Archaeologists Have Confirmed the Shipwreck of Captain Cook's Long-Lost Endeavour
Experts have finally confirmed that a shipwreck off the coast of Rhode Island is the wreckage of Captain James Cook's HMS Endeavour.
Also known as the HMB Endeavour and the Lord Sandwich, the ship was purposely sunk in 1778.
The Australian National Maritime Museum claimed the identified wreck, called RI 2394, was the Endeavour back in 2023, but the Rhode Island Maritime Archeology Project required more evidence before confirming the remains in question were indeed those of the lost vessel.
This story is a collaboration with Popular Mechanics
A shipwreck off the coast of Rhode Island has officially been confirmed to be the HMS Endeavour, according to a new report from the Australian National Maritime Museum. The sunken vessel, also known as the HMB Endeavour (short for His Majesty's Bark) and the Lord Sandwich, had long been sought since it was purposefully sunk in 1778. Now, the wreckage once labeled RI 2394 has been confirmed to be that same ship, once made famous by Captain James Cook.
But if you feel like you'd actually read this same story years ago, it's not just deja vu.
As Popular Mechanics previously reported, RI 2394 had been announced by the Australian National Maritime Museum to be the HMS Endeavour in February of 2022. But at that time, their research partners involved in the project, the Rhode Island Maritime Archeology Project, questioned the announcement, feeling that while RI 2394 was certainly a strong candidate, more research was needed to officially declare it the Endeavour.
Then, in December of 2023, the Australian National Maritime Museum reasserted their declaration, pointing to further evidence gleaned from the wreckage's pump well and bow. At that time, they stated that they '...call on the preponderance of evidence where we've got a whole series of things that tie into Endeavour. And so far, we've found lots of things that tick the boxes for it to be the Endeavour and nothing on the list which says it's not.'
Yet, only now, in this new final report for 2025, has the Rhode Island Maritime Archeology Project come to see eye to eye with the Australian National Maritime Museum. The report's executive summary, written by Kieran Hosty & James Hunter and published by the Australian National Maritime Museum, states:
'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[…] 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.'
So now, there is no dispute. The long-sought Endeavour wreckage has officially been identified.
What made the search for the Endeavour such enduring one across these centuries? As the report writes, 'His Majesty's Bark (HMB) Endeavour is a significant vessel in Australian maritime history,' though they concede that it is 'one that elicits mixed opinions.'
'For some, the Pacific voyage led by James Cook between 1768 and 1771 embodies the spirit of Europe's Age of Enlightenment, while for others it symbolizes the onset of colonization and the subjugation of First Nations Peoples,' the report reads.
But even for those in Australia deeply aware of Captain Cook, they might not know the other role the Endeavour played, that of a 'British troop transport and prison ship caught up in the American War of Independence.' Hence why the then-named Lord Sandwich was sunk near Rhode Island, only just now to be officially, formally found.
This final definitive declaration identifying the vessel isn't just the resolution of an announcement controversy from a few years back; it's the culmination of what the reports notes was 'a 26-year program of archival and archaeological research.' The collaboration between the two organizations began in 1999, due in part to the state of Rhode Island having claim over all wrecks that had been scuttled in Newport Harbor in 1778, which would include the wreck proved to be the Endeavour.
Building on the archival research of Australian historians Mike Connell and Des Liddy and the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project's Dr. Kathy Abbass, the report notes this collaboration 'led to a series of archaeological expeditions in Newport Harbor in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2004.' These endeavors to find the Endeavour consisted of '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.' But none of the wreckages exhibited characteristics which could be indicative of the Lord Sandwich.
Their efforts resumed in 2015, and by 2016 they had narrowed down where in the harbor the ship had been scuttled. That allowed them to whittle down a group of 13 ships sunk in 1778 to just 5, which were, in the absence of proper identification, labelled as RI 2396, RI 2397, RI 2578, RI 2393, and RI 2394.
'The two largest shipwreck sites, RI 2578 and RI 2394, were considered the most likely candidates for the remains of Lord Sandwich,' the report continues. But further analysis determined that RI 2578 didn't demonstrate enough of the requisite characteristics to be the Lord Sandwich.
In investigating RI 2394, however, the team found a number of characteristics that looked promising, including 'dimensions of a range of structural timbers' which 'compare favorably with measurements taken when Endeavour was surveyed by the Royal Navy in 1768,' and procured timber samples which suggest repairs made with European timber, much in the same fashion as the Endeavour/Sandwich, 'which underwent significant repairs in 1776, shortly after being sold out of naval service.'
After much analysis, all parties involved can now confidently conclude that RI 2394 is, in fact, Captain Cook's long lost HMS Endeavour/HMB Endeavour/Lord Sandwich. If anyone else has any reason why this wreckage should not be identified as such, speak now or forever hold your peace.
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