#polar society

[kimdokjas]

We are alive. And we will continue living. So long as you remain by my side.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

12 June 2024

Wreck hunters have found the ship on which the famous polar explorer Ernest Shackleton made his final voyage.

The vessel, called "Quest," has been located on the seafloor off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Shackleton suffered a fatal heart attack on board on 5 January 1922 while trying to reach the Antarctic.

And although Quest continued in service until it sank in 1962, the earlier link with the explorer gives it great historic significance.

The British-Irish adventurer is celebrated for his exploits in Antarctica at a time when very few people had visited the frozen wilderness.

"His final voyage kind of ended that Heroic Age of Exploration, of polar exploration, certainly in the south," said renowned shipwreck hunter David Mearns, who directed the successful search operation.

"Afterwards, it was what you would call the scientific age. In the pantheon of polar ships, Quest is definitely an icon," he told BBC News.

The remains of the ship, a 38m-long schooner-rigged steamship, were discovered at the bottom of the Labrador Sea on Sunday by a team led by The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS).

Sonar equipment found it in 390m (1,280ft) of water. The wreck is sitting almost upright on a seafloor that has been scoured at some point in the past by the passing of icebergs.

The main mast is broken and hanging over the port side, but otherwise, the ship appears to be broadly intact.

Quest was being used by Norwegian sealers in its last days. Its sinking was caused by thick sea-ice, which pierced the hull and sent it to the deep.

The irony, of course, is this was the exact same damage inflicted on Shackleton's Endurance - the ship he used on his ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917.

Fortunately, the crews of both Endurance, in 1915, and Quest, in 1962, survived.

Indeed, many of the men who escaped the Endurance sinking signed up for Shackleton's last polar mission in 1921-1922, using Quest.

His original plan had been to explore the Arctic, north of Alaska, but when the Canadian government withdrew financial support, the expedition headed south in Quest to the Antarctic.

The new goal was to map Antarctic islands, collect specimens and look for places to install infrastructure, such as weather stations.

Shackleton never made it, however, struck down by heart failure in the Port of Grytviken on the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia, the last stop before reaching the White Continent. He was just 47 years old.

After his death, Quest was involved in other important expeditions, including the 1930-31 British Arctic Air Route Expedition led by British explorer Gino Watkins, who himself tragically died aged 25 while exploring Greenland.

Quest was also employed in Arctic rescues and served in the Royal Canadian Navy during WWII, before being turned over to the sealers.

The RCGS team members carried out extensive research to find Quest's last resting place.

Information was gathered from ship's logs, navigation records, photographs, and documents from the inquiry into her loss.

The calculated sinking location in the Labrador Sea was pretty much spot on, although the exact co-ordinates are being held back for the time being.

A second visit to the wreck, possibly later this year, will do a more complete investigation.

"Right now, we don't intend to touch the wreck. It actually lies in an already protected area for wildlife, so nobody should be touching it," associate search director Antoine Normandin said.

"But we do hope to go back and photograph it with a remotely operated vehicle, to really understand its state."

Alexandra Shackleton is the explorer's granddaughter and was patron to the RCGS survey.

"I was thrilled, really excited to hear the news; I have relief and happiness and a huge admiration for the members of the team," she told BBC News.

"For me, this represents the last discovery in the Shackleton story. It completes the circle."

The explorer continues to spark interest more than a century after his death.

Hundreds of people visit his grave on South Georgia every year to pay their respects to the man known by his crews simply as "The Boss."

"Shackleton will live forever as one of the greatest explorers of all time, not just because of what he achieved in exploration but for the way he did it, and the way he looked after his men," said David Mearns.

"His story is timeless and will be told again and again; and I'm just one of many disciples who'll keep telling it for as long as I can."

—

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton CVO OBE FRGS FRSGS (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic.

He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

[evilhorse]

We apologize for interfering, but with all due respect…we can’t let you do this.

(Justice Society of America #10)

[cashandandrogyny]

ive connected the dots

[desire-mona]

todd anderson. to me

[bearotonin-international]

boink

[nadziejacher]

Civil War museum in Omsk, Siberia

Центр изучения (ну и музей) Гражданской войны в Омске. В 1918-1919 гг. город был столицей белых и резиденцией Верховного правителя России адмирала А.В. Колчака.

