sonar “tow fish” behind the research vessel.
But renowned shipwreck hunter David Mearns, who directed the search, said he drew on Shackleton’s style of leadership to focus on the task of locating Quest in a search “box” that pinpointed its most likely location.
“We only had about three to four days of actively searching at the wreck site and two were lost to technical problems. And I just said ‘We have a good plan. Plan and be patient’ – and that patience paid off,” he said. “Patience is the number one thing that I’ve learned from Shackleton as a leader.”
Royal Canadian Geographical Society search director David Mearns speaks of the discovery of the wreck of the Quest, Shackleton's last ship, off the coast of Labrador during a press conference on June 12. Mearns said he drew on Shackleton’s style of leadership to focus on the task of locating Quest.Paul Daly/The Globe and Mail
He said the explorer was not just bold but also calm and collected in the face of adversity.
“Everyone will think of Shackleton as a man of action. But I think one of his greatest attributes as a leader was to be patient,” Mr. Mearns said. “So, when things are tough, when things are challenging, don’t blunder into bad decisions.”
Shackleton undertook his last expedition aboard Quest after a planned voyage to the Beaufort Sea in the Canadian Arctic was cancelled when the Canadian government unexpectedly pulled its funding.
Having bought Quest, a former Norwegian sealing vessel, and hired a crew, he sailed to the Antarctic instead. But the voyage was beset by difficulties as the ship proved ill-suited to the harsh conditions and suffered engine trouble.
After Shackleton’s death, Quest reverted to Norwegian ownership and was stripped and converted back to a sealing ship. Mr. Geiger said the ship’s bell may still be there, and other features of the vessel during Shackleton’s time.
However, the captain’s cabin where Shackleton died was taken off in Norway and used as a chicken coop. It is being restored so it can be displayed at a museum celebrating Shackleton in Ireland, Mr. Geiger said.
The ship’s crow’s nest has been on display in the crypt of a church near the Tower of London, which Quest sailed past when it set out for Antarctica in 1921.
A sonar image of the Quest on Sunday was the first sign of the vessel since it sank in 1962.CANADIAN GEOGRAPHIC/Reuters
Shackleton’s last voyage left London amid great fanfare and was seen off by King George V with crowds lining the Thames.
The crew included veterans of Shackleton’s ill-fated Endurance expedition to Antarctica, as well as two boy scouts who had won a British competition to join the famous explorer on the voyage.
During an earlier journey to the Antarctic, Shackleton’s ship Endurance became trapped in pack ice and then sank in the Weddell Sea in 1915. Shackleton survived for months with his entire crew of 28 – which included a stowaway – by eating penguins, seals and seaweed when the ship’s stores ran out.
The explorer then braved a 1,330-kilometre ocean voyage in stormy seas in a lifeboat to seek help for his ailing crew, eventually finding a whaling station in the South Atlantic island of South Georgia.
The discovery of Quest, in the 150th year after Shackleton’s birth, in the Labrador Sea was made by a team from Canada, Britain, Norway and the United States, including historians, oceanographers, divers and sonar experts from Memorial University’s Marine Institute.
Ariane Joazard-Bélizaire, spokeswoman for Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage, told The Globe on Wednesday that “the discovery of Quest in Canadian waters through determination and technology after over 60 years is amazing.”
“This ship, whether in service to Canada during the Second World War or being converted for commercial use by the time it sank, being found is another milestone that adds to our adventurous and rich national history.”