Shackleton's ship found off the Antarctic coast

Fabled wreck of Endurance is intact despite 107 years beneath the waves

An international team has made polar history by discovering Endurance, the ship that took British explorer Ernest Shackleton on a mission to the Antarctic, where disaster struck in 1915 and the vessel foundered in the Weddell Sea.

After enduring weeks on board an icebreaker in subzero temperatures, the modern-day team of explorers, scientists, and technicians that found Endurance captured footage of the wreckage at a depth of 3,008 meters by using a remotely operated underwater search vehicle.

Mensun Bound, director of exploration on the Endurance 22 Expedition, called it a "monumental discovery "and a "milestone in polar history".

Shackleton's aborted attempt to cross the Antarctic has become the stuff of legend, and made Endurance one of the most famous wrecks of modern times.

The 28-man crew on board the fateful 1914-16 mission spent 19 months marooned in the Antarctic after Endurance became trapped and eventually crushed and sunk by an ice floe on Nov 21, 1915.

Miraculously, everyone survived, after the crew navigated to the remote Elephant Island in lifeboats and Shackleton and five others pushed on, through the Southern Ocean, to South Georgia before returning with a rescue party.