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Quest (ship)

Coordinates: 53°10′N 54°27′W / 53.167°N 54.450°W / 53.167; -54.450
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For the ship attacked by Somali pirates, see SY Quest incident.

Quest
History
Name
  • Foca I (1917–21)
  • Quest RYS (1921–23)
  • Quest (1923–40)
  • HMS Quest (1940–46)
  • Quest (1946–62)
Owner
  • A Ingebrigtsen (1917–21)
  • E Shackleton (1921–23)
  • W G Oliffe (1923–24)
  • Schjelderups Sælfangstrederi AS (1924–39)
  • Skips-AS Quest (1939–62)
Operator
  • A Ingebrigtsen (1917–21)
  • E Shackleton (1921–23)
  • W G Oliffe (1923–24)
  • T Schjelderup (1924–39)
  • I Austad (1939–40)
  • Nortraship (1940)
  • Royal Navy (1940–46)
  • Nortraship (1946)
Port of registry
  • Norway Høvik (1917–21)
  • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Cowes (1921–23)
  • United Kingdom Cowes (1923–24)
  • Norway Bodø (1924–39)
  • Norway Tromsø (1939–40)
  • United Kingdom Royal Navy (1940–46)
  • Norway Tromsø (1946–62)
BuilderErik Lindstøls Båtbyggeri, Risør
Launched1917
Identification
  • Fishery registration K-13-K (1917–21)
  • Fishery registration N-94-BN (1924–39)[1]
  • Fishery registration T-24-T (1939–40)
  • British Official number 135395 (1921–23)
  • Code Letters KJHV (1921–23)
  • Code Letters LJBT (1924–34)
  • Code Letters LCVR (1934–62)
FateFoundered 5 May 1962 in the Labrador Sea
General characteristics
Type
  • Sealer (1917–21)
  • Research Vessel (1921–24)
  • Sealer (1924–40)
  • Minesweeper (1940–46)
  • Sealer (1946–62)
Tonnage
Length110 ft 7 in (33.71 m)
Beam24 ft 9 in (7.54 m)
Depth of hold11 ft 8 in (3.56 m)
Propulsion
  • Sails, aided by compound steam engine (1917–39)
  • Diesel engine (1939–62)
Sail planSchooner[1]

Quest was a low-powered, schooner-rigged steamship that sailed from 1917 until sinking in 1962, best known as the polar exploration vessel of the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922. It was aboard this vessel that Sir Ernest Shackleton died on 5 January 1922 while in harbour in South Georgia.[2] Prior to and after the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition, Quest operated in commercial service as a seal-hunting vessel or "sealer". Quest was also the primary expedition vessel of the British Arctic Air Route Expedition to the east coast of the island of Greenland in 1930–1931.

Quest was 111 feet (34 m) in length, had a beam of 24 feet (7.3 m), and 12 feet (3.7 m) depth of hold.[3] The vessel has been variously rated at 209 and 214 gross register tons,[1] possibly due to the 1924 refit described below.

Shackleton–Rowett Expedition

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Quest under Tower Bridge, 1921

Quest was built in 1917 in Risør, Norway, originally as the wooden-hulled sealer Foca I.[1][4] She was the polar expedition vessel of the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922 and was renamed Quest by Lady Emily Shackleton, the wife of expedition commander Ernest Shackleton.[5] At the expense of expedition financier John Quiller Rowett, the small ship was refitted for the expedition with modifications overseen by sailing master Frank Worsley, including re-rigging and the addition of a deckhouse.[6] As Shackleton was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, Quest bore the RYS suffix for this voyage and flew the White Ensign.[5]

Sailing from London for the Southern Ocean on 17 September 1921, Quest reached South Georgia on 4 January 1922 while preparing to enter Antarctic waters. The following night, Shackleton died aboard the vessel while she was at anchor in Grytviken, ending all prospects of the expedition's carrying out its original program of exploring the Antarctic coastline of Enderby Land.[5] Led by Frank Wild, Quest carried out a desultory survey of the Weddell Sea area before returning to the South Atlantic. She touched the Tristan da Cunha archipelago in early May,[6] and at Inaccessible Island, ornithologist Hubert Wilkins took type specimens of the grosbeak bunting.

