to America. The repaired bow, constructed from European timbers, fits with this timeline and supports the vessel’s later identity as Lord Sandwich.
In addition to the physical materials, researchers noted construction features unique to Endeavour, such as the use of paired and tripled floor timbers positioned precisely where the ship’s main and fore masts would have stood. A particularly rare joint—a scarph connecting the stempost to the forward end of the keel—was also observed on RI 2394, matching details specific to Endeavour’s original build.
In both 1999 and 2019, RIMAP and the ANMM established a set of criteria that would be used to determine the wreck’s identity. These criteria, based on a “preponderance of evidence” approach, combined historical documentation, structural analysis, material identification, and archaeological context. With the publication of this final report, the ANMM has declared that enough of these criteria have now been met to positively identify RI 2394 as the wreck of Lord Sandwich, formerly His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour.
Given the vessel’s historical and cultural importance to Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Indigenous peoples throughout the Pacific, the ANMM emphasises the need for the highest level of legislative and physical protection of the site. The discovery brings closure to a long- standing historical mystery and marks a significant moment in international maritime heritage.
Mosaic showing frame and scuttling hole beneath letter board, north is at bottom of image. Photo credit: (John D. Broadwater).
The identification of RI 2394 not only confirms the final resting place of Endeavour, but also invites broader reflection on the complex legacies of exploration, science, colonisation, and conflict that the ship represents. More than 250 years after it first set sail from England, Endeavour continues to shape conversations about history, identity, and the maritime world. With this confirmation, a tangible piece of that history has been brought back into view.
Read the Executive Summary taken from the report itself...
His Majesty’s Bark (HMB) Endeavour is a significant vessel in Australian maritime history and one that elicits mixed opinions. For some, the Pacific voyage led by James Cook between 1768 and 1771 embodies
128 | ISSUE 113 | SEP 2025 | THE REPORT
the spirit of Europe’s Age of Enlightenment, while for others it symbolises the onset of colonisation and the subjugation of First Nations Peoples. Less well understood in Australia is Endeavour’s afterlife as a British troop transport and prison ship caught up in the American War of Independence. It was in this capacity – and renamed Lord Sandwich – that the vessel was deliberately sunk in Rhode Island in 1778.
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