Museum presents new claims for Endeavour shipwreck

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New evidence has emerged supporting the controversial claim that explorer Captain Cook’s ship HMB Endeavour was shipwrecked off the US coastline after being deliberately scuttled by British forces during the American War of Independence.

Daryl Karp, Australian National Maritime Museum chief executive, said their archaeologists had uncovered further evidence that the wreck located at Newport Harbour, Rhode Island, south of Boston, was the Endeavour.

A painting by John Alcott of Captain Cook’s HMB Endeavour entering Botany Bay .Credit:

The museum’s claim about finding the Endeavour was first aired in February 2022. However, the museum’s research partner, the Rhode Island Maritime Archaeology Project, rejected assertions that the wreck had been definitively identified, vowing not to be swayed by “Australian emotions or politics”.

“What we see on the shipwreck site under study is consistent of what might be the Endeavour, but there has been no indisputable data to prove the site is that iconic vessel,” the project’s executive director Kathy Abbass said at the time. “There were many unanswered questions that could overturn such an identification.”

On Thursday morning, Karp said two new discoveries had been made, including the location of a pump well, used to pump out the bilges, and also an unusual woodworking joint known as a keel-stem scarph joint in the bow section.

She said that “no further dissenting responses to its decision” had been received in almost two years since the announcement.

A maritime museum diver at what is believed to be the wreck of HMB Endeavour.

Marine archaeologist Dr James Hunter told the Herald the starboard side of the vessel is buried in mud which affords some protection and is possibly reasonably well-preserved.

“Generally when you have excavated this much of a wreck site you have got thousands of artefacts. Because Endeavour was a prison hulk they may have thoroughly cleaned the vessel. There would have been sweeping and washing and all those items would have gone overboard.

“Interestingly though, and we haven’t mentioned this, there is one thing we have found in the bilge [bottom inside of hull] and that’s coal – a lot of coal.

“We are talking fist-sized chunks of coal and that’s because it [Endeavour] was a collier [bulk cargo ship that often carried coal]. I think it’s just rattled down from when it was a collier and got stuck in the bilge.”

The reasons why the museum believes it is the Endeavour: Slide the image over the original plans of the vessel to reveal what has been discovered on the sea bed.

Kieran Hosty, marine archaeology manager, said the museum was keen to return to the site.

“We could 3D model the site so people who can’t dive there can get an impression of what it looks like. We would like to work with the Rhode Island government to do that. If it means working with Rhode Island Maritime Archaeology Project we’ll work with them; we’ll work with anyone who is willing to help us on this site.

“I have heard people mention about raising these hulls, but the cost would be astronomical, and is it really worth it? It is too politically loaded, I think. To raise a vessel like this you are looking at millions and millions and millions of dollars. It’s not feasible, for a long time.”

Asked to compare the Endeavour with the Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s flagship raised in 1982, he said the Mary Rose sank under different circumstances. “It sank in deeper [protective] mud,” he said. “Here we are looking at the lower starboard side of the ship. I would say we have got 10, maybe 15 per cent of the ship left. With the Mary Rose there was probably 30 per cent.”

A summary of the new information is now available on the museum’s Deep Dive web page. The final archaeological report has undergone review and will be released next year.

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