Over a century has passed since the Endurance, reputedly the strongest wooden ship ever constructed, met its fate in Antarctic ice. Recent evaluations of historical evidence indicate that it might not have been as resilient as other polar vessels of its era, casting doubt on expedition leader Ernest Shackleton’s awareness of its limitations.
Shackleton aimed to journey across Antarctica from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea, making stops along the way. However, the Endurance never reached the Antarctic coastline. In 1915, it became trapped in ice in the Weddell Sea, leading to its sinking.
Jukka Tukuri, who was part of a significant expedition at Aalto University in Finland, discovered a shipwreck on the seabed in 2022. Upon researching the polar vessels of that time, he found that the narrative surrounding the Endurance was misleading; it lacked the structural strength attributed to it.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several ships were engineered specifically to navigate sea ice. Many featured an oval hull shape and shallow keels, which helped prevent ice from creating strong hold on the side, allowing it to slide beneath. Additionally, the internal structure of these vessels included a continuous deck spanning the hull’s entire length, which enhanced their rigidity.
In contrast, the Endurance was longer and had taller keels. Tukuri’s calculations indicated that other contemporary polar ships could withstand 1.7 to 2.7 times more compressive force than the Endurance. Furthermore, the ship’s large engine restricted the lower deck to only part of the vessel, creating structural weaknesses due to the absence of a reinforced box-like configuration.
In his review of Shackleton’s letters, Tukuri found evidence that Shackleton was aware of these design flaws. Just before departing for Antarctica, Shackleton noted in a letter to his wife that Nimrod, his previous ship, was more robust. Yet, he pressed on with his journey: “He was willing to embrace the risk,” Tukuri commented.
As predicted, the Endurance could not withstand the immense pressure of the sea ice. The vessel was compressed and distorted until its keel was ultimately torn apart and submerged.
Despite this, a myth arose portraying the Endurance as the world’s most resilient wooden ship, potentially fueled by an article in The Era. According to Tukuri, Shackleton perpetuated this narrative; the reasons remain unclear, but it seems to add an element of drama to his ill-fated expedition. “Endurance may have symbolized strength and heroism poetically,” he said. “Regrettably, that was not the case from an engineering perspective.”
LONDON – A former graduate student who studied fossils dating back 125 million years has made a significant discovery by identifying a new species of dinosaur characterized by sails on its back.
Survey results, published in the Paleontology Journal on Friday, link this discovery to fossils first unearthed on the Isle of Wight, an island off the southern coast of England, during the 1970s.
Initially, these fossil bones were believed to belong to one of two known species of the Iguanodon type found on the island. However, retired doctor Jeremy Lockwood remarked he observed a peculiar difference in the spinal structure of the fossils while pursuing his doctoral studies in paleontology at the University of Portsmouth.
Having a medical background, Lockwood noted that these dinosaurs exhibited an unusually tall neurospinus.
After meticulously examining several bones in the collections of Dinosaur Island on the Isle of Wight and reviewing existing literature, he concluded that this specimen is a completely distinct species.
Although the skeletons were less complete than other known specimens, Lockwood stated in a release from the Museum of Natural History in London that the bones had not received adequate attention prior to his analysis.
Detailed images of two consecutive dorsal vertebrae of the macarserae vertebral musculoskeletal. Via Wiley Online Library
“It was incredible,” Lockwood shared with NBC News in a phone interview on Friday. “We discovered that 125 million years ago, the diversity of dinosaurs was far greater than we had previously thought.”
The exact purpose of the sails in dinosaurs has sparked long-standing debates, with theories ranging from temperature control to fat storage.
Several other dinosaur species are also known to possess sails.
For this new species, “the most plausible explanation for the sail is visual signaling, likely as part of a sexual display often influenced by mate selection,” Lockwood noted.
“For me, the thrill lies in naming the dinosaurs,” Lockwood added.
Lockwood, as the lead author of the paper, named the new dinosaur Istiorachis macarthurae. The term Isthiolatis is derived from the ancient Greek words meaning “sail spine,” referring to the tall sail-like formations along the creature’s back.
Macarthurae pays tribute to the well-known island resident Ellen MacArthur, who is also a sailor from the Isle of Wight.
“It’s certainly not an everyday occurrence to be asked if a newly identified dinosaur can bear your name!” MacArthur said in a statement.
“I was quite taken aback when this conversation started, but I felt incredibly honored to be asked.”
“It’s extraordinary and a great privilege that a creature from 125 million years ago could share my last name,” MacArthur remarked.
“The notion that it could rival the sails I’ve spent much of my life beneath was truly touching.”
“125 million years ago, this dinosaur also inhabited the island,” Lockwood said. “I prefer naming dinosaurs in a way that connects them to the Isle of Wight, as it holds significant paleontological importance.”
The new species is relatively small by dinosaur standards, comparable in size to an American bison.
