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  • HMS Endeavour found in Newport Harbour?

    The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project believes it has located the wreck of Captain Cook's former research vessel HMS Endeavour, used on the voyage of discovery to Australia. She was later hired as a troop transport (then called the Lord Sandwich) during the War of Independence and scuttled by the British in a blockade of Narragansett Bay in 1778.

    Archaeologists believe they have found the scuttled remains of Captain Cook's HMS Endeavour in Newport Harbour, Rhode Island. The ship was last sighted 230 years ago.
    I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.

  • #2
    We've actually known for years that it was likely at the bottom of Newport Harbour. Which is not where the circle appears in the map accompanying the Mail article. That map indicates the open Atlantic. All the ships scuttled by the British prior to the 1778 Battle of Rhode Island are within the harbour, just north of the entrance to Narragansett Bay. The Endeavor and the other vessels are all within the harbour, and not where that circle shows in the Mail news article. Just wanted to clarify that.

    I received a press release from the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project a few days ago, and the RIMAP will have a more formal announcement at a press conference in Providence this Wed., May 4th. Date chosen as May 4th is RI Independence Day, RI having declared independence two months prior to our July 4th declaration.

    She has not been officially identified, or "found" yet, but thanks to the recent research described here, it does now seem like only a matter of time before one of the most famous ships in sailing exploration history, the "founding vessel of Australia" is indeed located at the bottom of Newport Harbour.

    Note in the press release below that it was long thought that the Endeavor had actually already been found, and artifacts from it already on display. Not so, as this recent RIMAP research has proven. The Endeavor is still right here in Newport Harbour, RI, where she was deliberately sunk in 1778......

    Here is a copy of the recent press release:

    RIMAP TO ANNOUNCE MAJOR PROGRESS IN THE SEARCH FOR
    THE LORD SANDWICH ex ENDEAVOUR

    The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) will announce recent research progress in the Search for the Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour at 10 a.m., Wednesday May 4, at the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission offices in the Old State House, 150 Benefit Street, Providence, RI. RIMAP has mapped 9 archaeological sites of the 13 ships that were scuttled in Newport Harbor in 1778, during the American Revolution. A recent Australian National Maritime Museum grant allowed RIMAP to locate historic documents in London that identify the groups of ships in that fleet of 13, and where each group was scuttled. One group of 5 ships included the Lord Sandwich transport, formerly Capt. James Cook's Endeavour Bark. RIMAP now knows the general area of Newport Harbor where those five ships were scuttled, and in previous work had already mapped 4 of the sites there. A recent analysis of remote sensing data suggests that the 5th site may still exist, too. That means the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project now has an 80 to 100% chance that the Lord Sandwich is still in Newport Harbor, and because the Lord Sandwich was Capt. Cook's Endeavour, that means RIMAP has found her, too.

    On May 4 RIMAP will describe its 2016 plans to confirm the 5th shipwreck in the limited study area, and will outline what must be done in the future to determine which of the 5 sites there is which ship. The next phase of the archaeological investigation will require a more intense study of each vessel's structure and its related artifacts. However, before that next phase may begin, there must be a proper facility in place to conserve, manage, display, and store the waterlogged material removed from the archaeological sites. Therefore RIMAP has begun the capital campaign to create the facility to satisfy those technical requirements and allow the intense archaeological fieldwork to begin. The ships in Newport were scuttled in the days leading up to the August 1778 Battle of Rhode Island in Portsmouth, and RIMAP hopes to build its facility at Butts Hill Fort, the center of the American line during that Battle.
    .
    May 4, 2016, is Rhode Island's 240th birthday because it is the anniversary of the Rhode Island Colonial legislature's disavowal of loyalty to the King of England on May 4, 1776. That was two months before all the colonies issued the formal Declaration of Independence. Tourism related to Rhode Island's magnificent history is a major economic driver for our state, and the submerged cultural resources here are an as yet undeveloped aspect of that industry. All of the 13 ships lost in Newport during the Revolution are important to American history, but it will be a national celebration in Australia when RIMAP identifies the LordSandwich ex Endeavour. So for RIMAP to be closing in one of the most important shipwrecks in world history, for that ship to be found in Newport, and for it to have an international reputation, should be an intriguing birthday gift for all of Rhode Island.

