Identifying an iconic shipwreck using a ‘preponderance of evidence’ approach.

Presented by Dr James Hunter, Curator, Navy Archaeology; and Kieran Hosty, Manager, Maritime Archaeology Program, Australian National Maritime Museum.

His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour is a highly significant vessel in world maritime history and one that elicits mixed opinions. For some, the Pacific voyage led by James Cook from 1768–71 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. Less well understood is Endeavour’s afterlife as a British troop transport and prison ship caught up in the American War of Independence. It was in this capacity – and renamed Lord Sandwich – that the vessel was deliberately sunk in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island, in 1778.

In February, after 22 years of extensive joint research with its partners the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project and later the Silentworld Foundation, the Australian National Maritime Museum controversially announced that the site of Endeavour had been finally identified using a preponderance of evidence approach.

In this presentation Dr James Hunter and Kieran Hosty detail the historical and archaeological research behind this approach, provide the evidence leading to this announcement and discuss what the future might hold for the remains of Cook’s Endeavour.

When: 2-3.30pm AEST, Thursday 19 May 2022

Where: Australian National Maritime Museum, 2 Murray Street, Sydney NSW

To register: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/national-archaeology-week-talk-cooks-endeavour-found-tickets-317412036947

Image: James Hunter, ANMM and shows Irini Malliaros (Silentworld Foundation) and Kieran Hosty (ANMM) excavating in the mid-ships area of RI2394 / HMB Endeavour.