Здесь есть постоянная экспозиция, кроме того, бывают разные выста��ки и постоянно проводятся мероприятия, посвящённые Первой мировой, Гражданской, а также истории Сибири. Периодически там бываю на разных лекциях. Особенно люблю тему военнопленных Первой мировой, ну и, конечно, белого движения. Собственно, на этом периоде истории Омска и строится сюжет моей первой книги✨ Колчак - это вообще отдельная тема, я пишу эти строки чисто благодаря ему🤣 С него началось мое увлечение историей

@nadziejaestel

[subbyp]

an a/b/o zosan fic where they’re so insanely once-in-a-lifetime compatible that they would have fallen in love at first scent….except that Zoro barely bathes and Sanji’s a heavy smoker so they both just kind of reek and therefore spend years not knowing about this

[wayti-blog]

"us versus them" is the biggest trap we invented for ourselves

1forall0allfor1

[worstjourney]

Absolutely chuffed to be in this company.

[solargoose]

This is my warrior cats blog but it's also my general xenofiction blog, and I'm reading various middle grade - young adult xenofiction books that I either haven't read or read a long time ago and I just finished my reread of Wolves of the Beyond.

And there are a lot of elements I could talk about (I forgot just how bleak these books are) but instead I'm going to focus on one weird detail:

Were we supposed to know who Maud's father was?

Like they make a point to say her father must have had red fur, and maybe I just wasn't paying attention but I don't remember that many red wolves? I checked the wiki but they don't know either, and there aren't many other red wolves listed, and the red wolves (or reddish ones) that are there don't make much sense for Banja. There's a couple with unknown fur colors, but that's not satisfying.

I remember as a kid (and now during my reread) thinking Rags was going to be her father, but when he shows up they don't seem to know each other?

And it's possible it's not meant to be anything, or it was from a plotline that got scrapped. It's just the specific detail of her father must have been red because her fur is too red for him to have had any other fur color. That's just a weird amount of detail for it to be meaningless. Like calling out his fur color instead of just going oh I wonder who her dad was.

The timing was around the same time Rags was introduced, which makes me think he was supposed to be her father and it got scrapped at some point.

[captainpirateface]

I'm a sad bear pirate most of the time...

Bi-Polar Pirate Bear

Lost at sea.

Lost from you.

Lost from me.

I sail on

as only I could do

forlorn and forgotten

with distant memories

of you.

[runawaycarouselhorse]

So, recently, I realized another part of the reason I fixated so much on Trip is the same reason I identified with Jane from Return to Neverland around their age... just feeling like an adult in my preteen years (and younger...), but now I was just reminded of Uptown Girls (and that devestating scene with the adult-like girl and child-like woman miserably turning that teacup ride in opposite directions) and seeing it turn up on so many blogs about this whole "we acted too grown-up as kids and now we act like kids as adults" thing is so......... ah.

I get it...

I always kept childhood things close, I didn't let people define what I can or can't enjoy as a child or adult, so that's good, but the Trauma and folks saying I wasn't a kid anymore at, like, 11, still made me feel like a wholly separate from others my age. Ten year olds seemed like little kids to me, I didn't relate at all back then. I'm glad I never lost my sense of wonder and fortunate I saw adults who kept childhood things close (like a coworker of my bio-mother's, who kept figures of Sesame Street characters in a work desk), I like to think I can be that person too, since my Little Twin Stars purse often got curious looks. Growing up doesn't mean abandoning everything you love...

Even if some of the kids of patients I see get confused by my offering toys or colouring pages or sweets to them, sometimes, you get an older kid who's happy to be offered one. Even if it's seen as funny or uncool by a bunch of kids who are in a hurry to grow up, I think it's better not to rush the process and acknowledge everyone's growing at their own pace and keeping what you enjoy and brings you comfort for as long as you need it, it makes the transition easier if you don't force it, you know?

[explorers-central]

Scarlett - The Collector

I feel bad for her, she was isolated her whole childhood and taught that she was owed the world. She never learned empathy for others because it was never demonstrated to her, I hope in the future of the series someone can get through to her.

[rabbitcruiser]

The San Diego Zoo grew out of exotic animal exhibitions abandoned after the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. Dr. Harry M. Wegeforth founded the Zoological Society of San Diego, meeting October 2, 1916.

[infizero]

he's the freakingggg neighbor's kid that everyone knows and loves can someone kill me