Library Lecture & Dinner with Natalie Hewit & Mensun Bound

Behind the Scenes of the hunt for Shackleton’s Endurance

On Tuesday 30 September we welcome maritime archaeologist Mensun Bound and film director Natalie Hewit as they take members behind the scenes of the search for Sir Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship Endurance which was located 3000m below the surface of Antarctica’s Weddell Sea in March 2022. Mensun will guide you through the incredible discovery and the history of one of the world’s most storied shipwrecks. Natalie will reveal the huge physical challenge of shooting a film in one of the most inhospitable places on earth – as well as the complexity of weaving two vast stories into one film. Endurance was released in cinemas in October 2024 and is now streaming on Disney+.

Natalie Hewit is a documentary director and producer who has been making films for major broadcasters including the BBC, Channel 4, Netflix and National Geographic for over a decade. Her work has earned widespread critical acclaim and won an Emmy, a Broadcast Digital Award, a Royal Television Society Award, and nominations for a BAFTA, a Grierson and two Broadcast Awards.

Mensun Bound has conducted wreck surveys and excavations all over the world in a career that spanned over 40 years. In 1981, he excavated one of the oldest known shipwrecks (an Etruscan ship from 600 BC) and, in 1997, he used saturation diving methods in the South China Sea off Vietnam to carry out the deepest hands-on shipwreck excavation there has ever been. Twelve museums around the globe hold permanent displays of artefacts raised by Bound. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, the Canadian Royal Geographic Society and the Explorer’s Club.

Members may book up to three guests and tickets are priced at £80pp.

Dress code is lounge suits.