US archaeologist hopeful of finding Endeavour

  • Breaking
  • 10/10/2014

By Peter Mitchell

A US marine archaeologist leading the search for Captain James Cook's Endeavour says there's an almost 70 percent chance they will locate the historically important vessel at the bottom of a harbour near New York.

Kathy Abbass and her team from the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project have partnered with the Australian National Maritime Museum to find the Endeavour, in which Cook first circumnavigated New Zealand in the 18th Century.

The two groups signed a memorandum of understanding at the Australian embassy in Washington DC on Thursday.

"It's very exciting and a really big deal for us, just as it is for Australia," Abbass told NZ Newswire.

The archaeologist discovered in an archive search 15 years ago that the Endeavour was likely in Newport Harbour.

After the ship's 1768-71 voyage to New Zealand and Australia, Abbass found the vessel was renamed the Lord Sandwich and was one of 13 ships deliberately sunk in Rhode Island's Newport Harbour by the British in 1778 during the Revolutionary War to block the French from entering.

Abbass and her team have located what they believe could be nine of the 13 ships in water 8m to 15m deep.

Silt in the harbour has likely helped preserve the vessels, she said.

"Right now, it's 69 per cent," Abbass, when asked what are the chances of finding the Endeavour, replied.

"We have now found what looks like nine vessels that are from that period and if it turns out they are all transports, and not something lost about the same time in other activities, then nine out of 13 is 69 per cent."

The Australian National Maritime Museum is aiming to find the Endeavour by 2020 - the 250th anniversary of Cook charting the east coast of Australia.

The museum's chief executive, Kevin Sumption, said the Endeavour's keel, made from elm, was rare and would provide a major clue to finding the vessel.

"That would be a piece of the puzzle," Sumption said.

AFP

source: newshub archive