US disputes Aussie claim Captain Cook’s Endeavour found

While Australia has declared Captain James Cook’s ship, HMS Endeavour, has been found, the US research team working on the wreck have disputed the call. SEE THE PHOTOS, VIDEO.

One of the most important – and in the eyes of some, controversial – vessels in Australia’s history was at the centre of an international row Thursday afternoon, after experts announced they had found the long-lost ship.

In a major announcement on Thursday morning, researchers from the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) said they had confirmed that Captain James Cook’s vessel, HMS Endeavour, was one of five wrecks sunk by the British off the US east coast during the American Revolutionary War.

“I am satisfied that this is the final resting place of one of the most important and contentious vessels in Australia’s maritime history,” the museum’s director and CEO, Kevin Sumption said.

“The last pieces of the puzzle had to be confirmed before I felt able to make this call. Based on archival and archaeological evidence, I’m convinced it’s the Endeavour.”

Is it or isn’t it? The ANMM says it is “satisfied” this is the HMS Endeavour.

US researchers say the announcement is premature. Picture: James Hunter

But hours later the US research team collaborating with the Australian museum in the wreck project off Rhode Island slammed the news, saying the announcement was premature and not necessarily correct.

In a scathing statement Dr Kathy Abbass, executive director of Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP), said her organisation “now and always has been” the lead partner and that its conclusions will be “driven by proper scientific process and not Australian emotions or politics”.

“The Australian National Maritime Museum announcement today is a breach of the contract between RIMAP and the ANMM for the conduct of this research and how its results are to be shared with the public,” she said.

“What we see on the shipwreck site under study is consistent with what might be expected of the Endeavour, but there has been no indisputable data found to prove the site is that iconic vessel, and there are many unanswered questions that could overturn such an identification.

“When the study is done, RIMAP will post the legitimate report on its website at: www.rimap.org. Meanwhile, 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.”

Maritime archaeologists have been investigating the remains of the vessel since 1999. Picture: James Hunter

Confirmation was made possible by extensive examination of the timber remains and combing through records. Picture: ANMM

Maritime archaeologists have been investigating the remains of the scuttled vessels, clustered in a five square kilometre area in Newport Harbor off Rhode Island, since 1999.

It has long been speculated that one was Endeavour, which was the first European vessel to reach the east coast of Australia in 1770.

The museum said confirmation was made possible by extensive examination of the timber remains and combing through records.

Only around 15 per cent of the vessel remains. Picture: James Hunter

While the Endeavour has traditionally been celebrated by many as the vessel that brought Cook to Australia, his voyage here is sometimes held up as a dramatic turning point for indigenous Australians, because it blazed the trail for further European settlement and associated suffering of First Nations people.

The original Endeavour was first launched in 1764 as the Earl of Pembroke before it was renamed Endeavour. Picture: Australian National Maritime Museum

The remains are clustered in a five square kilometre area in Newport Harbor off Rhode Island. Picture: Australian National Maritime Museum

The arrival of Covid-19 in 2020 forced the abandonment of an official circumnavigation of Australia by the Sydney-based replica of the Endeavour, in a project focusing on reconciliation as well as history, around the 250th anniversary of Cook’s arrival.

However the scientific work on the wreck continued.

“It’s an important historical moment, as this vessel’s role in exploration, astronomy and science applies not just to Australia, but also Aotearoa New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States,” Mr Sumption said Thursday, before Dr Abbass’ fiery response.

“Although only around 15 per cent of the vessel remains, 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 of course with the Australian, Rhode Island and US Governments to secure the site.”

That work may now be a little harder, with relations firsty at the very least.

On Thursday afternoon a museum spokesperson brushed aside Dr Abbass’ statement.

“We don’t believe we are in breach of contract,” the spokesperson told the Canberra Times. “She can have her opinion and we’ve got ours.”

Has the last piece of the puzzle been solved? Picture: Australian National Maritime Museum

The original Endeavour was first launched in 1764 as the Earl of Pembroke before it was renamed Endeavour by the British Royal Navy four years later.

Over the next three years, the ship voyaged to the South Pacific, firstly on an astronomical mission to record the transit of Venus in Tahiti, before charting Australia’s east coast and the coast of New Zealand in 1770. It was then used as a Royal Navy transport.

In 1775 it was found to be in poor condition and was sold to a private owner who renamed it Lord Sandwich – then leased it back to the Royal Navy as a troop transport during the American Revolution.

By 1778 it was being used to hold imprisoned rebels in Newport Harbor – where it was sunk, along with the other four ships, to block off the harbour to approaching French warships, coming to support the revolutionaries.

One year later Cook was killed in Hawaii while on his third Pacific voyage.