 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg) Great Britain | |
| Name | Endeavour |
| Operator | Thomas Millner,Royal Navy,J. Mather |
| Builder | Thomas Fishburn,Whitby[1] |
| Launched | June 1764 |
| Acquired | 28 March 1768 asEarl of Pembroke[2] |
| Commissioned | 26 May 1768 |
| Decommissioned | September 1774 |
| Out of service | March 1775, sold |
| Renamed | Lord Sandwich, February 1776 |
| Home port | Plymouth, United Kingdom |
| Fate | Scuttled,Newport, Rhode Island, 1778 |
| General characteristics[3] | |
| Class & type | Bark |
| Tons burthen | 36649⁄94 (bm)[4] |
| Length | 97 ft 8 in (29.77 m)[4][a] |
| Beam | 29 ft 2 in (8.89 m)[4] |
| Depth of hold | 11 ft 4 in (3.45 m)[4] |
| Sail plan |
|
| Speed | 7 to 8 knots (13 to 15 km/h) maximum |
| Boats & landing craft carried | yawl,pinnace,longboat, twoskiffs |
| Complement | |
| Armament | 104-pdrs, 12swivel guns |
HMSEndeavour[b] was aRoyal Navyresearch vessel that LieutenantJames Cook commanded toTahiti, New Zealand and Australia on hisfirst voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771.
She was launched in 1764 as thecollierEarl of Pembroke, with the Navy purchasing her in 1768 for a scientific mission to the Pacific Ocean and to explore the seas for the surmisedTerra Australis Incognita or "unknown southern land". Commissioned asHis Majesty's BarkEndeavour, she departedPlymouth in August 1768, roundedCape Horn and reached Tahiti in time to observe the 1769transit of Venus across the Sun. She then set sail into the largely uncharted ocean to the south, stopping at the islands ofHuahine,Bora Bora, andRaiatea west of Tahiti to allow Cook to claim them for Great Britain. In September 1769, she anchored off New Zealand, becoming the first European vessel to reach the islands sinceAbel Tasman'sHeemskerck 127 years earlier.
In April 1770,Endeavour became the first European ship to reach the east coast of Australia, with Cook going ashore at what is now known asBotany Bay.Endeavour then sailed north along the Australian coast. She narrowly avoided disaster after running aground on theGreat Barrier Reef, and Cook had to throw her guns overboard to lighten her.Endeavour was beached on the Australian mainland for seven weeks to permit repairs to her hull. Resuming her voyage, she limped into port inBatavia in October 1770, her crew sworn to secrecy about the lands that they had visited. From BataviaEndeavour continued westward, rounded theCape of Good Hope on 13 March 1771 and reached the English port ofDover on 12 July, having been at sea for nearly three years.
The ship was largely forgotten after her Pacific voyage, spending the next three years hauling troops and cargo to and from theFalkland Islands. She was renamed in 1775 after being sold into private hands, and used to transport timber from the Baltic. Rehired as a British troop transport during theAmerican War of Independence, she was finallyscuttled in a blockade ofNarragansett Bay, Rhode Island, in 1778. Historical evidence indicates the ship was sunk just north ofGoat Island in Newport Harbor, along with four other British transports.[9]
Relics fromEndeavour are displayed at maritime museums worldwide, including an anchor and six of her cannon. Areplica ofEndeavour was launched in 1994 and is berthed alongside theAustralian National Maritime Museum in Sydney. Multiple geographic features are named after the ship, including theEndeavour River andEndeavour Reef, as were threespacecraft. The ship is depicted on theNew Zealand fifty-cent coin.
