AH-WR-1259

Quest

Sealing And Expedition Ship · Norway · Lost 1962 · The Labrador Sea

Sir Ernest Shackleton's final expedition ship, on which he died in 1922, was later lost to ice in the Labrador Sea in 1962 and found intact on the seabed in 2024.

Become Captain of Record

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Documented Likeness. Drawn from surviving builder's plans or clear photographs of this vessel. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Quest was the schooner-rigged ship on which polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton died of a heart attack in January 1922, at the start of his final Antarctic expedition. After decades of further service, including Arctic exploration and wartime duty, she was working as a Norwegian sealer off the Labrador coast when she was damaged by ice and sank on May 5, 1962. Her wreck went unlocated for more than sixty years until a Royal Canadian Geographical Society-led expedition found her lying upright and intact at a depth of about 390 metres in June 2024.

Vessel

Built: 1917
Builder: Not established
Yard: Norway
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Steam auxiliary, schooner rig
Owners: Norwegian sealing owners at time of loss; formerly Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition ship

Loss

Date: May 5, 1962
Cause: Ice
Location: Labrador Sea, east of Battle Harbour, Labrador
Water: Labrador Sea
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: No deaths are reported in connection with the 1962 sinking.
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 1280 ft
Condition: Found upright and intact on the seabed
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: June 9, 2024
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: Not established
Accuracy: Position not established
Nearest: Battle Harbour, Labrador
Region: The Labrador Sea

Reported as lying northwest of St. John's and east of Battle Harbour at 390 metres depth; precise published coordinates were not found in sources reviewed.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Documented (82/100)

Precise recovered coordinates for the wreck have not been published in the sources reviewed, though its general position and depth are documented by the discovery expedition.

Royal Canadian Geographical Society
Discovery date, depth, wreck condition, and expedition details.
Canadian Geographic
Historical background on Quest, her sinking in 1962, and details of the 2024 discovery.