Update on Finding HMS Endeavour

October 2019  :  Francine Jackson

It was a privilege recently to be invited to a press conference at Goat Island, for an announcement of the work being done by the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP), the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) and SilentWorld Foundation (SWF), concerning the identification of one of the ships sunk in Narragansett Bay.

During the Revolutionary War, in order to prevent needed supplies from reaching the colonists, the British in 1778 sank several of their own ships to create a blockade. One of the amazing aspects of this sinking was that the ships weren’t just hit with cannon fire, but sailors deliberately punched holes in the bottoms of each ship, in order to have them literally drop into the water.

For many years, it has been believed that one of these ships was the Lord Sandwich, a British supply ship that had been purchased from their Navy. If so, for the Australians, this was a very important part of their history.

Commanded by Captain James Cook, as a part of a three-year round-the-world expedition, this ship, then named the Endeavour, in March of 1770 reached what is now Australia, and claimed it for Great Britain. For the Australians, this act is equal to the 1620 landing of the Mayflower. Because of this, the country has sent divers to work with those from RIMAP and SWF, in attempts to confirm whether one specific ship is indeed this historic vessel. Artifacts have been retrieved, and its construction as seen by the divers is making this ship, lying right off the coast of Goat Island, a good candidate for the Endeavour.

For astronomical historians, this find would also be of great importance, as the Endeavour left Great Britain to observe the 1769 transit of Venus on the island of Tahiti. As the actual distance between the Sun and the Earth (the astronomical unit) was not known in the 18th century, it was believed observing a Venus transit could most accurately determine this very number, and the observations taken during this time aided astronomers in attempting to learn this important figure.

Based on designs from the 18th century, the Australian government is planning on sailing a model of the Endeavour around a portion of the country in 2020, in honor of this historic anniversary; but, to know the original ship has in fact been identified here in Rhode Island waters would be a tremendous discovery, both for Australia and for science historians.