James Cook's HMS Endeavour Found in Rhode Island Harbor? Maybe, Maybe Not

A Thursday morning announcement from the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) that the HMS Endeavour, James Cook's ship that was used to chart the east coast of Australia and much of New Zealand's coast, was found along the coast of Rhode Island was quickly deemed to be premature by the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP).

The ship, launched in 1764, conducted several scientific voyages across the South Pacific and served as a supply transport ship for the Royal Navy until it was sold to private owners in 1775 and renamed the Earl of Sandwich. It was hired again by the Navy to transport British soldiers to the American colonies in 1776 to fight in the American Revolutionary War before being scuttled (intentionally sunk) to create a blockade in a Rhode Island harbor in 1778, where it has laid underwater for over 200 years, the ANMM statement said.

Kevin Sumpton, Director of the ANMM, announced that a shipwreck identified recently in a two-square-mile area in Rhode Island's Newport Harbor has several defining characteristics that he believed were substantial enough to announce that it was indeed the Endeavour.

"I am satisfied that this is the final resting place of one of the most important and contentious vessels in Australia's maritime history," Sumpton said. "Since 1999, we have been investigating several 18th-century shipwrecks in a two square mile area where we believed that Endeavour sank, however, the last pieces of the puzzle had to be confirmed before I felt able to make this call."

However, a statement that followed later Thursday morning from RIMAP executive director D.K. Abbas accused Sumpton of breaching the contract the organizations had for their joint research project in the region and said the announcement was premature.

"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," Abbas said in a statement.

Abbas said that RIMAP understands the importance of the vessel to Australia's history, but the decision to confirm that the ship is the Endeavour will be guided by "proper scientific process and not Australian emotions or politics."

The Endeavour was the ship Cook used to chart part of the country's coast and claim it for the British Empire in 1770 during an expedition that included killing several of the indigenous Maori people, according to The Associated Press.

The ANMM statement describes several findings that led to the conclusion, including the location the ship was discovered being consistent with historical records of where it may have sunk, as well as the size and other structural details of the ship consistent with other records.

The statement said about 15 percent of the ship remains intact underwater, and the next step it plans to take is working in conjunction with RIMAP and the U.S. and Australian governments to "protect and preserve" what remains of the vessel.

RIMAP's statement said once their study of the vessel is complete, the full, "legitimate" report will be posted on its website describing the findings.