by Liz Roberts
If you are a student that has been in Ms. Callahan’s AP Language class, you have likely read the book Endurance, named after the ship that spurred a harrowing journey in 1914. The tale details Sir Ernest Shackleton and a crew of 27 men sailing for the Antarctic on an Imperial Trans-Atlantic Expedition. The ship was trapped in pack ice and sank on November 21, 1915, in the Weddell Sea off the coast of Antarctica. From there, the crew spent over a year stranded in a barren stretch of frozen wilderness, where they learned to adapt, improvise, and survive. For 106 years and 4 weeks, the sunken ship’s location remained unknown– however, on March 5, 2022 – right as classes were digging into the book – the mystery was solved!
Since the story of the Endurance occurred, there have been many attempts to recover the ship. Many assumed that after over a century, the ship would be destroyed or seriously degraded after being on the ocean floor. However, when the Endurance22 expedition of explorers found the shipwreck this month, it remained amazingly intact and in remarkable condition, information from the New York Times and Business Insider explains.
When the discovery was released, Ms. Callahan was understandably excited to show her AP Language class the news, seeing as they were just beginning to read the Endurance novel. The reasoning behind reading the book is simply put by Callahan. “I love that it is nonfiction, so it teaches about history, and I love that it demonstrates Ernest Shackleton’s leadership skills. I hope that that inspires students to persevere and follow their goals.”
Students that are reading the book, or had prior knowledge about The Endurance, also found the find fascinating. AP Lang student Mollie Littlefield said, “I do trivia every Wednesday with my dad. The Wednesday I’m talking about was before the Endurance ship was discovered, but I had just started reading the book in Ms. Callahan’s. One of the last trivia questions was ‘Who was the explorer who did an expedition to the Antarctic, and for extra points, what was the name of the ship?’. My dumb self didn’t think about Ernest Shackleton or Endurance, and nobody else on my team knew. Once they said the answer, I was so mad because I was currently reading the book!”
This event is very exciting for Ms. Callahan’s AP Language class because it’s rare that books with unsolved elements can be resolved right as students are reading about it! The finding adds a note of finality to the story, even if it’s a bit of a spoiler for future classes.