Archaeologists are confident that based on the evidence currently available, a shipwreck that has languished underwater for over two centuries is Captain James Cook’s Endeavour.
“I am satisfied that this is the final resting place of one of the most important and contentious vessels in Australia’s maritime history,” Kevin Sumption, the director of the Australian National Maritime Museum, announced on Feb. 3.
“The last pieces of the puzzle had to be confirmed before I felt able to make this call,” he said of the wreck discovered beneath the waves of a busy U.S. harbour in Rhode Island.
Since 1999 archaeologists have been investigating the shipwreck site.
They are now convinced they have found the Endeavour as details such as the structure and shape of the remains match the 18th-century plans of the original ship.
Sumption also paid tribute to the team at Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) headed by Kathy Abbass for “their ongoing commitment to the site and its history.”
However, Abbass said that the announcement was “premature” and that despite the shipwreck being consistent with what might be expected of the Endeavour, the data was inconclusive.
“There are many unanswered questions that could overturn such an identification,” she said in a statement.
Sumption noted that they were still in the process of finalising their report and were looking forward to it being peer-reviewed and published in due course.
“The archaeological work continues, and we anticipate further discussion of the evidence over the coming months. We look forward to continuing the work in Rhode Island as we move to the next phase,” he said.
The Endeavour landed in Australia on April 29, 1770. It was the first European vessel to reach the west coast of Australia, setting in motion events that culminated in the British colonisation. But the location of the historic ship had been a mystery for centuries.
During the American War of Independence, the British sunk the ship along with four other vessels in 1778 to create a blockade in the harbour.
This meant that the chances of finding artefacts that would provide an immediate identification were very unlikely.
“That’s because anything of value would’ve been stripped out of that ship before it was sunk,” said marine archaeologist James Hunter who was tasked with building a 3D model of the Endeavour.
“But what has been recovered up to this point is indicative of an 18th-century time frame,” Hunter added.
Only around 15 percent of the vessel remains, and the focus is now on what can be done to protect and preserve it.
“The museum continues to work closely with maritime experts in Rhode Island and with the Australian, Rhode Island, and U.S. Governments,” Sumption said.
“It’s an important historical moment, as this vessel’s role in exploration, astronomy and science applies not just to Australia, but also to Aotearoa New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.”
An original anchor from the Endeavour that was salvaged in the 1970s is housed at the Cooktown Museum, formerly the James Cook Museum, in Cooktown in Far North Queensland, Australia.
In 1770, Cook and his crew spent around 48 days repairing the Endeavour near the mouth of the Endeavour River after running aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
During this time Cook had interactions with the local Guugu Yimidhirr Aboriginal people from whom Cook recorded the word for the bouncing marsupial animal, the gangarru, which we know today as the kangaroo.