According to Lockwood, this discovery adds to a legacy of findings on the island, which has seen the identification of 10 new dinosaur species over the past six years.
○One evening many months ago, Mike Chapman, the creative director of the cooperative pirate adventure game Sea of Thieves, sat down to play the game with producer Joe Neato. This wasn’t just a standard playtest. The players participating online were players who had never played together before. It was a team from Sony Interactive Entertainment. Plans to make Xbox exclusive to the PS5 had just been launched. Now it was time to dive into the details. “We educated them about the game and had thorough discussions about what made the game special,” Neet says. “It was a surreal experience,” Chapman says of the encounter. “Trying to find treasure on the island with another group of platform holders…”
The PS5 launch is set for April 30th, and pre-orders are now open, but this is just the latest step in the evolution of this captivating game. Launched on March 20, 2018, it was the most ambitious project in the long history of the veteran British studio Rare. Marketed as a cooperative pirate adventure, Sea of Thieves provides players with access to a vast multiplayer world of ocean exploration, buried treasure, ship-to-ship battles, and more. The game’s design philosophy was simple but risky: it was a tool, not a rule. Players are equipped with everything they need to embark on their own pirate adventures, including musical instruments and virtual grog, but there is no elaborate story, skill tree, or complex character growth system. The story comes from the players themselves as they form a crew and compete with other pirates for fame and fortune.
“We’ve done our best to stay true to it”…Sea of Thieves. Photo: Microsoft
After a shaky start plagued by technical issues, Sea of Thieves found its audience and grew. Since that day in 2018, there have been approximately 100 updates and expansions, including adventures based on Pirates of the Caribbean and Monkey Island. New mechanics like commodities and captaincy add depth to the experience, but Chapman believes the key to the game’s longevity lies in ensuring player agency and supporting roleplay. “We provide players with simple tools and allow them to unleash their creativity,” he says. “We’ve done our best to stay true to that.”
Supporting diverse communities is also crucial. “I think it’s part of the hidden work of creating a shared world,” he says. “When adding a mechanic to a game, the mechanic itself may be simple, but you have to consider how it fits into the shared world, what motivates players, and how players with different styles (PvP or PvE) will use it. Whenever we design a mechanic, we think about how it integrates into the world and how it can potentially create a new meta that will thrive for months and years. Our design team is increasingly focused on this.”
So what was it like facing the prospect of publishing a game to a whole new community? “At a leadership level, when I first heard this as a possibility, I was initially excited. Then I thought, ‘Okay. How do we do this?'” says NEET. “The fact that we had already migrated to another platform, Steam, helped us tackle the technical challenges and engage with different communities in different locations.”
“We’ve really expanded the boundaries of the Sea of Thieves experience”…Sea of Thieves. Photo: Microsoft
“This is the first time in Rare’s 40-year history that we’ve developed on a Sony platform, which is incredible. It was very surreal for us to be presented with a series of slides. But honestly, for our technical team, it was like, ‘Let’s deploy the kit and start experimenting and figuring it out.’ That kind of feeling. I kept it in a secret spot in my studio with a fogged-up window so no one could see. It was more about excitement.”
Nate said Rare was collaborating with co-developers with PlayStation experience, and Sony itself was very supportive, holding regular catch-up calls even when the project was still top secret. The company was ready to dispatch its technical staff whenever needed. “If we had to visit their studio, you guessed it, we had to wear their Sea of Thieves T-shirt,” Neet says.
One of the great benefits of preparing to welcome a new community is that it gives your team a chance to rethink the structure of your game. Season 11 of the game, launched in January, was developed with the knowledge that PS5 players would soon join, so the onboarding system was revamped. Content is now unlocked at a more manageable pace, and a quest board that shows where to find new items that were previously hidden in artifacts and maps offers a more engaging pirate journey. Additionally, Rare is planning to introduce an offline solo mode in its March update. “You don’t need Xbox Live or PlayStation Plus,” says Neate. “If you just want to play solo, you can experience all the content and company advancements in Tall Tales. It’s another way to get hooked on the game before you decide to start.”
However, Rare indicates that while recent efforts have been focused on creating a more user-friendly experience with an eye on the upcoming PS5 community, there are more ambitious plans in the works. “We’ve been expanding the boundaries of the Sea of Thieves experience throughout the last year,” Chapman says. “You can have your own ship. You can join the Pirate Guild. There’s a quest table. A revised tutorial allows you to play Safer Seas and explore all the story content. We’re expanding the game’s boundaries and building on this new foundation. We’ve gained a lot of experience, and it’s crucial to capitalize on it. Enhance your captaincy, strengthen your guild. The upcoming year is all about the sandbox for us.”
Since its launch six years ago, it’s been a long journey, but Chapman and Neet, who have been there from the start, seem as dedicated as ever. “Working on this on a new platform is incredibly exciting,” Chapman affirms. “I believe we’ve positioned ourselves for many more years of game evolution.”
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