Endeavour was originally the merchantcollierEarl of Pembroke, built by Thomas Fishburn for Thomas Millner, launched in June 1764 from the coal and whalingPort of Whitby in theNorth Riding of Yorkshire.[5] She was a type known locally as the "Whitby Cat". She wasship-rigged and sturdily built with a broad, flatbow, a squarestern and a long, box-like body with a deephold.[10]
A flat-bottomed design made her well-suited to sailing in shallow waters and allowed her to bebeached for loading and unloading of cargo and for basic repairs without requiring adry dock. Herhull, internalfloors, andfuttocks were built from traditionalwhite oak, herkeel andstern post fromelm, and her masts frompine andfir.[11] Plans of the ship also show a doublekeelson to lock the keel, floors and frames in place.[12]
There is uncertainty about the height of her standing masts, as surviving diagrams ofEndeavour depict the body of the vessel only, and not the mast plan.[13] While her main and foremast standing spars were standard for her shipyard and era,[14] an annotation on one surviving ship plan in theNational Maritime Museum in Greenwich[15] has the mizzen as "16 yards 29 inches" (15.4 m).[13] If correct, this would produce an oddly truncated mast a full 9 feet (2.7 m) shorter than the naval standards of the day.[16][17] Late twentieth-century research suggests the annotation may be a transcription error with "19 yards 29 inches" (18.1 m) being the true reading. If so, this would more closely conform with both naval standards and the lengths of the other masts.[13]
On 16 February 1768, theRoyal Society petitionedKing George III to finance a scientific expedition to the Pacific to study and observe the 1769transit of Venus across the sun.[18] Royal approval was granted for the expedition, and theAdmiralty elected to combine the scientific voyage with a confidential mission to search the south Pacific for signs of the postulated continentTerra Australis Incognita (or "unknown southern land").[19]
The Royal Society suggested command be given to Scottish geographerAlexander Dalrymple, whose acceptance was conditional on abrevet commission as a captain in the Royal Navy.First Lord of the AdmiraltyEdward Hawke refused, going so far as to say he would rather cut off his right hand than give command of a navy vessel to someone not educated as a seaman.[20] In refusing Dalrymple's command, Hawke was influenced by previous insubordination aboard the sloopHMS Paramour in 1698, when naval officers had refused to take orders from civilian commanderEdmond Halley.[20] The impasse was broken when the Admiralty proposedJames Cook, a naval officer with a background in mathematics andcartography.[21] Acceptable to both parties, Cook was promoted tolieutenant and named as commander of the expedition.[22]
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On 27 May 1768, Cook took command ofEarl of Pembroke, valued in March at £2,307. 5s. 6d. but ultimately purchased for £2,840. 10s. 11d. and assigned for use in the Society's expedition.[2] She was refitted atDeptford by the dock's master shipwrightAdam Hayes on theRiver Thames for the sum of £2,294, almost the price of the ship herself.[23] The hull wasrecaulked andcopper sheathed to protect againstshipworm, and a third internal deck installed to provide cabins, a powder magazine and storerooms.[24] The new cabins provided around 2 square metres (22 sq ft) of floorspace apiece being allocated to Cook and the Royal Society representatives:naturalistJoseph Banks, Banks' assistantsDaniel Solander andHerman Spöring, astronomerCharles Green, and artistsSydney Parkinson andAlexander Buchan.[25] These cabins encircled the officers' mess.[26] The great cabin at the rear of the deck was designed as a workroom for Cook and the Royal Society. On the rear lower deck, cabins facing on to the mates' mess were assigned to lieutenantsZachary Hickes andJohn Gore, ship's surgeon William Monkhouse, the gunner Stephen Forwood,ship's master Robert Molyneux, and thecaptain's clerk Richard Orton.[27][28] The adjoining open mess deck provided sleeping and living quarters for the marines and crew, and additional storage space.[26]
Alongboat,pinnace andyawl were provided as ship's boats, though the longboat was rotten, having to be rebuilt and painted withwhite lead before it could be brought aboard.[29] These were accompanied by two privately owned skiffs, one belonging to theboatswain John Gathrey, and the other to Banks.[30] The ship was also equipped with a set of 28 ft (8.5 m) sweeps to allow her to be rowed forward if becalmed or demasted.[25] The refitted vessel was commissioned as His Majesty'sBarkthe Endeavour, to distinguish her from the four-guncutterHMS Endeavour.[5]
