A Canadian expedition has produced highly detailed 3D digital twins of the final ships used by famed polar explorers Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott, marking a new era in underwater archaeology. The wrecks of the Quest and the Terra Nova lie more than 1,000 feet (305 meters) below the surface of the Labrador Sea, off the coast of Canada.
Expedition Details
The 21-day expedition, funded by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS), began on 2 July from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. Using the submersible Alvin—the first to take people to the Titanic wreck four decades ago—the team visited both shipwrecks. John Geiger, CEO of the RCGS and expedition leader, described the experience: “To see a very large ship in the abyss, and to realise you are among the first humans to see it, and to realise that it is largely intact is a powerful experience. It moves you.”
Technology Used
The team employed underwater imaging technology developed by Canadian company Voyis to capture thousands of high-resolution 3D images. These images were “knitted together on the spot” to create detailed models. “We’re seeing these ships magically appear through this process in front of us on the screen,” said Geiger. “It’s just mind-boggling.” The resulting digital twins are intended to preserve the wrecks before they are fully reclaimed by the ocean.
Historical Context
Shackleton, a titan of the “heroic age” of Antarctic exploration, died of a heart attack in 1922 on the Quest while preparing for an Arctic expedition. The Quest sank in 1962 and was discovered in 2024. The Terra Nova, a wooden-hulled three-masted ship, carried Scott on his 1910 Antarctic expedition. Scott reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, only to find that Roald Amundsen had beaten him by a month; he and his party died on the return journey. The Terra Nova later served in the Newfoundland seal fishery before sinking in 1943.
Scientific and Exploratory Significance
Geiger emphasized that the expedition aimed to inspire a new generation of explorers. “There’s so little of the ocean that’s mapped,” he said. “The territorial waters of Canada are largely unmapped in the Arctic. There’s so little we know and I’m staggered at the ignorance we have about the oceans and about ocean life.” Marine biologists were “over the moon” about studying wildlife around the wrecks and the natural processes reclaiming the wood hulls. The crew also observed damage from deep-sea fishing trawlers, with heavy nets partially covering the wrecks.
Recent advances in submersible technology have expanded exploration possibilities. Five years ago, the Alvin was approved to extend its safe diving depth from 14,700 feet to 21,300 feet. Benen ElShakhs, pilot for the Terra Nova dive, said: “This opens up a lot of new territory for us. Most of what we do is scientific research, and so staring at a wood ship from over 100 years ago that was in Antarctica, that now sits more than 500 below the surface, is a wild experience. If there wasn’t a titanium hull and a lot of sea water [between the Alvin and the wreck], you feel like you could just reach out and touch it.”
Future of Exploration
Geiger believes that while future expeditions will use robots and automated vehicles, human involvement remains essential. “Because what is lost is poetry, romance and wonder. Those are not the characteristics of machines. They are the uniquely human threads that connect us to the past – and what push us forward.”
