This report outlines the archival and archaeological evidence that confirms the identification of the shipwreck site of Lord Sandwich, formerly HMB Endeavour. The site, officially known by its Rhode Island state archaeological site number RI 2394, is in Newport Harbor, in the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, USA. As the culmination of a 26-year program of archival and archaeological research, the identification of RI 2394 as Lord Sandwich (ex-HMB Endeavour) was based on a ‘preponderance of evidence’ approach.
When Endeavour returned to England in 1771, it largely passed out of public view. The vessel was instead used as a naval transport before being sold to private owners, who renamed the bark Lord Sandwich and used it to carry troops to the American colonies in support of British campaigns. In 1778, the vessel was in poor condition and relegated to gaoling American prisoners of war in Newport Harbor. When American and French forces besieged the British-held town, Lord Sandwich was one of thirteen vessels scuttled (deliberately sunk) to act as a submerged blockade. It was never salvaged and remained where it sank.
In 1998, two Australian historians, Mike Connell and Des Liddy, determined Endeavour’s fate via archival research (Connell and Liddy 1997). Dr Kathy Abbass of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) built upon their work, and consequently in 1999 the state of Rhode Island laid claim to the wrecks of all ships scuttled in Newport Harbor in 1778. This claim was upheld by the District Court of the US Federal Government, leaving the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission (RIHPHC) responsible for protecting and licensing any archaeological work on these shipwrecks, including Lord Sandwich (ex-HMB Endeavour).
The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) commenced working with RIMAP in 1999 to locate the shipwreck site of Lord Sandwich. This relationship led to a series of archaeological expeditions in Newport Harbor in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004. These projects undertook remote sensing of the seafloor, underwater survey by divers, and analysis of samples of stone, coal, timber, and sediment raised from a range of shipwreck sites of 18th-century vintage. None of the candidate sites proved to share sufficient characteristics to be identified as the wreck site of Lord Sandwich.
The RIMAP-ANMM project resumed in 2015, and further diving expeditions continued to survey a large area of Newport Harbor. In 2016, new research by ANMM’s Dr Nigel Erskine located archival evidence that substantially narrowed the location within the harbour in which Lord Sandwich was scuttled (Erskine 2017). This Limited Study Area (LSA), just to the north of Goat Island, encompassed five of the 13 transports sunk in 1778, of which Lord Sandwich was the largest by a substantial margin (Abbass 2016: 2–4). Between 2017 and 2021, the project team investigated the remains of five shipwrecks located within the LSA: RI 2396, RI 2397, RI 2578, RI 2393, and RI 2394 (Abbass 2016, 2017, 2021; Abbass and Lynch 2019; Lynch and Abbass 2020; Broadwater 2020; Broadwater and Daniel 2021).
The two largest shipwreck sites, RI 2578 and RI 2394, were considered the most likely candidates for the remains of Lord Sandwich. Archaeological survey of RI 2578 has revealed a 14.0 metre x 8.2 metre site comprised of a linear stone ballast pile mixed with iron kentledge (ballast blocks).
The site also includes eroded ship’s timbers that are thought to be associated with the ballast pile (Abbass 2016 and 2017; Hosty 2016 and 2017). Although a substantial iron anchor and a small iron cannon are also present, RI 2578 does not feature sufficient characteristics to be identified as Lord Sandwich.
RI 2394 is substantially larger than RI 2578, with visible remains covering an area 18.2 metres long x 7.3 metres wide (Abbass 2016: 52). It comprises a linear stone ballast pile with a line of exposed, articulated timber frames (ribs) of substantial size along its eastern periphery. Four iron cannons are also visible on the site, along with a lead scupper. Analyses have been undertaken on the site’s hull timbers, ballast, and artefacts.
Excavation permits granted by RIHPHC between 2019 and 2021 allowed more detailed investigation of RI 2394, including exposure of hull architecture and diagnostic features such as the bilge pump well, the keel and keelson, and, in 2021, the bow assembly. The dimensions of a range of structural timbers – collectively referred to as ‘scantlings’ Australian National Maritime Museum – Locating HMB Endeavour – compare favourably with measurements taken when Endeavour was surveyed by the Royal Navy in 1768. Timber samples have also been taken on three occasions, with the most recent batch collected in September 2021. Analysis of the most recent samples, while not containing evidence of exotic species (e.g., non-European timbers that may have been used to repair Endeavour in Australia and/ or Indonesia in 1770), do seem to indicate the bow section of RI 2394 underwent significant repairs that utilised European timbers later in its life (Ilic 2022: 1). This evidence correlates well with the history of HMB Endeavour, which underwent significant repairs in 1776, shortly after being sold out of naval service. Site measurements and probing of the seafloor have also confirmed the extent of RI 2394’s surviving hull (from bilge pump to bow) is very close to that of Endeavour between those same locations. RI 2394 shares other similarities with Endeavour, including the placement of paired and tripled floor timbers that correspond exactly with the locations of Endeavour’s main and fore masts, and the presence of a very unusual joint or scarph that connected the stempost and forward end of the keel.
In 1999 and again in 2019, RIMAP and ANMM agreed on a set of criteria that, if satisfied, would permit identification of RI 2394 as Lord Sandwich (see Abbass 1999; RIMAP and ANMM 2019). Based on the agreed preponderance of evidence approach, enough of these criteria have now been met for the ANMM to positively identify RI 2394 as the remnants of Lord Sandwich, formerly James Cook’s HMB Endeavour. Given Endeavour’s historical and cultural significance to Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, England, the United States of America and First Nations peoples throughout the Pacific Ocean, positive identification of its shipwreck site requires securing the highest possible level of legislative and physical protection for RI 2394.
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THE REPORT | SEP 2025 | ISSUE 113 | 129
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