Expedition Produces 3D Models of Shackleton and Scott Shipwrecks

An expedition funded by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society produced highly detailed 3D digital models of the wrecks of the Quest and the Terra Nova in the Labrador Sea, The Guardian reported. The Quest, the final ship used by Ernest Shackleton, rests more than 1,000 feet below the surface, while the Terra Nova, used by Robert Falcon Scott, lies more than 500 feet down.

Both vessels were reached by the Alvin submersible during a 21-day voyage that departed Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on July 2, 2025.

John Geiger, head of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and expedition leader, said the scans collected thousands of high-resolution images that were assembled on site into the models. The Quest sank in 1962 after Shackleton died of a heart attack aboard the vessel in 1922 at age 47.

The Terra Nova sank in 1943 following its use in the Newfoundland seal fishery after carrying news of Scott’s death to the world.

Scott reached the South Pole on January 17, 1912, and died with his four companions on the return journey. Neither ship suffered casualties before sinking. The expedition also recorded heavy weighted nets from deep-sea trawlers draped across portions of both wrecks.

Benen ElShakhs, who piloted the Alvin on the dive to the Terra Nova, described viewing the wooden hull from more than 100 years ago. The submersible’s maximum operating depth had been increased from 14,700 feet to 21,300 feet five years earlier. Marine biologists have expressed interest in studying wildlife around the sites and the natural processes reclaiming the hulls, Geiger said.