The wreck of the HMS Endeavour, the ship once sailed by Captain James Cook, has finally been confirmed to be in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island, USA. This ship made history as the first European vessel to reach New Zealand in the late 1700s. Researchers had debated its location for years, but a new report settles the mystery.
The discovery was made after 25 years of work by experts from the Australian National Maritime Museum. They studied the underwater site and compared it to historical ship plans. They found wooden beams in the same spots as the ship’s original masts and measurements that matched surveys from 1768. Tests also showed the wood came from Europe, just like the original ship materials.
Originally called the Endeavour, the ship was renamed the Lord Sandwich in 1775 and later sank during the American War of Independence in 1778. The ANMM first said they had found it in 2022, but their U.S. partners, the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, disagreed at the time.
Now, after detailed studies, the ANMM says there’s strong evidence the wreck is truly the famous Endeavour. This ship once carried explorers to Australia and New Zealand and is a key part of maritime history.
