ITV News Science Correspondent Martin Stew journeys to Antarctica – a breathtaking wilderness disappearing faster than ever.
No British research ship has ventured this far south, this late in the winter, since Shackleton’s ill-fated Endurance expedition.
History buffs will know that story didn’t end well. Shackleton’s ship was crushed by ice in the Weddell Sea, leaving his crew stranded for nearly two years, surviving on the ice and living off seal meat.
The fact that the journey south was plain sailing through waters that, by rights, should be frozen solid is a stark warning of how rapidly our climate is changing.
You might know the RRS Sir David Attenborough better by its famously suggested nickname, Boaty McBoatface — the humorous moniker voted for by the public.
But this £200 million icebreaker is no joke. It’s a serious piece of engineering, carrying some of the world’s leading scientists aboard the UK’s largest floating research lab.
Their mission: to better understand how Antarctica’s climate is changing, and what it means for the rest of the planet.
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