Endeavour search points to US coast
Rhode Island resting place for Captain Cook’s lost vessel
CAPTAIN James Cook’s Endeavour may have finally been found – bringing an end to a decades-long search and solving one of the greatest maritime mysteries.
Australian and US experts said they had narrowed down “one or two archaeological sites” in Newport Harbour, Rhode Island, on the east coast of America.
Divers have been combing Newport Harbour since 1993 and now believe the wreck is off Goat Island. The Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney and Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project will announce the findings tomorrow.
Historians have been bedevilled by the hunt for HMS Endeavour, which Captain Cook sailed from England to discover Australia in 1770.
The vessel was later sold to a private owner and renamed the Lord Sandwich in 1775, and vanished from naval records not long after.
In 1998 marine archaeologist Dr Kathy Abbas (pictured, left) found records indicating the vessel was one of 13 ships scuttled in Newport Harbour by the British in 1778 in an attempt to blockade it from the French.
“The 25-year-long archaeological study of the Newport transports has narrowed the search for the Endeavour from a fleet of 13 vessels to five, and now possibly to one or two archaeological sites,” Dr Abbas posted on the RIMAP website.
The discovery and potential raising of the Endeavour wreckage would have particular historic and cultural significance for Australia, England, New Zealand and the US.
“This year, 2018, is the 250th anniversary of Cook’s departure from England in the Endeavour, and 2020 is the anniversary of Cook’s claim of Australia for Britain,” Dr Abbas said.
“The identification of the Lord Sandwich/ex-Endeavour
will be particularly significant during this time of historical celebrations.”
Dr Abbas said extensive fundraising was required for “the detailed work” necessary to prove it is Endeavour.
Australian National Maritime Museum chairman Peter Dexter is travelling to the US for the announcement.