Overview

• Engineer Jukka Tuhkuri concludes the ship was crushed from below as pack-ice pressure tore open the keel, contradicting the long-held focus on the lost rudder.
• The analysis draws on original construction plans, crew accounts and high-resolution imaging of the wreck located in 2022 at about 3,008 meters in the Weddell Sea.
• Comparisons with contemporaries such as Fram and Filchner’s Deutschland highlight internal diagonal bracing that resisted ice pressure, a reinforcement Endurance lacked.
• Tuhkuri argues Shackleton knew the limitations yet sailed anyway after buying the ship in March 1914, with unresolved reasons that may include time pressure or finances.
• Researchers and historians involved with or familiar with the wreck call the synthesis persuasive, though it remains uncertain whether retrofits would have prevented the sinking.