On 21 July 1768,Endeavour sailed toGallions Reach on the Thames to take on armaments to protect her against potentially hostile Pacific island natives.[29] Ten 4-pounder cannon were brought aboard, six of which were mounted on the upper deck with the remainder stowed in the hold. Twelve swivel guns were also supplied, and fixed to posts along the quarterdeck, sides and bow.[31] The ship departed forPlymouth on 30 July, for provisioning and crew boarding of 85, including 12 Royal Marines.[32] Cook also ordered that twelve tons ofpig iron be brought on board assailing ballast.[10]
Endeavour departed Plymouth on 26 August 1768, carrying 18 months of provisions for 94 people.[33][c] Livestock on board included pigs, poultry, two greyhounds and a milking goat.[35]
The first port of call wasFunchal in theMadeira Islands, whichEndeavour reached on 12 September. The ship was recaulked and painted, and fresh vegetables, beef and water were brought aboard for the next leg of the voyage.[36] While in port, an accident cost the life of master's mate Robert Weir, who became entangled in the anchor cable and was dragged overboard when the anchor was released.[37] To replace him, Cookpressed a sailor from an American sloop anchored nearby.[36][d]
Endeavour then continued south along the coast of Africa and across theAtlantic to South America, arriving inRio de Janeiro on 13 November 1768. Fresh food and water were brought aboard and the ship departed forCape Horn, which she reached during stormy weather on 13 January 1769. Attempts to round the Cape over the next two days were unsuccessful, andEndeavour was repeatedly driven back by wind, rain and contrary tides. Cook noted that the seas off the Cape were large enough to regularly submerge the bow of the ship as she rode down from the crests of waves.[39] At last, on 16 January the wind eased and the ship was able to pass the Cape and anchor in theBay of Good Success on the Pacific coast.[39] The crew were sent to collect wood and water, while Banks and his team gathered hundreds of plant specimens from along the icy shore. On 17 January two of Banks' servants died from cold while attempting to return to the ship during a heavy snowstorm.[40]
Endeavour resumed her voyage on 21 January 1769, heading west-northwest into warmer weather. She reachedTahiti on 10 April,[41] where she remained for the next three months. The transit of Venus across the Sun occurred on 3 June, and was observed from three separate observatories set up on the shore (there had been concerns that cloud might obscure the event, so additional positions were established to reduce this risk). The main observatory at Fort Venus (now calledPoint Venus) was equipped with three telescopes and manned by astronomer Charles Green, Cook, and Robert Molyneux, the master of theEndeavour.[42]
The transit observed,Endeavour departed Tahiti on 13 July and headed northwest to allow Cook to survey and name theSociety Islands.[43] Landfall was made at Huahine, Raiatea and Borabora, providing opportunities for Cook to claim each of them as British territories. An attempt to land the pinnace on theAustral Island ofRurutu was thwarted by rough surf and the rocky shoreline.[44] On 15 August,Endeavour finally turned south to explore the open ocean forTerra Australis Incognita.[43]
In October 1769,Endeavour reached the coastline of New Zealand, becoming the first European vessel to do so sinceAbel Tasman'sHeemskerck in 1642.[43] Unfamiliar with such ships, theMāori people at Cook's first landing point inPoverty Bay thought the ship was a floating island, or a gigantic bird from their mythical homeland ofHawaiki.[7]Endeavour spent the next six months sailing close to shore,[41] while Cook mapped the coastline and concluded that New Zealand comprised two large islands and was not the hoped-forTerra Australis. In March 1770, the longboat fromEndeavour carried Cook ashore to allow him to formally proclaim British sovereignty over New Zealand.[41] On his return,Endeavour resumed her voyage westward, her crew sighting the east coast of Australia on 19 April.[45] On 29 April, she became the first European vessel to make landfall on the east coast of Australia, when Cook landed one of the ship's boats on the southern shore of what is now known asBotany Bay,New South Wales.[46]
