2026年7月2日 / 美国东部时间上午9:22 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
加拿大皇家地理学会表示，加拿大研究人员即将启动一项「百年难遇」的科考行动，对两艘传奇沉船展开勘测。这两艘沉船均属于著名的极地探险家搭档。
该机构将于本月派遣载人潜水器和遥控潜水器前往北大西洋深海，希望首次详细观测这两艘沉船，并利用高清摄像机和海底成像技术为每艘沉船创建「数字孪生模型」。
第一艘沉船名为「探险者号」（Quest），正是传奇探险家欧内斯特·沙克尔顿1922年去世时所在的船只。作为南极探险先驱，沙克尔顿一生曾四次前往这片冰封大陆，其中1915年的航行中，他的船「坚忍号」（Endurance）被海冰困住，他和船员被迫弃船，这一事件广为流传。
![1935年，欧内斯特·沙克尔顿1922年去世前启航乘坐的「探险者号」。图片来源：Print Collector/Getty Images]
第二艘待勘测的沉船是「特拉诺瓦号」（Terra Nova）的残骸。据南极遗产信托会介绍，另一位极地探险家罗伯特·福尔肯·斯科特曾在1912年乘坐该船前往南极，此次航行最终以悲剧收场，成为史上著名的探险灾难事件。尽管沙克尔顿和斯科特最初是同事，但两人最终反目成仇，在20世纪初的「南极探险英雄时代」中，为争夺抵达南极点的荣誉展开竞争。
据深海教育项目资料显示，「特拉诺瓦号」后来被用作海豹捕猎船和货轮，最终于1943年9月在格陵兰岛外海沉没。该沉船于2012年由施密特海洋研究所这一研究机构发现。
沙克尔顿去世后，「探险者号」曾被用于北极救援任务，同时也曾作为加拿大皇家海军舰艇服役。在被用作海豹捕猎船期间，「探险者号」在纽芬兰外海被冰面撞损，沉没在1200多英尺深的海床上，但船员全部获救。该沉船于2024年由加拿大皇家地理学会在拉布拉多海海域发现。
本次科考联合首席科学家、全球顶尖沉船专家之一戴维·米恩斯在一份声明中表示：「这两位极地英雄展现出的勇气与领导力，多年来激励了一代又一代探险家。我们希望借助最新技术记录他们最后的两艘座舰，以此激励全球下一代探险家。」
加拿大皇家地理学会表示，本次科考行动汇集了来自加拿大、美国、英国、挪威和丹麦等多个国家的研究人员、科学家和历史学家。
克里·布林为本报道撰稿。
“Once-in-a-generation” expedition launched to survey 2 legendary shipwrecks
July 2, 2026 / 9:22 AM EDT / CBS News
Canadian researchers will begin a “once-in-a-generation” expedition to survey two legendary shipwrecks, which belonged to an iconic pair of polar explorers, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society said.
The organization is due to send human-occupied and remotely operated vehicles to the depths of the North Atlantic this month, in hopes of observing the wrecks in detail for the first time and creating “digital twins” of each with high-definition video cameras and subsea imaging technology.
The first of the sunken ships is called the Quest, which is known as the vessel upon which the storied explorer Ernest Shackleton died in 1922. A pioneer of Antarctic travel who completed four trips to the frozen continent over his lifetime, Shackleton and his crew famously had to abandon their ship, Endurance, when it became trapped by sea ice during a 1915 voyage.
The Quest, the ship on which Ernest Shackleton set sail before his 1922 death, in 1935. Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images
The second wreck to be investigated is the remnants of a ship called the Terra Nova, on which Robert Falcon Scott, another polar explorer, sailed to Antarctica during a 1912 trip that infamously ended in tragedy, according to the Antarctic Heritage Trust. Although Shackleton and Scott were originally colleagues, the two eventually became rivals who competed with each other to reach the South Pole during the “Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration” in the the early 1900s.
The Terra Nova was later used as a sealing and cargo vessel, and it eventually sunk off the coast of Greenland in September 1943,according to the Deep Ocean Education Project. The wreck was discovered in 2012 by the research organization Schmidt Ocean Institute.
The Quest was used for Arctic rescues and as a Royal Canadian Navy ship, among other things, after Shackleton’s death. While being used as a sealing vessel, the Quest was damaged by ice off the coast of Newfoundland and sank more than 1,200 feet to the seabed, although the crew survived. It was discovered by the RCGS in the Labrador Sea in 2024.
“The bravery and leadership demonstrated by these two polar heroes have inspired generations of explorers over the years, and our hope is that by documenting their last ships with the latest technology we too can inspire the next generation of explorers worldwide,” David Mearns, the co-chief scientist on the expedition and one of the world’s leading shipwreck experts, said in a statement.
The expedition involves researchers, scientists and historians from a number of countries, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway and Denmark, the RCGS said.
Kerry Breen contributed to this report.
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