The SS Terra Nova, the ship that carried Captain Robert Scott on his doomed expedition to the Antarctic a century ago, has been discovered off Greenland. It was discovered by a team from a US research company using a hi-tech underwater vehicle after they spotted an unusual object while testing their sonar equipment.

The US team discovered Scott's ship while testing sonar equipment. This sonar image shows part of the wreck on the sea bed.
Scott and his party set off from Cardiff aboard the Terra Nova in 1910 with the aim of becoming the first expedition to reach the South Pole. A crew from the Schmidt Ocean Institute discovered the Terra Nova whilst testing echo-sounding equipment aboard its flagship vessel - the R/V Falkor.

One of the scientists noticed an unidentified feature during sonar mapping of the sea bed. Team members then noted that the 57m length of the feature matched the reported length of the Terra Nova. Researchers then sent a remote camera called Shrimp to film the wreck. Camera tows across the top of the target showed the remains of a wooden wreck lying on the seabed. Footage from the Shrimp also identified a funnel lying next to the ship.

Additional images

Taken together, the features of the wreck closely matched historical photos of the Terra Nova, leading to the identification.

Brian Kelly, an education officer from the Discovery Point museum in Dundee, where the ship was built, told the Daily Record newspaper: 'The Terra Nova has such a story.

'She went through a lot in her lengthy history and really was the pinnacle of Scottish wooden shipbuilding.

'It is incredible that one of the most famous ships in history has been found 100 years after the race for the pole and in the year commemorating the event.'

Scott's expeidition became one of the most famous in history, despite failing to become the first to reach the pole.

On arriving at the geographical South Pole in January 1912, Scott and his party discovered they had been beaten to it by a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen.

The polar team led by Scott died on their return journey from the pole; their bodies were found by a search party eight months later.

Their endeavour became popularly known as the Terra Nova expedition.

Marine technician Leighton Rolley was part of the Schmidt Ocean Institute team.

'I'm from Cardiff so I knew about the Captain Scott story and realised that the shipwreck would be somewhere around there," he told WalesOnline.

'The story of Robert Ballard finding the Titanic has always made me want to discover a shipwreck for myself, so watching the underwater footage of the Terra Nova that we got out there is definitely a highlight of my career so far.

'There was a lot of excitement on the ship when we confirmed it was the Terra Nova.'