International team to document wrecks in Labrador Sea and off Greenland

Researchers will launch an expedition Thursday to survey two shipwrecks linked to polar explorers Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott, according to United Press International.

The 21-day expedition will depart from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts aboard the research vessel Atlantis, traveling first to the wreck of Quest, Shackleton’s ship, at its resting place about 1,300 feet under the Labrador Sea, UPI reported. The expedition will then travel to the wreck of Terra Nova, Scott’s ship, farther north off the south coast of Greenland. Terra Nova rests about 550 feet under the surface.

“It’s a once-in-a-generation thing,” said David Mearns, a scientist and expedition co-chief, as quoted by UPI. “You don’t get a chance to do this very often.”

The expedition is the first comprehensive visual survey of the two wrecks, according to the report. Researchers discovered Quest in 2024 and Terra Nova in 2012. The team will use high-definition video cameras and Voyis subsea imaging technology, including both human-occupied and remotely controlled vehicles, UPI reported, citing CBS News.

The Canadian Voyis photogrammetic technology will create digital copies of the ships rather than disturbing the wrecks, UPI reported, citing The Independent.

John Geiger, head of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS chief), said the team would combine Canadian and American technologies and an international team of experts to document the wrecks in unprecedented detail and share the stories with the world, according to UPI.

Shackleton and Scott competed to reach the South Pole in the early 1900s. Shackleton died on his ship in 1922 of a heart attack; Scott and his team died in Antarctica in 1912. The ships continued sailing after their deaths — Quest was used for Arctic rescues, as a Royal Canadian Navy ship, and as a sealing ship before it sank in 1962; Terra Nova was also used as a sealing vessel and as a cargo ship before it sank in 1943.

CBC News will have reporters aboard the Atlantis for the expedition, UPI reported.

Mearns said Shackleton and Scott inspired generations of explorers over the years.

“Our hope is that by documenting their last ships, we too can inspire the next generation of explorers worldwide,” he said, as quoted by UPI.