Cook’s Endeavour Found on Sea Floor

As marine archaeological finds go, this is a biggie: The remains of Captain Cook’s famous HMS Endeavour has been found by scientists at the bottom of Narragansett Bay, just off Newport, RI. The little-known chronology of how she got there is a fascinating tale.

As every nautical history buff knows, English Captain James Cook made his first, and most famous, voyage of discovery aboard the 97-ft HMS Endeavour. From 1768 to 1771 he, his crew and a contingent of scientists made dozens of important scientific observations, claimed great land masses for the British crown — including Australia — and returned home without losing a single crewman in an era when scurvy and other horrors typically diminished crew rosters by as much as 50%.

While Cook achieved widespread notoriety for his accomplishments and was quickly commissioned to lead a second voyage aboard the larger HMS Resolute, the Endeavour was largely forgotten. She was considered too old and damaged to be of further use to the Royal Navy, and was sold to a shipping firm. But five years later, at the height of the American Revolution, she was ‘recruited’ into service again, albeit ignobly, under the name HMS Lord Sandwich. Sailed to North America as a troop carrier and destined to serve as a prison ship, she was ultimately blown up in Newport Harbor in an attempt to create a blockade. At least 13 ships ended up at the bottom of the bay during that battle, all of which, say researchers, are historically significant. For more on this ongoing research see the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project’s website.