Researchers film SS Terra Nova wreck on ocean floor for first time

Scientists have for the first time filmed the wreck of SS Terra Nova on the ocean floor, capturing detailed images of the vessel that carried Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910 British Antarctic Expedition. The footage, taken from a submersible aboard the exploration vessel Motor Yacht Legend, shows the ship’s wheel, winch and mast still intact and colonized by marine life.

The Terra Nova, a robust wooden vessel best known for transporting Scott and his men on the ill-fated 1910 expedition that ended with the deaths of five men in 1912, sank during the Second World War and has rested underwater for about eight decades. The expedition team said the survey marks the first time the ship has been filmed and documented in such detail since it went down.

Aldo Kuhn, submersible officer aboard Motor Yacht Legend, said being among the first to see the wreck was "both humbling and exhilarating." He described the site as hosting a "beautiful marine ecosystem" that has established itself on the historic structure, with colorful sea anemones, limpets and barnacles covering much of the exposed wood and metal.

The footage shows recognizable structural elements of the ship, including the wheelhouse area, winch assembly and remaining sections of mast rising from the seabed. Investigators noted that while the ship is extensively encrusted by marine organisms, its overall form remains discernible, offering a rare opportunity for maritime archaeologists to study an early 20th-century polar vessel in situ.

Terra Nova is widely remembered for its role in Scott’s final expedition to Antarctica, an effort that aimed to reach the South Pole and conduct scientific research. The expedition’s failure, and the subsequent deaths of Scott and four companions on the return journey, made the ship a notable artifact of polar exploration history.

Those involved in the recent survey emphasized the dual scientific value of the footage: it contributes to historical understanding of a prominent polar ship and documents how long-submerged wooden vessels function as habitats for marine communities. The detailed imagery and observations from the submersible can inform conservation considerations for historic wrecks and provide baseline data on deep-sea colonization processes.

Organizers of the survey did not disclose precise coordinates of the wreck. They said the work will be followed by analysis of the collected video and imagery to catalog the site’s condition and to determine whether further archaeological or scientific investigations are warranted.

The Terra Nova’s discovery on the ocean floor and its documentation by modern submersible technology underscore the intersection of maritime history and contemporary ocean science, revealing how long-lost human artifacts become part of marine ecosystems over decades underwater.