For the first time, scientists have created a 3D model of a ship that sank in 1915: Captain Shackleton and the entire crew miraculously survived. Photo

For more than 100 years, Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance has been hidden in the icy waters of Antarctica. However, scientists have managed to create a 3D model of the sunken ship for the first time.

The digital scan consists of 25,000 high-resolution images. It was created as part of a new documentary called Endurance, which will be shown in cinemas, the BBC reports.

The enduring "Endurance"

Sir Ernest Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish explorer who led the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which intended to make the first land crossing of Antarctica. However, experts say that this mission was doomed from the beginning.

"The Endurance" proved to be anything but enduring. Within weeks of leaving South Georgia, the ship was stuck in the ice. The ship and its crew drifted for several months before being ordered to abandon ship. "The Endurance sank on November 21, 1915.

Shackleton and the rest of the crew were forced to walk hundreds of kilometers across ice, land, and sea to reach safety. Miraculously, all 27 sailors survived. This interesting story was recorded in the diaries of the crew members, which will be included in the documentary Endurance.

The film will premiere at the London Film Festival on October 12 and will be released in UK cinemas on October 14.

Exploration of the sunken ship

The new 3D scan was made using underwater robots that mapped the wreckage from all angles, taking thousands of photos. They were then stitched together to create a digital twin of the Endurance.

A team of experts examined the scans in search of small details, each of which tells a story that connects the past to the present. In particular, the images show the plates scattered on the deck that the crew used every day.

The next photo shows a boot that might have belonged to the ship's second in command, Frank Wilde.

One of the most interesting finds on the Endurance is a signal cannon, which is mentioned in the crew's logs. According to the researchers, the expedition's photographer, Frank Gurley, fired a flare as he left the sinking ship.

"Hurley held this signal pistol and fired it into the air with a powerful detonator. We come back more than 100 years later and there's that flare gun, it's incredible," said Dr. John Shears, who led the expedition to find the ship.

Nico Vincent of Deep Ocean Search, who developed the technology for the scan with Voyis Imaging and McGill University, said the digital replica offers a new way to study the ship.

"This is just incredible. The wreck is almost intact as if it sank yesterday," said Vincent, who was also one of the expedition leaders.

According to the researcher, the scanning can be used by scientists to study the marine life that inhabited the sunken ship, to analyze the geology of the seabed, and to identify new artifacts.

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