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The remains of captain Cook’s ship, HMS Endeavour, has been located off the US coast after sinking 250 years ago.
Between 1768 and 1771, the ship became the first European vessel to reach eastern Australia. It was then sold and renamed the Lord Sandwich before sinking off the US coast during the American War of Independence in 1778.
For centuries the ship was lost, but now the wreck has been found in Newport Harbour, Rhode Island.
The finding was announced in a new report by the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) and experts have identified the wreck as RI 2394.
Daryl Karp, Museum director explained the findings in the report are the result of 25 years of archaeological research and underwater investigations.
open image in gallery Edward Fage, [Newport and its environs, ca. 1778], William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, 8380. Note ‘Sunken Ships’ indicated due west of North Battery (circled) ( Australian National Maritime Museum )
The shipwreck was compared to historic plans for Cook’s ship revealing measurements aligned with those taken of a 1768 survey.
Kieran Hosty, ANMM archaeologist, who co-wrote the report, said: “The timbers are British timbers. The size of all the timber scantlings are almost identical to Endeavour, and I’m talking within millimetres - not inches, but millimetres.
“The stem scarf is identical, absolutely identical. This stem scarf is also a very unique feature - we’ve gone through a whole bunch of 18th-century ship’s plans, and we can’t find anything else like it.”
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