    The May 4 event is open to the public, and RIMAP representatives will discuss the "Search for Endeavour," there will be summaries of past research, and the opportunity to ask questions about future plans. That day graphics and other materials related to this effort will also be placed on RIMAP's website for public review.

    RIMAP's public education program includes two classes the following Saturday, on May 7, that are related to the "Search for Endeavour." The morning class will describe how local shipwreck preserves may protect these historic sites while at the same time share them with the public, and the afternoon class will show how the original Star Trek story was based on Capt. Cook's 18th-century exploits (Cook = Kirk and Endeavour =Enterprise, etc.). For further information about the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, how to sign up for its classes and volunteer, how to donate to the artifact management facility, and how to participate in the search for Endeavour, see www.rimap.org or contact RIMAP at rhodeislandmap@yahoo.com.

    Further Background Details

    Capt. James Cook was the British Royal Navy officer who explored more of the world than any other person in history, but he is important to Australia because he claimed part of that continent for England while on hisEndeavour voyage. That action enabled the first English settlement there, and that is why the Endeavour is considered to be Australia's founding vessel. Staff from the Australian National Maritime Museum have participated in past RIMAP fieldwork, and a grant from that museum supported RIMAP's archival studies in January 2016 to identify the area of Newport Harbor where the Lord Sandwich was sent to be scuttled.

    The Endeavour was a sturdy but nondescript vessel built in Whitby, Yorkshire, to carry coal from northeastern England to London. It was similar to the commercial vessels in which Cook had apprenticed before joining the Royal Navy, and this ship was selected for a trip around the world (1768-1771) because she could easily carry Cook, his crew, selected scientists, and all their supplies and equipment. Cook then sailed around the world again in the Resolution and on his third voyage was killed at Hawaii in 1778.Meanwhile the Endeavour continued in Royal Navy service until 1775, when she was sold to a private owner who changed her name to Lord Sandwich. Under that name she was a transport to carry British and Hessian troops to North America during the American Revolution. The Lord Sandwich was in the fleet that carried troops to occupy Rhode Island in 1776, she was used as a prison ship in Newport Harbor, and then was scuttled in August of 1778 to protect the city from the French threat that led to the Battle of Rhode Island.

    The Lord Sandwich then lay forgotten on the Newport Harbor floor for more than 200 years. Meanwhile another vessel was mistakenly identified as the Endeavour and artifacts made from her timbers were taken into museums and private collections around the world. One piece was even taken into space in theEndeavor space shuttle. RIMAP's archival work has overturned that spurious Endeavour story and RIMAP's archaeological research has shown instead that the Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour may still exist and may be found in Newport.

    The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that trains members of the public to volunteer in professionally directed maritime history and marine archaeology research. Since its founding in 1993, more than 850 volunteers have taken RIMAP training and participated in 83 research projects that included a reputed slave ship, World War II sites, unidentified vessels emerging from local dunes, and other ships lost in the American Revolution.

    The value of RIMAP's work is estimated to be more than $5,500,000, and it has all been done with no funding from the Rhode Island state government's budget. Instead RIMAP's research has been sponsored by its members and donors, and grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the DOD Naval Legacy Program, the National Park Service Battlefield Protection Program, the National Maritime Heritage Program, and by federal pass-through funds from RI Sea Grant, the RI Committee for the Humanities, and the RI Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission. The special grant from the Australian National Maritime Museum in 2016 supported the archival research to show where in Newport Harbor the Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour was scuttled, and that is where, with more hard work, the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project will find her.
    Last edited by CMD; 05-02-2016, 07:05 AM.
    Rhode Island

    Comment


    • #3
      From the website of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, this page contains a wealth of detail describing the efforts to locate and identify the Endeavor. With the recent archival research in London, there is now a 80-100% chance that the Endeavor has been found.

      Rhode Island

      Comment


      • #4
        Thanks guys! Some really fascinating stuff here for this old history buff. Captain Cook is/was/always will be the worlds foremost "Captain of Discovery" (my itallics). His death in Hawaii at the hands of people who previously held him almost as a deity is one of the issues that will forever be grist for foraging historians.

