HMS Endurance

HMS Endurance

Protecting, educating and making the world a better place

Every Autumn Endurance leaves her base in Portsmouth for the cold and ice of the Antarctica austral summer. For seven months of each year she carries out operational duties for UKHO, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Antarctic Survey. Codex received these exclusive photographs giving a unique glimpse into her exciting work.

Endurance is a Class 1 Icebreaker originally built in Norway. The RN chartered her in 1991 before she commissioned as HMS Polar Circle on 21 November 1991. She was subsequently renamed HMS Endurance.

Her Mission is 'to patrol and survey the Antarctic and South Atlantic, maintaining Sovereign Presence with Defence Diplomacy and supporting the global community of Antarctica'. She operates for seven months of the year in the Antarctic. Her aims are to increase everyone's knowledge of the environment as a whole and show how the Royal Navy contributes to a better world.

The Ship's motto is Fortitudine Vincimus which means 'By Endurance We Conquer'. The motto originates from that of the great Antarctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton who made history in his ship, also named Endurance in his expedition south in 1914-15.

HMS Endurance Tracking Project www.visitandlearn.co.uk