They May Have Found Captain Cook’s Ship Endeavour

After years of searching and contested debate, it seems that the shipwreck of the vessel once known as the HMS Endeavour may have been discovered off the coast of Rhode Island. Researchers from Australia have long been on the trail of this boat, as it was once commanded by Captain James Cook, once of the first mappers and Western explorers to chart New Zealand and Australia. The dispute continues as the team’s US research partners have called the announcement “premature”.

At the time the ship was sunk it was known as the Lord Sandwich 2 and had been used as a cargo ship. It was purposely scuttled in a blockade at Narragansett Bay during the Revolutionary War. Before that it had taken Cook on his famous journey to discover the islands of the Pacific- a fascination which ended in his death when he kidnapped a Hawaiian chief and Hawaiian forces retaliated. Cook lost his life on Valentine’s Day, 1779.

During his return trip from Australia in 1770 near the Great Barrier Reef, the ship suffered severe damage from a collision with a large chunk of coral and had to undergo extensive repairs once back in England.

Following the repairs the ship was later used, but was denied a clear bill of sailing in 1776 by the British government based on the past damage and repairs. The ship was renamed in attempt to skirt concerns over its seaworthiness. Since Endeavour went down there have been several replicas made of the ship.

This newest research was revealed by Kevin Sumption, director of the Australian National Maritime Museum, in a recent press conference. Sumption said that, “Since 1999, we have been investigating several 18th-century shipwrecks in a 2-square-mile area where we believed that Endeavour sank.” The museum then noted that only about 15% of the ship still remains after nearly 250 years underwater.

Sumption also said that he was “satisfied that this is the final resting place of one of the most important and contentious vessels in Australia’s maritime history.” While the fate of the islands were forever changed by Cook, he holds a dubious place in history as he was frequently brutal to the indigenous peoples he encountered.

Cook also ushered in a wave of colonialism to Australia and New Zealand. Australia became a British colony only 8 years after Cook arrived there and less than 2 decades after Cook’s discovery the first convicts were sent to Australia to “work off” their crimes.

Following this press statement the American research team that was assisting decried the announcement as being too early to have been called. The executive director of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, DK Abbass, stated that the Australian team was in breach of contract and had been motivated by national politics to declare their findings. This contentious situation has arisen just weeks before the 243rd anniversary of Cook’s death.

Abbass said that, “What we see on the shipwreck site under study is consistent with what might be expected of the Endeavour, but there has been no indisputable data found to prove the site is that iconic vessel, and there are many unanswered questions that could overturn such an identification.” Abbass followed up by writing that, “When the study is done, RIMAP will post the legitimate report.”