Antarctic exploration

Antarctic: Where 'zombies' thrive and shipwrecks are preserved

Ernest Shackleton's famous ship, the Endurance, which he had to abandon in 1915 on his ill-fated Antarctic expedition, is probably still in very good condition on the ocean floor.This is one conclusion from research that studied how sunken wood degrades in southern polar waters.Experiments that submerged planks for over a year found they returned to the surface in near-pristine condition.Scientists point to the absence in the region of wood-boring "ship worms"....

The women who 'inspired' polar-explorers Shackleton and Scott

The wives of Britain's best-known polar explorers inspired them to make their important voyages, a historian has claimed.Kari Herbert claims that Sir Ernest Shackleton only made his first expedition to impress his lover.Miss Herbert, the daughter of the Polar explorer Sir Wally Herbert, said Capt Robert Falcon Scott would "absolutely not" have reached the South Pole without the robust encouragement of his wife, Kathleen.Miss Herbert, who researched the women for her new book Heart of the Hero, said the stories of explorers' wives were "fantastically important" in expeditions to the Antarctic."In the case of Scott, absolutely he would not have gone down to the Antarctic again without Kathleen," she said....