For the next four months, Cook charted the coast of Australia, heading generally northward. Just before 11:00 pm on 11 June 1770, the ship struck a reef,[47] today calledEndeavour Reef, within theGreat Barrier Reef system. The sails were immediately taken down, akedging anchor set and an unsuccessful attempt was made to drag the ship back to open water. The reefEndeavour had struck rose so steeply from the seabed that although the ship was hard aground, Cook measured depths up to 70 feet (21 m) less than one ship's length away.[47]
Cook then ordered that the ship be lightened to help her float off the reef. Iron and stone ballast, spoiled stores and all but four of the ship's guns were thrown overboard, and the ship's drinking water pumped out.[47] The crew attachedbuoys to the discarded guns with the intention of retrieving them later,[48] but this proved impractical. Every man on board took turns on the pumps, including Cook and Banks.[49]
When, by Cook's reckoning, about 40 to 50 long tons (41 to 51 t) of equipment had been thrown overboard, on the next high tide a second unsuccessful attempt was made to pull the ship free.[50] In the afternoon of 12 June, the longboat carried out two large bower anchors, and block and tackle were rigged to the anchor cables to allow another attempt on the evening high tide. The ship had started to take on water through a hole in her hull. Although the leak would certainly increase once off the reef, Cook decided to risk the attempt and at 10:20 pm the ship was floated on the tide and successfully drawn off.[51] The anchors were retrieved, except for one which could not be freed from the seabed and had to be abandoned.[51]
As expected the leak increased once the ship was off the reef, and all three working pumps had to be continually manned. A mistake occurred insounding the depth of water in the hold, when a new man measured the length of a sounding line from the outside plank of the hull where his predecessor had used the top of the cross-beams. The mistake suggested the water depth had increased by about 18 inches (46 cm) between soundings, sending a wave of fear through the ship. As soon as the mistake was realised, redoubled efforts kept the pumps ahead of the leak.[51]
The prospects if the ship sank were grim. The vessel was 24 miles (39 km) from shore[41] and the three ship's boats could not carry the entire crew.[52] Despite this, Banks noted in his journal the calm efficiency of the crew in the face of danger, contrary to stories he had heard of seamen panicking or refusing orders in such circumstances.[53]
Midshipman Jonathon Monkhouse proposedfothering the ship, as he had previously been on a merchant ship which used the technique successfully.[54] He was entrusted with supervising the task, sewing bits ofoakum and wool into an old sail, which was then drawn under the ship to allow water pressure to force it into the hole in the hull. The effort succeeded and soon very little water was entering, allowing the crew to stop two of the three pumps.[55]
Endeavour then resumed her course northward and parallel to the reef, the crew looking for a safe harbour in which to make repairs. On 13 June, the ship came to a broad watercourse that Cook named theEndeavour River.[56] Cook attempted to enter the river mouth, but strong winds and rain preventedEndeavour from crossing thebar until the morning of 17 June. She grounded briefly on a sand spit but was refloated an hour later andwarped into the river proper by early afternoon. The ship was promptly beached on the southern bank andcareened to make repairs to the hull. Torn sails and rigging were also replaced and the hull scraped free of barnacles.[57]
An examination of the hull showed that a piece of coral the size of a man's fist had cleanly sliced through the timbers before breaking off. Surrounded by pieces of oakum from the fother, this coral fragment had helped plug the hole in the hull and preserved the ship from sinking on the reef.[58]
After waiting for the wind,Endeavour resumed her voyage on the afternoon of 5 August 1770, reaching the northernmost point ofCape York Peninsula fifteen days later. On 22 August, Cook was rowed ashore to a small coastal island to proclaim British sovereignty over the eastern Australian mainland.[59] Cook christened his landing placePossession Island, and ceremonial volleys of gunfire from the shore andEndeavour's deck marked the occasion.[60]
