Row Erupts Over Wreck In Waters Off Rhode Island Identified As Captain Cook's Ship, 'Endeavour'

- HMS Endeavour off the coast of New Holland, by Samuel Atkins c. 1794.
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- The Guardian, Feb. 2, 2022. - Rhode Island archaeologists denounce Australian National Maritime Museum announcement as ‘premature’ and driven by ‘Australian emotions or politics.’ -

A dispute has erupted over James Cook’s ship the Endeavour after the Australian National Maritime Museum announced it had been identified in waters off Rhode Island in the US. Cook sailed the ship around the South Pacific before landing on the east coast of Australia in 1770. It was scuttled in Newport Harbor by British forces in 1778, during the American War of Independence.

Since 1999 maritime archaeologists have been investigating several 18th-century shipwrecks in the area.

On Thursday the chief executive of the museum, Kevin Sumption, announced that the wreck of Cook’s vessel had been positively identified. He paid tribute to the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (Rimap) and its head, Dr Kathy Abbass, for their “commitment to the site and its history”. But Abbass said the museum’s claim the Endeavour had been identified was a breach of contract, and blamed “Australian emotions or politics” for the “premature” announcement.

She said Rimap was the lead organisation for the study and that while the shipwreck was consistent with “what might be expected of the Endeavour”, there was no “indisputable data” to prove it." “(And) there are many unanswered questions that could overturn such an identification,” she said in a statement provided to Guardian Australia. “When the study is done, RIMAP will post the legitimate report on its website.

“RIMAP recognises the connection between Australian citizens of British descent and the Endeavour, but RIMAP’s conclusions will be driven by proper scientific process and not Australian emotions or politics.” Several details on the wreck convinced archaeologists they had found Endeavour after matching structural details and the shape of the remains to those on 18th-century plans of the ship...
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/03/captain-cook-ship-endeavour-identified-confirmed-shipwreck-us-rhode-island



- Captain James Cook. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook

In April 1770, Endeavour became the first European ship to reach the east coast of Australia, with Cook going ashore at what is now known as Botany Bay. Endeavour then sailed north along the Australian coast. She narrowly avoided disaster after running aground on the Great Barrier Reef, and Cook had to throw her guns overboard to lighten her. Endeavour was beached on the Australian mainland for seven weeks to permit rudimentary repairs to her hull. Resuming her voyage, she limped into port in Batavia in October 1770, her crew sworn to secrecy about the lands that they had visited. From Batavia Endeavour continued westward, rounded the Cape of Good Hope on 13 March 1771 and reached the English port of Dover on 12 July, having been at sea for nearly three years.

The ship was largely forgotten after her Pacific voyage, spending the next three years hauling troops and cargo to and from the Falkland Islands. She was renamed in 1775 after being sold into private hands, and used to transport timber from the Baltic. Rehired as a British troop transport during the American War of Independence, she was finally scuttled in a blockade of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island in 1778. Historical evidence indicates the ship was sunk just north of Goat Island in Newport Harbour, along with four other British transports...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Endeavour
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- Cook Landing Site, Hawaii. Indigenous people and village visited by Cook. Atooi, Sandwich Islands. A village near Waimea visited by Cpt Cook during his 3rd voyage. Etching by James Weber, c. 1785. Courtesy of the National Park Service.

National Historic Landmark. The Island of Kauai's historic Waimea River is famous as the initial landing site of Captain James Cook, the first European explorer to establish western contact with the Hawaiian Islands. While many visitors come to Waimea to swim and surf in the waters of Waimea Bay at the mouth of the Waimea River, others come to ponder its important history. Prior to Captain Cook's discovery, the Hawaiian Islands existed in virtual isolation, which allowed the native population to develop a unique culture. Once exposed to European influences, the population of the Hawaiian Islands underwent rapid social and economic change. Captain Cook's Landing Site at the mouth of the Waimea River serves as a reminder of the explorer's lasting impact on the Hawaiian Islands...
https://www.nps.gov/places/cook-landing-site.htm