A Shipwreck Located Off The Coast Of Rhode Island Is Now Confirmed To Have Been The HMS Endeavour, The First European Ship To Make It To Australia’s East Coast
The emergence of new evidence has further confirmed the theory that a shipwreck found off the coast of Rhode Island was the remains of a vessel called the HMS Endeavour, once captained by James Cook, who sailed around the world in the 1700s. Later on, the ship was renamed the Lord Sandwich.
In 1768, Cook began his historical voyage, setting sail from the British port of Plymouth to search for the “Great Southern Land.”
He traveled across the South Pacific and reached Australia in 1770, becoming the first European ship to make it to the continent’s east coast.
The Endeavour was deliberately sunk by British forces in 1778 during the Revolutionary War. In 1779, local tribespeople from Hawaii killed Captain Cook.
The claim of the discovery of Captain Cook’s ship was first announced in February of 2022 by the Australian National Maritime Museum. The shape of the wreck and other structural details led them to the conclusion.
Some were skeptical about the museum’s declaration, but two new pieces of evidence have made experts more positive about the identification of the vessel.
At the shipwreck site in Rhode Island’s Newport Harbor, archaeologists came across a pump well and a specific joint in the section of the ship’s bow.
According to the museum, the discovery of the pump well was significant in verifying the identity of the site. It allowed archaeologists to make comparisons between the pump well and the archival plans from when the ship was built.
Ultimately, they found that the position of the mechanism matched what was described in the drawings.
Marianne Campolongo – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
Furthermore, the joint, or the “keel-stem scarph,” helped experts determine that the ship was indeed the Endeavour. Using the same documents, they were able to confirm that the ship was of the right dimensions.
The keel-stem scarph also happened to be a rare feature on boats from that time period. It was an exact match to the one depicted in the archival plans.
Investigations at the shipwreck’s site are ongoing, and a final report will be released when research is complete.
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