Endeavour then resumed her voyage westward along the coast, picking a path through intermittent shoals and reefs with the help of the pinnace, which was rowed ahead to test the water depth.[61] By 26 August she was out of sight of land, and had entered the open waters of theTorres Strait between Australia andNew Guinea, earlier navigated byLuis Váez de Torres in 1606. To keepEndeavour's voyages and discoveries secret, Cook confiscated the log books and journals of all on board and ordered them to remain silent about where they had been.[62]
After a three-day layover off the island ofSavu,Endeavour sailed on toBatavia, the capital of theDutch East Indies, on 10 October.[63] A day later lightning during a sudden tropical storm struck the ship, but the rudimentary "electric chain" orlightning rod that Cook had ordered rigged toEndeavour's mast saved her from serious damage.[64]
The ship remained in very poor condition following her grounding on the Great Barrier Reef in June. The ship's carpenter, John Seetterly, observed that she was "very leaky – makes from twelve to six inches an hour, occasioned by her main keel being wounded in many places,false keel gone from beyond themidships. Wounded on herlarbord side where the greatest leak is but I could not come at it for the water."[65] An inspection of the hull revealed that some unrepaired planks were cut through to within1⁄8 inch (3.2 mm). Cook noted it was a "surprise to every one who saw her bottom how we had kept her above water" for the previous three-month voyage across open seas.[66]
After riding at anchor for two weeks,Endeavour was heaved out of the water on 9 November and laid on her side for repairs. Some damaged timbers were found to be infested withshipworms, which required careful removal to ensure they did not spread throughout the hull.[67] Broken timbers were replaced and the hull recaulked, scraped of shellfish and marine flora, and repainted.[67] Finally, the rigging and pumps were renewed and fresh stores brought aboard for the return journey to England. Repairs and replenishment were completed by Christmas Day 1770, and the next dayEndeavourweighed anchor and set sail westward towards theIndian Ocean.[67]
ThoughEndeavour was now in good condition, her crew were not. During the ship's stay in Batavia, all but 10 of the 94 people aboard had been taken ill withmalaria anddysentery.[68][e] By the timeEndeavour set sail on 26 December, seven crew members had died and another forty were too sick to attend their duties.[67] Over the following twelve weeks, a further 23 died from disease and were buried at sea, including Spöring, Green, Parkinson, and the ship's surgeon William Monkhouse.[41]
Cook attributed the sickness to polluted drinking water, and ordered that it be purified withlime juice, but this had little effect.[71] Jonathan Monkhouse, who had proposed fothering the ship to save her from sinking on the reef, died on 6 February, followed six days later by ship's carpenter John Seetterly, whose skilled repair work in Australia had allowedEndeavour to resume her voyage.[72] The health of the surviving crew members then slowly improved as the month progressed, with the last deaths from disease being threeordinary seamen on 27 February.[73]
On 13 March 1771,Endeavour rounded the Cape of Good Hope and made port inCape Town two days later. Those still sick were taken ashore for treatment.[74] The ship remained in port for four weeks awaiting the recovery of the crew and undergoing minor repairs to her masts.[75] On 15 April, the sick were brought back on board along with ten recruits from Cape Town, andEndeavour resumed her homeward voyage.[76] The English mainland was sighted on 10 July andEndeavour entered the port ofDover two days later.[77]
Approximately one month after his return, Cook was promoted to the rank ofcommander, and by November 1771 was in receipt of Admiralty Orders for asecond expedition, this time aboardHMSResolution.[78] During histhird voyage (second onResolution), Cook was killed during his attemptedkidnapping of the ruling chief of Hawaii atKealakekua Bay on 14 February 1779.[79]
While Cook was fêted for his successful voyage,Endeavour was largely forgotten. Within a week of her return to England, she was directed toWoolwich Dockyard for refitting as a naval transport.[80] Under the command of Lieutenant James Gordon, she then made three return voyages[81] to theFalkland Islands.
The first, under the command of sailing master John Dykes, was to deliver "sufficient provisions to serve 350 men to the end of the year 1772";[82] she sailed from Portsmouth on 8 November 1771, but due to terrible weather did not arrive atPort Egmont (the British base in the Falkland Islands) until 1 March.Endeavour sailed from Port Egmont on 4 May in a three-month non-stop voyage until she anchored at Portsmouth.
