Photo credit: Library of Congress

A deep-sea search team just located a RELIC of one of the most famous expeditions of all time! 

Famed Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance from his amazing 1914 expedition has been found resting on the bottom of Antarctica’s Weddell Sea.

The HMS Endurance set off from London on Aug. 1, 1914 (the same day that World War I started when Germany declared war on Russia). Shackleton planned to land two teams and TRAVERSE Antarctica, going through the South Pole.

But in January 1915, the 144-foot wooden ship and its crew, including Shackleton, became trapped by sea ice. Though trapped, the Endurance still provided shelter for the crew, that is until the pack ice eventually crushed and sank the Endurance. Shackleton and his crew of 27 were a tough bunch though. They had provisions, three 22-foot wooden lifeboats and each other. One of the crew was Australian photographer Frank Hurley, who documented their ordeal and took several hauntingly beautiful photos of the Endurance.

Most of the crew ended up on a barren chunk of rock called Elephant Island. They made their shelter by turning over two of the lifeboats. They would 

CONSUME seals and penguins for months to survive. Shackleton and a few crew members took the third small boat to reach an inhabited island called South Georgia. From there, he organized several rescue efforts and eventually saved his crew on Aug. 25, 1916. Amazingly, he and all of his 27 crew members survived!

Endurance22, the modern search expedition, picked a 150-square-mile area of the Weddell Sea using underwater drones to help locate the ship more than a century after it sank. On March 9, the team released breathtaking images of the Endurance, resting upright 10,000 feet down. On its stern (backside of the ship) its star and name are still intact. The ship will be left there as a historic protected site. Documentaries are in PRODUCTION of this great find and one will air March 22 on the History Channel and the other this fall on National Geographic. 

Play Ball! Major League Baseball

Lockout EndsAfter 99 days of negotiations, Major League Baseball and its players group reached an agreement on March 10 that ends the MLB lockout and saves the 2022 season. Opening Day is set for April 7 with a full season!

“I am genuinely thrilled to be able to say that Major League Baseball’s back, and we’re gonna play 162 games!” said MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in announcing the end to the lockout.

MLB entered a lockout when the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expired between the league and the Major League Baseball Players Association. Up until March 10, the two sides could not come to an agreement on a new deal. Some of the things being negotiated were free agency, salary arbitration, and the National League adopting the designated hitter. 

Baseball fans were sad in December when the commissioner addressed fans in a letter announcing the lockout. “Despite the league’s best efforts to make a deal with the Players Association, we were unable to extend our 26-year-long history of labor peace and come to an agreement with the MLBPA before the current CBA expired. Therefore, we have been forced to commence a lockout of Major League players, effective at 12:01a.m. ET on December 2.”

With the new CBA, which is valid for five years, some of the things agreed on are the National League adopting the designated hitter, putting a limit on how many times a player can be sent to the minor league per season, implementing a draft lottery to discourage tanking, expanding playoffs to 12 teams, and, for the first time ever, advertising will appear on players’ uniforms and batting helmets!

“Looking forward, I could not be more excited about the future of our game,” Commissioner Manfred said. “I think the expanded playoff format will bring post season baseball and, maybe even more importantly, exciting September baseball to more markets.”

Spring training games will begin on March 17. There are 10 spring training ballparks in Arizona that are home to 15 MLB teams. Visit cactusleague.com for schedules and tickets.