Deep-sea divers claim shipwreck off Rhode Island IS Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavor says new findings of a pump well and bow are PROOF it is a legendary ship – despite US officials insisting it is not

Maritime scientists have doubled down on their claims that a shipwreck off the US coast is Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavor, one of the most famous ships in maritime history.

A pump well and part of the bow of the wreck provide further evidence of the ship’s identity, the Australian National Maritime Museum said on Thursday.

The museum first declared the wreck, located in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island, to be the Endeavor in February 2022, after decades of archaeological research.

But these claims have been debunked by US experts who also examined the ship, who said that despite findings ‘consistent with what would be expected of the Endeavour’ there was still no indisputable data to support the claim.

Kathy Abbass, executive director of the Rhode Island Marine Archeology Project, said a “legitimate report” on the wreck’s identity would be released once the group’s investigation was complete.

But the museum said there have been no other dissenting responses to the claim that the ship was the Endeavor in the past two years.

Several details about the wreck convinced archaeologists that they had found Endeavor after comparing the structural details and shape of the remains with those shown on Endeavor’s 18th-century plans.

Only 15 percent of the ship remains in the hands of researchers who are now focusing on what can be done to protect and preserve it.

HMS Endeavor was first launched in 1764 as the Earl of Pembroke and was subsequently renamed His Majesty’s Bark the Endeavor after being purchased by the British Royal Navy four years later.

The ship was sent out in August 1768 to explore the Pacific Ocean, both to observe the transit of Venus through the Sun in 1769 and to search for the continent then called Terra Australis Incognita, or Unknown Southern Land.

The previous transit of Venus in 1639 had provided a huge amount of information that astronomers and scientists had about the size of the solar system and the universe.

The ship departed from Plymouth with 94 people on board, including Captain James Cook.

After traveling along the coast of Africa before crossing the Atlantic Ocean, it arrived in Rio de Janeiro in November of that year.

The boat then set out to round Cape Horn, which it accomplished on its third attempt in January, after wind, stormy weather and difficult conditions foiled Cook’s first two attempts.

In April the ship reached Tahiti, where it remained for the next four months and where astronomer Charles Green was able to study the transit of Venus in June.

After months of exploring the Pacific Ocean in search of islands, the Endeavor reached the coast of New Zealand in October, becoming the first European ship to land on the island in more than 100 years.

Dutch explorer Abel Tasman had previously reached the islands of New Zealand and Tasmania during his 1642 voyage while with the Dutch East India Company.

Cook spent six months exploring and mapping the coast of New Zealand, claiming the land for Britain before sailing west.

In April 1770, individuals on the ship saw Australia for the first time, and on April 29, HMS Endeavor became the first European ship to make landfall on the island’s east coast.

Cook spent four months mapping the coast and at one point ran into trouble when the ship struck part of the Great Barrier Reef.

The ship was 29 miles offshore at the time and did not have enough lifeboats, but managed to clear the water from the ship’s hull and make it safely back to shore.

The ship continued to explore the east coast of Australia and was taken out of the water in November to undergo major repairs before returning to Britain.

It left the day after Christmas and rounded the Cape of Good Hope in March before docking in Cape Town.

It entered Dover harbor on 12 July, almost three years after it first sailed from Plymouth.

Cook was later promoted to commander and explored the Pacific twice more with HMS Resolution.

He was killed in 1779 during a battle with Hawaiians on the island.

The Endeavor quickly became a naval transport and was sold to a shipping magnate just before the start of the Revolutionary War.

That person then tried to sell the ship back to the British when demand for ships increased during the war, but they would not accept the ship given its age and what it had been through over the years.

The seller then made the decision to rename the boat Lord Sandwich and attempt to resell it, which worked after the boat underwent serious repairs.

It was sent to Rhode Island as a prison ship when the British attempted to retake the port city of Newport in 1778, and there it was blown up in the hope of creating a blockade in the harbor during the Battle of Rhode Island.

Most recently, the discovery of the ship’s pumping well allowed the museum’s maritime archaeologists Kieran Hosty and James Hunter to compare it with plans for the Endeavor generated during a British Admiralty survey of the ship in 1768.

According to the museum, the positions of the surviving pump shaft stub and pump well partitions on the wreck perfectly matched those in the archive document.

After comparing the wreck site to historical plans, archaeologists were also able to accurately predict the location of the ship’s bow, where they found another compelling piece of evidence.

A distinctive ‘scarph’ joint in the surviving keelwood allowed the team to take further measurements of the wreck, again providing a match with the historic British documents.

The design of the escarpment itself, which was unusual for ships of the era, also exactly matched the shape and size of the connection in the Endeavour’s plans, the museum said.

An examination of forty 18th-century ship plans found that only one other ship matched the Rhode Island wreck: that of the Marquis of Rockingham, built in 1770 by the same shipbuilder who produced the Endeavor.

Maritime Museum director and CEO Daryl Karp said the finds further supported Australian researchers’ claims about the Endeavor’s identity.

“The museum also naturally recognizes the work of the team at the Rhode Island Marine Archeology Project and the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission for their assistance and oversight over many years,” she said.

Time may be running out for full confirmation of the ship’s identity after an August 2022 report suggested the ship is being devoured by shipworms.