Sunken Cruise Ship Located

Merchant Vessel Explorer hit ice and sank just south of the South Shetland Islands off the Antarctic Peninsula in November with all 86 passengers and 66 crew safely rescued. Whilst conducting hydrographic survey work of the area Endurance pinpointed the position of the wreck.

At the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office HMS Endurance undertook a search for the wreck of Explorer to ascertain its position, assess the likely condition of the vessel on the seabed and observe any ongoing fuel seepage or other evidence of pollution.

After an initial unsuccessful search earlier this month, Endurance re-visited the area and carried out a systematic search of an area ten kilometres by five using her hull-mounted multibeam echosounder.  The seabed in the search area was flat and featureless, but a contact was detected at a range of 4373m from the reported sinking position of the vessel. When compared to the reported sinking position of M/V Explorer this was broadly consistent with the direction of the prevailing current.

The wreck's position is at the north-west end of the Bransfield Strait, and was located at a depth of approximately 1130 metres. The actual location is at 620 24.2929' south 570 11.7748' west.  It is judged that the depth of the wreck showed that it presented no hazard to shipping. 

Apart from the oil slick, no debris was seen in the water and no debris was observed on any of the adjacent land in the vicinity of the wreck also visited by personnel from HMS Endurance.

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