The Endeavour finally located?
For several years, researchers have been exploring the waters of Newport harbour (USA) in search of the wreck of the Endeavour, on board which the navigator James Cook led an expedition from 1768 to 1771. Voluntarily scuttled in 1778, it has never been precisely located. Only certain parts of the ship remained, including six cannons and an anchor.
At the beginning of February 2022, the remains of the Endeavour may have been found off the coast of Rhode Island. Indeed, a team of Australian researchers would have located the wreck. It would remain about 15% of the original ship, after 244 years of immersion in salt water. But the American researchers tempered the Australian statements, finding that these are hasty conclusions that must be validated scientifically.
Merchant ship, expedition ship
From 1768 to 1771, the British lieutenant of the Royal Navy James Cook (navigator, explorer and British cartographer) left for Tahiti to observe the passage of Venus over the Polynesian island for three months, before exploring the South Seas and discovering the Terra Australis. A crew of 94 sailors embarked on the Endeavour, a three-masted square-rigged ship initially built to transport goods in 1764. She was 106 feet (32 m) long and built of oak. Convinced of its marine qualities and its robustness, James Cook convinced the Admiralty to buy it for the scientific expedition.
For 4 months, the explorer mapped the coasts of New Holland (the former name of Australia), before the Endeavour hit a reef in 1770. The major damage to the hull suspended the expedition. Repairs were first carried out on the Australian coast and then in Jakarta.
A voluntary scuttling in 1778
Forgotten after the expedition, the Endeavour was used again for 4 years to transport goods to the Falkland Islands. In 1775, she took on a military function and changed her name. She was used to transport troops during the American Revolution, before being voluntarily scuttled for the blockade of Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island in 1778.
