National Maritime Museum confirms final resting place of Cook,s historic vessel


The Australian National Maritime Museum has released its final report, Locating HM Bark Endeavour, concluding a decades-long effort to determine the fate and final resting place of one of the most significant vessels in maritime history. This comprehensive document details the archival research, archaeological work, and international collaboration that has led to the confirmed identification of shipwreck site RI 2394, located in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island, USA, as the remains of the British troop transport Lord Sandwich, formerly His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour.


1768 draft body plan of Earl of Pembroke produced at the dockyard at Deptford just after the British Admiralty bought the vessel. Note the ‘rider’ or ‘deadwood’ keelson. Image credit: Australasian Pioneers’ Club collection.


Endeavour holds a complex place in Australia’s maritime and cultural memory. For some, the ship’s Pacific voyage between 1768 and 1771 under the command of James Cook represents a heroic chapter of Enlightenment science and navigation. For others, it marks the beginning of European colonisation and the enduring dispossession of First Nations peoples. While the vessel’s role in Australian history is well known, its later use as a prison ship during the American War of Independence is less understood.


Following its return to England in 1771, Endeavour was repurposed as a naval transport and eventually sold into private hands. Renamed Lord Sandwich, the ship was employed to carry British troops to the American colonies. By 1778, the vessel was in poor condition and was being used to house American prisoners of war in Newport Harbor. When American and French forces laid siege to the town, the British command scuttled thirteen vessels in the harbour, including Lord Sandwich, to form a submerged blockade. Unlike other vessels that were later salvaged, Lord Sandwich remained beneath the water where it was sunk.


In 1998, Australian historians Mike Connell and Des Liddy published research identifying Endeavour’s ultimate fate. Their archival work revealed the vessel’s renaming and sinking in Rhode Island. Building upon these findings, Dr Kathy Abbass of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) worked to identify the location of the scuttled ships. In 1999, the state of Rhode Island asserted legal ownership of all thirteen wrecks in Newport Harbor, a claim upheld by the US Federal District Court. This decision placed responsibility for protecting and licensing archaeological work on these sites with the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission (RIHPHC).


126 | ISSUE 113 | SEP 2025 | THE REPORT


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