[imagesource: Ian Shiffman / MarineTraffic.com]

On Saturday, as scheduled, South African icebreaker ship, the SA Agulhas II, departed on its quest to locate Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton’s sunken ship Endurance.

The Endurance22 Expedition aims to find, survey, and film the wreck of the uncovered relic of the “Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration” which sank during Sir Ernest’s Antarctica adventure in 1915 after it was packed in by sea ice.

The SA Agulhas II is heading for the Weddell Sea in Antarctica where the Endurance was meant to make the first land crossing all those years ago before it fell victim to the harsh conditions.

Miraculously, the captain and his crew survived the ordeal, camping on the ice before it ruptured and trekking by foot and in boats as the Endurance sank some 3 000 metres below the surface.

Now the iconic ship is a treasure to be found by a crew of 46 and an expedition team of 64 members aboard the SA Agulhas II, reported the Global Times.

Excitingly, we can be a part of the adventure from the comfort of our own homes thanks to a live tracking map on the Marine Traffic website:

Image: Marine Traffic

The larger circle off the coast of Cape Town shows where the Agulhas II is as it makes its way to the Weddell Sea.

As I write this, it is sailing at 17,5 knots heading in a westerly direction.

You can track the icebreaker from the website on your desktop browser by clicking ‘show on live map’ on the right-hand side of the screen, or you can download the app and track it on your phone.

Here’s the link to download it on the App Store for iPhone, or the Google Play Store for Android devices.

Simply search for “SA Agulhas II” and all the information about the ship will pop up for you to explore.

Have fun!

[source:marinetraffic&globaltimes]