        Comment


        • #5
          Brief footage from the May 4th, 2016 press conference in Providence:

          http://turnto10.com/news/local/sunke...r-likely-found

          The wreckage, if actually found, belongs to Rhode Island and will remain in Rhode Island. That said, at most 10-15% of the hull might remain, and likely the keel. These wrecks at the bottom of Newport Harbour are not much more then piles of ballast stones at this point. Identification of the wrecks may be complete by 2020.

          http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-0...k-ship/7385996
          Last edited by CMD; 05-05-2016, 06:33 AM.
          Rhode Island

          Comment


          • #6
            Very interesting stuff
            South Dakota

            Comment


            • #7
              Update....

              RIMAP TO ANNOUNCE FIELDWORK PROGRESS IN THE SEARCH FOR
              THE LORD SANDWICH ex ENDEAVOUR

              The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) will announce recent fieldwork progress in the Search for the Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour at 10 a.m., Thursday, September 29, at the Hyatt Hotel on Goat Island, Newport, RI.

              RIMAP reported in May its intention to determine the exact number of shipwreck sites still to be found in the limited area of Newport Harbor where the Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour is now known to have been scuttled in 1778. RIMAP divers have spent 3 weeks in meticulous ground-truthing of selected remote sensing targets in what is now known as the LSexE (pronounced "El Sexy") Study Area. A grant from the Australian National Maritime Museum helped to support this work, and two of the museum's archaeological divers joined RIMAP professional archaeologists and volunteers in this work.

              The September 29 event is free and open to the public, but there will be no early media interviews granted because the fieldwork is ongoing. The presentations will include:

              · RIMAP's description of the Newport Harbor fieldwork, an interpretation of the archaeological data collected, and a discussion of the next steps.
              · Announcements of how the archaeological shipwreck sites are to be protected by the RI Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, by the Coastal Resources Management Council, and possibly by the NOAA Marine Sanctuaries program.
              · What the discovery of the Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour might mean to Australia and the wider world, especially in Britain and around the Pacific Rim in the upcoming 250 anniversary remembrances of Cook's voyage in theEndeavour.
              · What the discovery of the Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour might mean to Rhode Island.
              · The next steps for RIMAP's archaeological research.

              RIMAP and ANMM staff and volunteers will be available for questions and interviews.

              The next phase of the archaeological investigation will require a more intense study of each existing vessel's structure and its related artifacts. However, before that next phase may begin, there must be a proper facility established to conserve, manage, display, and store the waterlogged material removed from these archaeological sites. Because the transport fleet the included the Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour that was scuttled in Newport Harbor in 1778 (in the days leading up to the August 1778 Battle of Rhode Island in Portsmouth, Rhode Island), RIMAP plans to have its central facility at Butts Hill Fort, the center of the American line during that Battle.
              .
              The September 29 event is free and open to the public.


              Further Background Details

              Capt. James Cook was the British Royal Navy officer who explored more of the world than any other person in history, but he is important to Australia because he claimed part of that continent for England while on his Endeavour voyage. That action enabled the first English settlement there, and that is why the Endeavour is considered to be Australia's founding vessel. Staff from the Australian National Maritime Museum have participated in past RIMAP fieldwork, and a grants from that museum have helped to support RIMAP's archival and fieldwork studies in 2016.

              The Endeavour was a sturdy but nondescript vessel built in Whitby, Yorkshire, to carry coal from northeastern England to London. It was similar to the commercial vessels in which Cook had apprenticed before joining the Royal Navy, and this ship was selected for a trip around the world (1768-1771) because she could easily carry Cook, his crew, selected scientists, and all their supplies and equipment. Cook then sailed around the world again in the Resolution and on his third voyage was killed at Hawaii in 1778. Meanwhile the Endeavour continued in Royal Navy service until 1775, when she was sold to a private owner who changed her name to Lord Sandwich. Under that name she was a transport to carry British and Hessian troops to North America during the American Revolution. The Lord Sandwich was in the fleet that carried troops to occupy Rhode Island in 1776, she was used as a prison ship in Newport Harbor, and then was scuttled in August of 1778 to protect the city from the French threat that led to the Battle of Rhode Island.

