Coats Land
Shackleton was aware of the recent example of Filchner's ship, "Deutschland", which had become icebound in the same vicinity three years earlier. After Filchner's attempts to establish a land base at Vahsel Bay failed, his ship was trapped on 6 March 1912, about off the coast of Coats Land. Six months later, at latitude 63° 37', the ship broke free, then sailed to South Georgia apparently none the worse for its ordeal. Shackleton thought that a similar experience might allow "Endurance" to make a second attempt to reach Vahsel Bay in the following Antarctic spring.