Divers have made a historic British maritime discovery after finding the final resting place of Captain Cook’s legendary ship Endeavour after 250 years. The iconic vessel was the first ship to land British people on the continent of Australia during voyages between 1768 and 1771. She was also the first ship to circumnavigate New Zealand’s main islands.
Captain James Cook is established as one of the UK’s most famous explorers but his ship faded into obscurity, eventually becoming a troop transport. She was then sold in 1775, renamed the Lord Sandwich, and finally scuttled off the US coast in 1778, during the American War of Independence.
Now the sunken remains of the Endeavour have been found in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island, after experts formally identified her with a wreck called RI 2394. The verdict was announced by the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) in a new report, bringing 25 years of study to a close with a “definitive statement”.
Museum director Daryl Karp said: “This final report is the culmination of 25 years of detailed and meticulous archaeological study on this important vessel. It has involved underwater investigation in the US and extensive research in institutions across the globe.
“This final report marks our definitive statement on the project.”
Experts reached their conclusion after comparing the sunken ship with historical plans of the Endeavour. They discovered timbers whose placement corresponds exactly with the locations of Endeavour’s main and fore masts. Measurements from the wreck also correlated with those taken during a 1768 survey of Cook’s ship.
Furthermore, analysis of the wood revealed it had European origins, consistent with records of the Endeavour being repaired in 1776, several years after the expedition.
Collectively they represented a “preponderance of evidence” that the Newport wreck was indeed the Endeavour. ANMM archaeologist, Kieran Hosty, said: “The timbers are British timbers.
“The size of all the timber scantlings are almost identical to Endeavour, and I’m talking within millimetres – not inches, but millimetres. The stem scarf is identical, absolutely identical.
“This stem scarf is also a very unique feature – we’ve gone through a whole bunch of 18th-century ships plans, and we can’t find anything else like it.”
“You’ll never find a sign saying ‘Cook was here’. We will never see a ship’s bell with Endeavour crossed out and Lord Sandwich inscribed on it.
But he added: “We’ve got a whole series of things pointing to RI 2394 as being HMB Endeavour. And so far we found lots of things that tick the box for it to be Endeavour and nothing on the site which says it’s not.”
The findings could prove controversial however. When ANMM released a preliminary report in 2022 identifying RI 2394 as the Endeavour, their research partners at the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) pushed back.
In a statement, RIMAP asserted that they were the lead organisation for the study, and that the finding was both “premature” and a “breach of contract”.
But ANMM Archaeologist James Hunter said: “The Lord Sandwich was intentionally scuttled – it was sunk on purpose as a block ship. The chances of finding artifacts that would provide an immediate identification, such as a bell, were very unlikely.
“And that’s because anything that was of value would have been stripped out of that ship before it was sunk. But what has been recovered up to this point is indicative of an 18th-century time frame.”
In a statement, ANMM acknowledged RIMAP’s “fine historical analysis and detailed artifact recording”.
The statement continued: “We acknowledge that RIMAP continues to accept that RI 2394 may be Endeavour, but they are not ruling out other candidate shipwreck sites.”
Ms Karp also acknowledged the work of the ANMM archaeological team, of Dr Kathy Abass in Rhode Island, and of the Rhode Island authorities.
The Daily Express has contacted the RIMA for comment