The second voyage was to reduce the garrison and replace HM SloopHound, John Burr Commander, with a smaller vessel, namely the 36-tonshallopPenguin, commander Samuel Clayton. She was a collapsible vessel and was no sooner built than taken apart, and the pieces were stowed inEndeavour.Endeavour sailed in November with Hugh Kirkland as the sailing master, and additionally the crew ofPenguin, and four ship's carpenters whose job was to reassemblePenguin on arrival, which was 28 January 1773. On 17 AprilEndeavour andHound sailed for England with their crew. One ofPenguin's crew was Bernard Penrose who wrote an account.[83] Samuel Clayton also wrote an account.[84]
The third voyage sailed in January 1774 with her purpose to evacuate the Falklands entirely as Britain was faced with political difficulties from the American Colonies, the French and the Spanish. The government assessed that if British ships and troops were engaged in America, Spain might seize the Falklands, capturing the small garrison at Port Egmont with maybe loss of life – this, it was feared, would trigger an outcry which might topple the government.Endeavour left England in January 1774, sailing from the Falklands with all the British inhabitants on 23 April, leaving a flag and plaque confirming Britain's sovereignty.
Endeavour waspaid off in September 1774,[85] being sold in March 1775 by the Royal Navy to shipping magnateJ. Mather for £645.[5][86] Mather returned her to sea for at least one commercial voyage toArchangel in Russia.[87]
Once theAmerican War of Independence had commenced, the British government needed ships to carry troops and materiel across the Atlantic. In 1775 Mather submittedEndeavour as a transport ship,[88] being rejected. Thinking that renaming her would fool Deptford Yard, Mather resubmittedEndeavour under the nameLord Sandwich.[89] AsLord Sandwich she was rejected in no uncertain terms: "Unfit for service. She was sold out Service CalledEndeavour Bark refused before". Repairs were made, with acceptance in her third submission, under the nameLord Sandwich 2 as there was already a transport ship calledLord Sandwich.[90]
Lord Sandwich 2, master William Author, sailed on 6 May 1776 from Portsmouth in a fleet of 100 vessels, 68 of which were transports, which was under orders to support Howe's campaign to captureNew York.Lord Sandwich 2 carried 206 men mainly from the Hessian du Corps regiment ofHessian mercenaries.[91] The crossing was stormy, with two Hessians who were in the same fleet making accounts of the voyage.[92] The scattered fleet assembled at Halifax then sailed to Sandy Hook where other ships and troops assembled. On 15 August 1776Lord Sandwich 2 was anchored at Sandy Hook; also assembled there wasAdventure, which had sailed withResolution on Cook's second voyage, now a storeship, captained by John Hallum. Another ship there at that time was HMSSiren, captained by Tobias Furneaux, who had commandedAdventure on Cook's second voyage.[93]
New York was eventually captured, butNewport, Rhode Island, remained in the hands of the Americans and posed a threat as a base for recapturing New York, so in November 1776 a fleet, which includedLord Sandwich 2 carrying Hessian troops, set out to takeRhode Island.[94] The island was taken but not subdued, andLord Sandwich 2 was needed as aprison ship.[95]
The surrender of British GeneralJohn Burgoyne's army atSaratoga brought France into the war, and in the summer of 1778 apincer plan was agreed torecapture Newport: theContinental Army would approach overland, and a French fleet would sail into the harbour. To prevent the latter the British commander, Captain John Brisbane, determined to blockade the bay by sinking surplus vessels at its mouth. Between 3 and 6 August a fleet of Royal Navy and hired craft, includingLord Sandwich 2, were scuttled at various locations in the Bay.[96][f]Lord Sandwich2, previouslyEndeavour, previouslyEarl of Pembroke, was sunk on 4 August 1778.[98]
The owners of the sunken vessels were compensated by the British government for the loss of their ships. The Admiralty valuation for 10 of the sunken vessels recorded that many had been built in Yorkshire, and the details of theLord Sandwich transport matched those of the formerEndeavour including construction in Whitby, aburthen of368+71⁄94 tons, and re-entry into Navy service on 10 February 1776.[99]
