In the previous 16 years, nearly two dozen wooden vessels had sailed to the icy seas of the far south. All had returned home but "Aurora". Lloyd's of London and the Indemnity Marine Assurance Company had underwritten her hull, machinery and equipment for £15,000. Just before she sailed, "The Times" had reported that "Hitherto the insurance of vessels taking part in Antarctic exploration has ceased at the last port touched, and "Endurance" will be the first vessel to be insured in the ice zone." "The Times" praised "Endurance" as "built specially for work in Polar seas", adding that "in an ice-coated sea there can be no turbulent waves which are the causes of so many disasters in warmer zones."