Researchers believe shipwreck may be Capt. Cook’s Endeavour
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Researchers are exploring whether a shipwreck off the coast of Rhode Island could be the vessel that 18th-century explorer Capt. James Cook used to sail around the world.
The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, which is leading the search effort, and the Australian National Maritime Museum identified the vessel. It’s one of 13 shipwrecks that have been known for years to be in the harbour near Newport, R.I.
Archeologists were meeting Friday in Newport to talk about their recent fieldwork.
“Early indications are that the team has narrowed the possible site for the wreck of HMB (His Majesty’s Bark) Endeavour to one site, which is very promising,” said Kevin Sumption, director and CEO of the Australian National Maritime Museum.
The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project also described the site as promising but said it’ll still take a lot more work and money to identify it.
HMB Endeavour was Cook’s ship for the first of his three voyages of exploration, beginning in 1768.
This awkward little vessel improbably helped him become the first European to chart Australia’s east coast.
Cook used the Endeavour to claim Australia for the British during the historic 1768-1771 voyage. Before reaching Australia, he sailed to Tahiti, then New Zealand, where he mapped the coastline.
Prior to his three voyages of exploration, Cook mapped Newfoundland and much of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Vice-Admiral Michael Noonan, chief of the Royal Australian Navy, said he dived at the Rhode Island site with researchers.
He measured one of the cannons so the dimensions can be compared with historical records, and they took samples of the wood. He’s hopeful the wreck is the Endeavour.
“Certainly it’s a very exciting discovery in absolute terms,” he said Friday. “They’re very, very confident that the Endeavour is in the site.”
The vessel was also part of the fleet of 13 ships the British scuttled during the Revolutionary War in 1778 to blockade Newport Harbor from the French. It was listed in the records under a different name, the Lord Sandwich.
The nonprofit Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project located documents in London identifying the groups of ships in that fleet and where each was scuttled. It has been studying the wrecks in Newport harbour since 1993, and has been ruling out ones that could not be Cook’s ship.