NEWPORT, R.I. (WPRI) — Australian researchers have issued a final report on a decades-long search for a famous shipwreck believed to be off the coast of Rhode Island.
Researchers confirmed the final resting place of 18th-century British explorer Captain James Cook’s lost ship is in Newport Harbor.
“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 symbolises the onset of colonisation and the subjugation of First Nations Peoples,” the executive summary of the report said.
Originally called the “HMS Endeavor,” the vessel was later renamed “Lord Sandwich” and used as a troop transport and prison ship before it was deliberately sunk in 1778.
The approximate location of the wreck is just north of Goat Island and east of Rose Island, near Newport, Rhode Island, according to the report.
The Australian National Maritime Museum said it’s working with the Rhode Island Historic Preservation and Heritage Commission to protect the site.
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