              The Lord Sandwich then lay forgotten on the Newport Harbor floor for more than 200 years. Meanwhile another vessel was mistakenly identified as the Endeavour and artifacts made from her timbers were taken into museums and private collections around the world. One piece was even taken into space in the Endeavor space shuttle. RIMAP's archival work has overturned that spurious Endeavour story and RIMAP's archaeological research has shown instead that the Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour may still exist to be found in Newport.

              The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that trains members of the public to volunteer in professionally directed maritime history and marine archaeology research. Since its founding in 1993, more than 900 volunteers have taken RIMAP training and participated in 85 research projects that included a reputed slave ship, World War II sites, unidentified vessels emerging from local dunes, and other ships lost in the American Revolution.

              The value of RIMAP's work is estimated to be more than $5,750,000, and it has all been done with no funding from the Rhode Island state government's budget. Instead RIMAP's research has been sponsored by its members and donors, and grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the DOD Naval Legacy Program, the National Park Service Battlefield Protection Program, the National Maritime Heritage Program, and by federal pass-through funds from RI Sea Grant, the RI Committee for the Humanities, and the RI Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission. The special grants from the Australian National Maritime Museum in 2016 contributed to the archival research and the Newport Harbor fieldwork where Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour was scuttled.
              Rhode Island

              Comment


              • #8
                Interesting read, & cool additional info CMD.

                Originally posted by painshill View Post
                the War of Independence
                I haven't heard it called that since a history class in college. I had never really thought about the Revolutionary War from an non-American perspective, but the French guy teaching the history course described it as a civil war that morphed into a world war that the US could not have won without the help of France.

                He also said the War of 1812 was part of Jefferson's plans to take over Canada...
                Hong Kong, but from Indiana/Florida

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by clovisoid View Post
                  Interesting read, & cool additional info CMD.



                  I haven't heard it called that since a history class in college. I had never really thought about the Revolutionary War from an non-American perspective, but the French guy teaching the history course described it as a civil war that morphed into a world war that the US could not have won without the help of France.

                  He also said the War of 1812 was part of Jefferson's plans to take over Canada...

                  Click image for larger version

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                  Erm... sorry to bring it up again, but could I just remind you good people again about those 342 chests of tea you still owe us. No hurry. Whenever you have a moment.


                  Thanks for the update Charlie.
                  I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by painshill View Post


                    [ATTACH]n226028[/ATTACH]


                    Erm... sorry to bring it up again, but could I just remind you good people again about those 342 chests of tea you still owe us. No hurry. Whenever you have a moment.


                    Thanks for the update Charlie.
                    BAHAHA! 😄😄Thats funny!

                    Great thread guys! Thanks!
                    Josh (Ky/Tn collector)

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by clovisoid View Post
                      Interesting read, & cool additional info CMD.



                      I haven't heard it called that since a history class in college. I had never really thought about the Revolutionary War from an non-American perspective, but the French guy teaching the history course described it as a civil war that morphed into a world war that the US could not have won without the help of France.

                      He also said the War of 1812 was part of Jefferson's plans to take over Canada...
                      You don't often hear of the 1778 Battle of Rhode Island. Not a well known engagement in the Revolution. But, had it not been for a very strong gale or possible hurricane that forced the British and French fleets to disengage, it likely would have involved the largest naval engagement of the Revolution, and perhaps have sent the conflict in a different direction. Both fleets were severely damaged by the storm.
                      Rhode Island

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                      • #12
                        Update for 9/21/18. Rhode Island and Australian marine archaeologists announced in Newport, RI today the likely discovery of the ship's remains, including cannon. We've been anticipating this for about a week. There's a video at the start of this report:

                        http://turnto10.com/news/local/resea...e-near-newport

                        And another clip:

                        Rhode Island

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                        • #13
                          I’m always amazed at how much history we have here for such a small state.
                          call me Jay, i live in R.I.

                          Comment


                          • CMD
                            CMD commented
                            Editing a comment
                            Yep, largest concentration of Revolutionary Era shipwrecks in the country.

                          • OnewiththewilD
                            OnewiththewilD commented
                            Editing a comment
                            I did not know that either Charlie, man your a font of knowledge ! Thank you
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