Shackleton & Scott’s Ships Recreated in 3D

The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) completed a 21-day expedition to digitally preserve the wrecks of Ernest Shackleton’s Quest and Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova. Using underwater imaging technology from Voyis, the team created highly detailed 3D models of the ships, which rest over 1,000 feet below the surface of the Labrador Sea and off the coast of Antarctica.

The expedition, beginning on July 2nd from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, builds on a 2024 discovery of the Quest and aims to inspire future ocean exploration. Both explorers’ ships met their end without loss of life prior to sinking, allowing the team to focus on documentation rather than investigation.

Geiger, the expedition leader, emphasized the importance of continued human involvement in exploration alongside robotic technologies, noting the unique human connection to history and wonder that machines cannot replicate. The RCGS hopes these “digital twins” will aid marine biologists studying the ecosystems around the wrecks and highlight the vastness of the unmapped ocean.