The Australian National Maritime Museum commenced its collaboration with RIMAP in 1999. Together they launched a series of expeditions in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2004, deploying remote sensing technologies, diver surveys, and laboratory analysis of samples of timber, coal, stone ballast, and sediment from 18th-century shipwreck sites in the harbour. Despite these efforts, none of the early sites examined could be conclusively identified as Lord Sandwich.
Extract from the body plans of His Majesty’s Sloop Raleigh as taken off at Woolwich in November 1771. Photo credit: Royal Museums Greenwich 19483.
In 2015, the partnership resumed with renewed focus. A breakthrough came in 2016 when Dr Nigel Erskine of the ANMM uncovered critical archival documents that narrowed the probable location of Lord Sandwich to a specific area just north of Goat Island in Newport Harbor. This Limited Study Area (LSA) included five of the original thirteen transports sunk in 1778, with Lord Sandwich known to be the largest among them.
Between 2017 and 2021, researchers conducted systematic surveys of five wreck sites in the LSA: RI 2396, RI 2397, RI 2578, RI 2393, and RI 2394. Of these, the two largest—RI 2578 and RI 2394—emerged as the most likely candidates for Lord Sandwich. RI 2578 revealed a stone ballast pile mixed with iron kentledge and eroded ship’s timbers. A small cannon and an iron anchor were also present, but the dimensions and features did not match what is known of Endeavour’s construction.
By contrast, RI 2394 exhibited characteristics much more consistent with Lord Sandwich. The site, measuring 18.2 metres long by 7.3 metres wide, includes a linear stone ballast pile, a line of exposed timber frames (or ribs) on its eastern side, and four iron cannons. A lead scupper and other diagnostic elements further strengthened its candidacy. RIHPHC permits granted between 2019 and 2021 allowed for deeper excavation, which exposed significant structural features of the ship’s hull including the bilge pump well, the keel and keelson, and eventually, in 2021, the bow assembly.
The analysis of the site’s timbers proved particularly compelling. The size and layout of key structural components—referred to as ‘scantlings’—matched those documented during the Royal Navy’s 1768 survey of Endeavour. While some had hoped to find evidence of tropical woods that might have been used during repairs in Australia or Indonesia, the timbers sampled in 2021 were of European origin. This aligns with records that indicate Endeavour underwent significant repairs in 1776, after its sale out of naval service and shortly before it was sent
THE REPORT | SEP 2025 | ISSUE 113 | 127
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