In 1834 a letter appeared in theProvidence Journal of Rhode Island, drawing attention to the possible presence of the formerEndeavour on the seabed of the bay.[100] This was swiftly disputed by the British consul in Rhode Island, who wrote claiming thatEndeavour had been bought from Mather by the French in 1790 and renamedLiberté. The consul later admitted he had heard this not from the Admiralty, but as hearsay from the former owners of the French ship.[100] It was later suggestedLiberté, which sank off Newport in 1793, was in fact another of Cook's ships, the former HMSResolution,[101] or anotherEndeavour, a navalschooner sold out of service in 1782.[100] A further letter to theProvidence Journal stated that a retired English sailor was conducting guided tours of ahulk on theRiver Thames as late as 1825, claiming that the ship had once been Cook'sEndeavour.[100]
In 1991 the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) began research into the identity of the thirteen transports sunk as part of the Newport blockade of 1778, includingLord Sandwich. In 1999 RIMAP discovered documents in thePublic Record Office (now called the National Archives) in London confirming thatEndeavour had been renamedLord Sandwich, had served as a troop transport to North America, and had been scuttled at Newport as part of the 1778 fleet of transports.[96]
In 1999, a combined research team from RIMAP and the Australian National Maritime Museum examined some known wrecks in the harbour[102] and in 2000, RIMAP and the ANMM examined a site that appears to be one of the blockade vessels, partly covered by a separate wreck of a 20th-century barge. The older remains were those of a wooden vessel of approximately the same size, and possibly a similar design and materials asLord Sandwich exEndeavour.[102] Confirmation that Cook's former ship had indeed been in Newport Harbor sparked public interest in locating her wreck.[103][104] However, further mapping showed eight other 18th-century wrecks in Newport Harbor, some with features and conditions also consistent withEndeavour. In 2006 RIMAP announced that the wrecks were unlikely to be raised.[105] In 2016 RIMAP concluded that there was a probability of 80 to 100% that the wreck ofEndeavour was still in Newport Harbor, probably one of a cluster of five wrecks on the seafloor, and planned to investigate the ships and their artifacts further. They were seeking funds to build facilities for handling and storing recovered objects.[106]
In September 2018,Fairfax Media reported that archaeologists from RIMAP had pinpointed the final resting place of the vessel.[107] The possible discovery was hailed as a "hugely significant moment" in Australian history, but researchers have warned they were yet to "definitively" confirm whether the wreck had been located.[108]
On 3 February 2022, theAustralian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) held an event attended by federal cabinet ministerPaul Fletcher to announce that the wreck had been confirmed to be that of theEndeavour.[109] The RIMAP has called the announcement "premature"[110][111][112] and a "breach of contract", which the ANMM denies. The RIMAP's lead investigator stated that "there has been no indisputable data found to prove the site is that iconic vessel, and there are many unanswered questions that could overturn such an identification".[109] In November 2023, however, the ANMM announced further confirmative discoveries.[113] Meanwhile, the wreck is being eaten byshipworms andgribbles.[114]
In June 2025, The Australian National Maritime Museum and RIMAP released their final report confirming the wreck's identity as that of HMB Endeavour.[115]
In addition to the search for the remains of the ship herself, there was substantial Australian interest in locating relics of the ship's south Pacific voyage. In 1886, the Working Men's Progress Association ofCooktown sought to recover the six cannon thrown overboard whenEndeavour grounded on the Great Barrier Reef. A £300 reward was offered for anyone who could locate and recover the guns, but searches that year and the next were fruitless and the money went unclaimed.[48] Remains of equipment left at Endeavour River were discovered in around 1900, and in 1913 the crew of a merchant steamer erroneously claimed to have recovered anEndeavour cannon from shallow water near the Reef.[116][117]
