Discovery celebrations are a long way off for sceptical locals

What’s left of the Captain Cook’s Endeavour won’t be coming back to Australia, and it probably won’t ever see dry land again.

The final resting place of the wreck of the ship Captain Cook sailed to Australia in, the HMB Endeavou off Newport Harbour, Rhode Island.

If it turns out the Endeavour, the ship that brought Captain James Cook to Botany Bay in 1770, is resting a few hundred metres off the coast of Newport, Rhode ­Island, what’s left of the vessel won’t be coming back to Australia, and it probably won’t ever see dry land again.

What remains of the 30m ­storied craft in which Cook chartered New Zealand and Australia will likely become an underwater museum and another tourist boon for the picture-postcard ­resort town that is modern Newport.

“I’ve been around the council 20 years, long enough to know people’s hopes about the Endeavour have been dashed before,” Newport mayor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano told The Australian.

“It would be just wonderful though if it were; it means a lot to both the US and Australia, and would doubtless become another reason to visit Newport.”

Deborah Ruggiero, a member of the Rhode Island state government, was puzzled when Australian Maritime Museum director Kevin Sumption said last week he was “convinced” researchers had found the final resting place of the ship.

“Why did the Australians ­release this without confirmation of the actual data from Rhode ­Island Marine Archaeology Project?” she asked.

“If – and I say if because it has not been confirmed yet – if it truly is Captain Cook’s Endeavour it would be really great news for Rhode Island and Newport as it’s yet another tourist attraction for the city by the sea,” she said.

Kathy Abbass, the lead American researcher on a team of scientists who have been investigating the wreck since the 1990s, called the claim “premature … [given] many unanswered questions that could overturn such an identification”.

Newport, the sailing capital of America, teeming with yachts and steeped in maritime history, would be a fitting resting place for the signature ship of one of the world’s greatest seamen.

It is still the glamorous city where John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline married, chock full of art galleries, and high-end shops and restaurants to cater to the throng of wealthy tourists who descend on the port every summer.

Kersey Sturdivant, a marine scientist in Newport, said the wreck was sitting under about 30m of water. “I’ve never known a boat like that to be salvaged,” he said, suggesting the site would end up a museum for divers.

Almost everyone seemed to have an opinion on the Endeavour. “I’m sure the US will do everything it can to keep it here because it’ll bring in money,” said Michelle Johnson, a waitress at Pour Judgement, a local pub.

Ed Lupo, a retiree who sailed around Newport for 40 years, wanted to see a “brass plaque”.

“I don’t know what they’ll bring up, but I don’t think there’ll be much,” he said.

David Ensor, a 24-year-old ­barista who has lived his life in Newport, was ambivalent too.

“I’ve got to say I’m doubtful it’s the Endeavour at all – just because it seems like every few years we get a story similar to this,” Mr Ensor said.

Rhode Island scientists are ­reviewing the new Australian evidence, ahead of their own verdict within weeks.

“The last time we thought we found it we arranged to send a piece up into space in the Endeavour space shuttle,” Ruth Taylor, executive director of the Newport Historical Society, said.

“But it wasn’t, and for a bunch of years I had a piece hanging in my office as a reminder not to jump to conclusions.”

For Erik Brine, the director of Defence Research and Development at the University of Rhode Island, the discovery would be “an amazing opportunity to bring our two countries closer, especially given the 75th anniversary of ANZUS, and the very important AUKUS agreement” last year.

The US Navy’s Virginia ­nuclear submarines, one of which might end up in Australia as per that agreement, are being built on the other side of the harbour.

The Secretary of Commerce for Rhode Island, Stefan Pryor said an Endeavour discovery would boost Newport’s “blue economy” – development of cutting-edge ocean technology and water tourism.

“Australia and Rhode Island share a vibrant maritime history,” he said.

“Work on this discovery will strengthen our already-important relationship.”