The expedition returned to England in July 1922, having posted disappointing results that were attributed by author Roland Huntford both to replacement commander Wild's alcoholism[5] and deficiencies in Quest's performance in polar sea ice. The ship's engine was weakly powered and caused continuous difficulties, and the vessel's straight stem made her unsuitable for use in icy seas.[6]

East Greenland expeditions

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Quest was again refitted in Norway in 1924; during the refit, the Shackleton–Rowett deckhouse was salvaged for shore use.[7] In 1928, the refitted vessel participated in the effort to rescue the survivors of the Italia Arctic airship crash. Described as a "broad-beamed, tubby little ship, decks stacked with gear", the ageing sealer served in 1930 as the primary expedition vessel and transport from London to eastern Greenland for the explorers of the British Arctic Air Route Expedition led by Gino Watkins.[8] Between 1932 and 1936, she was the expedition ship for the East Greenland ventures of Count Gaston Micard [fr].[9]

Return to service, sinking and discovery

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The crow's nest from the 1921–1922 voyage

Quest returned to service as a sealing vessel after 1930. In 1935 she was used by the British East Greenland Expedition. During World War II the wooden-hulled vessel was pressed into service as a minesweeper and light cargo vessel with Nortraship and the British navy.[1][2] The small ship returned to her owners' sealing trade in 1946.[1] On 5 May 1962, while on a seal-hunting expedition, Quest was holed by crushing ice and sank off the north coast of Labrador. The crew was saved.[1][2]

Parts of the former deckhouse, including Shackleton's cabin in 1921–1922, survive and, as of 2021 are in the Athy Heritage Center – Museum in Ireland.[10] The crow's nest, made from a barrel, is in the crypt of All Hallows-by-the-Tower, London.[11]

An archival collection of 476 photographs from the Quest/Shackleton-Rowett Expedition is maintained by the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.[12]

Quest was located on 9 June 2024 at the bottom of the Labrador Sea, about 85 kilometres off Labrador's east coast and about 2.5 kilometres from her last reported position, by a wreck hunting team led by John Geiger of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society on the search vessel LeeWay Odyssey (Levi Nippard, captain).[13][2][14][15] She was found in 390m of water, sitting almost upright, and appearing to be broadly intact save for a broken main mast.[14][16] The team included shipwreck hunter David Mearns and lead researcher geographer Antoine Normandin; the explorer's granddaughter Hon. Alexandra Shackleton was co-patron of the expedition along with Chief Mi'sel Joe of Miawpukek First Nation.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "M/S Quest". warsailors.com. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e Pope, Alexandra (12 June 2024). "Wreck of Quest, famed Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's last ship, found in Labrador Sea". Canadian Geographic. Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Antarctic Ships". antarctic-circle.org. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  4. ^ "D/S Foca I". Sjøhistorie.no (in Norwegian). Lillesand. Archived from the original on 13 June 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d Huntford, Roland (1986). Shackleton. New York: Atheneum. pp. 683–694. ISBN 978-0-689-11429-8.
  6. ^ a b c Thomson, John (1999). Shackleton's Captain: A Biography of Frank Worsley. Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press. pp. 133–141. ISBN 0-88962678-2.
  7. ^ "Shackleton 'Quest' cabin, new show piece for South Georgia Museum". MercoPress. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  8. ^ Scott, Jeremy (2008). Dancing on Ice: A Stirring Tale of Adventure, Risk and Reckless Folly. London: Old Street Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-689-11429-8.
  9. ^ "Count Micard's Winter on Board the Quest, 1936–37". Polar Record. 2 (15): 20–21. 12 January 1938. Bibcode:1938PoRec...2...20.. doi:10.1017/S0032247400036299. S2CID 251062992 – via Cambridge University Press.
  10. ^ "Shackleton's cabin lands in Connemara for restoration". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 7 December 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  11. ^ "The Crypt Museum". All Hallows-by-the-Tower. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  12. ^ "The Shackleton-Rowett Antarctic expedition aboard the 'Quest', 1921–1922". Hubert Wilkins and Alexander Macklin. Archived from the original on 19 March 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
  13. ^ "RCGS honours Shackleton Quest Expedition team with special medal". rcgs.org. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  14. ^ a b Amos, Jonathan (12 June 2024). "Explorer Shackleton's last ship found on ocean floor". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 June 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  15. ^ Woolf, Marie (12 June 2024). "Found at sea: Wreck of Shackleton's last ship discovered off the coast of Labrador". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  16. ^ Moore, Mike; Whitten, Elizabeth (12 June 2024). "Explorer Ernest Shackleton's last ship found off Labrador's south coast, says expedition". CBC News. Retrieved 12 June 2024.

53°10′N 54°27′W / 53.167°N 54.450°W / 53.167; -54.450

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Media related to Quest (ship, 1917) at Wikimedia Commons

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