In 1937, a small part ofEndeavour's keel was given to theAustralian Government by philanthropistCharles Wakefield in his capacity as president of theAdmiral Arthur Phillip Memorial.[118] Australian Prime MinisterJoseph Lyons described the section of keel as "intimately associated with the discovery and foundation of Australia".[118]
Searches were resumed for the lost Endeavour Reef cannon, but expeditions in 1966, 1967, and 1968 were unsuccessful.[48] They were finally recovered in 1969 by a research team from the AmericanAcademy of Natural Sciences,[119] using a sophisticatedmagnetometer to locate the cannon, a quantity of iron ballast but not the abandoned bower anchor. Conservation work on the cannon was undertaken by the Australian National Maritime Museum,[120] after which two of the cannon were displayed at its headquarters in Sydney'sDarling Harbour, and eventually put on display at Botany Bay and theNational Museum of Australia in Canberra[121] (with a replica remaining at the museum). A third cannon, and the bower anchor recovered in 1971, were displayed at the James Cook Museum in Cooktown,[122] with the remaining three at theNational Maritime Museum inLondon, theAcademy of Natural Sciences inPhiladelphia,[119] and theMuseum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa inWellington.[123]
Endeavour's Pacific voyage was further commemorated in the use of her image on thereverse of theNew Zealand fifty-cent coin.[124]
Apollo 15'scommand and service module CSM-112 was given thecall signEndeavour; astronautDavid Scott explained the choice of the name on the grounds that its captain, Cook, had commanded the first purely scientific sea voyage, and Apollo 15 was the first lunar landing mission on which there was a heavy emphasis on science.[125] Apollo 15 took with it a small piece of wood claimed to be from Cook's ship.[126] The ship was again commemorated in the naming of theSpace ShuttleEndeavour in 1989.[127] The shuttle's name in turn inspired the naming of theSpaceXCrew DragonEndeavour, the first such capsule to launch crew.[128]
In January 1988, to commemorate theAustralian Bicentenary of European settlement in Australia, work began inFremantle, Western Australia, on a replica ofEndeavour.[129] Financial difficulties delayed completion until December 1993, and the vessel was not commissioned until April 1994.[130] The replica vessel commenced her maiden voyage in October of that year, sailing to Sydney Harbour and then following Cook's path from Botany Bay northward to Cooktown.[27] From 1996 to 2002, the replica retraced Cook's ports of call around the world, arriving in the originalEndeavour's home port of Whitby in May 1997[131] and June 2002.[130] Footage of waves shot while rounding Cape Horn on this voyage was later used in digitally composited scenes in the 2003 filmMaster and Commander: The Far Side of the World.[132]
The replicaEndeavour visited various European ports[133] before undertaking her final ocean voyage from Whitehaven toSydney Harbour on 8 November 2004. Her arrival in Sydney was delayed when she ran aground in Botany Bay, a short distance from the point where Cook first set foot in Australia 235 years earlier.[130] The replicaEndeavour finally entered Sydney Harbour on 17 April 2005, having travelled 170,000 nautical miles (310,000 km), including twice around the world.[130] Ownership of the replica was transferred to the Australian National Maritime Museum in 2005 for permanent service as amuseum ship in Sydney's Darling Harbour.[134]
A second full-size replica ofEndeavour was berthed on theRiver Tees inStockton-on-Tees before being moved to Whitby.[135][136] While it reflects the external dimensions of Cook's vessel, this replica was constructed with a steel rather than a timber frame, has one less internal deck than the original, and is not designed to go to sea.[137][138]
TheRussell Museum, in theBay of Islands,New Zealand, has a sailing one-fifth scale replica ofEndeavour. It was built in Auckland in 1969 and travelled by trailer throughout New Zealand and Australia before being presented to the museum in 1970.[139]
AtWhitby the "Bark Endeavour Whitby" is a scaled-down replica of the original ship. It relies on engines for propulsion and is a little less than half the size of the original. Trips for tourists take them along the coast toSandsend.[140]
A 25-foot (7.6 m) replica of the ship is displayed in the Cleveland Centre,Middlesbrough, England.[141]
Media related toHMS Endeavour (ship, 1768) at Wikimedia Commons41°36′N71°21′W / 41.600°N 71.350°W /41.600; -71.350 (Narragansett Bay)
