The final resting place of HMS Endeavour (a replica of the ship is pictured) has been confirmed in Rhode Island's Newport Harbour.
The final resting place of HMS Endeavour (a replica of the ship is pictured) has been confirmed in Rhode Island's Newport Harbour.
The final resting place of Captain Cook’s lost ship, the HMS Endeavour, has been confirmed.
The whereabouts of the wreckage has been hotly debated by researchers for years. The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) first claimed it was in Rhode Island, US, in 2022.
But this was met with criticismby the museum’s research partners, the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (Rimap), who denounced the finding as both “premature” or “based on Australian emotions and politics” rather than science.
But now it has been confirmed that the famous ship is in Rhode Island’s Newport Harbour.
Daryl Karp, ANMM director, 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.”
Between 1768 and 1771, the Endeavour became the first European vessel to reach eastern Australia and circumnavigate the main islands of New Zealand.
Sold and renamed as the Lord Sandwich in 1775, the ship then sank off the US coast during the American War of Independence in 1778.
The dimensions, structure, shape and construction of the ship suggest the uncovered wreckage is of the HMS Endeavour. Photo / Australian National Maritime Museum
Experts compared the shipwreck with historical plans of Cook’s vessel, discovering timbers in the same location as the Endeavour’s main and fore masts.
Measurements of the wreck also aligned with those taken during a 1768 survey of the Endeavour, while analysis of the wood showed it originated from Europe, correlating with records of the vessel having been repaired in 1776.
Collectively this formed a “preponderance of evidence” that the Newport wreck was indeed the Endeavour.
