Quest (ship)
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| Builder: | Erik Lindstøls Båtbyggeri, Risør |
| Launched: | 1917 |
| Out of service: | May 5, 1962 |
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| Fate: | Foundered in the Labrador Sea |
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| Length: | 110 ft 7 in (33.71 m) |
| Beam: | 24 ft 9 in (7.54 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 11 ft 8 in (3.56 m) |
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| Sail plan: | Schooner |
Quest, a low-powered, schooner-rigged steamship that sailed from 1917 until sinking in 1962, is best known as the polar exploration vessel of the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921-1922. It was aboard this vessel that Sir Ernest Shackleton died on 5 January 1922 while the vessel was in harbour in South Georgia. Prior to and after the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition, Quest operated in commercial service as a seal-hunting vessel or sealer. Quest was also the primary expedition vessel of the British Arctic Air Route Expedition to the east coast of the island of Greenland in 1930-1931.
Quest was 111 feet (34 m) in length, had a beam of 24 feet (7.3 m), and 12 feet (3.7 m) depth of hold. The vessel has been variously rated at 209 and 214 gross register tons, possibly due to the 1924 refit described below.
Quest was originally built in Risør, Norway in 1917 as the wooden-hulled sealer Foca I or Foca II. She was the polar expedition vessel of the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition of 1921-1922. The vessel was renamed Quest by Lady Emily Shackleton, wife of expedition leader Ernest Shackleton. At the expense of expedition financier John Quiller Rowett, Quest was refitted for the expedition with modifications overseen by sailing master Frank Worsley, including re-rigging and the addition of a deckhouse. Shackleton was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, and so for this voyage Quest bore the RYS suffix and flew the White Ensign.
Sailing from London for the Southern Ocean on 17 September 1921, the ship reached South Georgia on 4 January 1922 while preparing to enter Antarctic waters. The following night Shackleton, the commander of the expedition, died aboard the vessel while she was at anchor in Grytviken. This ended all prospects of the expedition's carrying out its original program of exploring the Antarctic coastline of Enderby Land. Led by Frank Wild, Quest carried out a desultory survey of the Weddell Sea area before returning to the South Atlantic. Quest touched the Tristan da Cunha archipelago in early May, and at Inaccessible Island, ornithologist Hubert Wilkins took type specimens of the grosbeak bunting.
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