Captain Cook's HMS Endeavour Confirmed To Be In Waters Off Rhode Island After Decades Of Research

CBS Boston

June 18, 2025

Researchers have confirmed that the 18th-century British explorer Captain James Cook's lost ship found its final resting place in Rhode Island's Newport Harbor, solving a decadeslong mystery, according to the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Two Australian historians, Mike Connell and Des Liddy, originally pinpointed the location of the ship, called HMS Endeavour in 1998, the museum said in a report released earlier this month. The museum's report detailed how a 26-year archival and archaeological research program ultimately determined that the Endeavour was, in fact, at the bottom of Newport Harbor as Connell and Liddy had thought.

Captain Cook famously sailed the Endeavour across the Pacific Ocean multiple times in the mid-1700s. He is remembered for his voyage to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia, which he claimed for Britain, as well as Hawaii, where he ultimately met his fate in a dispute with indigenous residents. Cook's exploration of the islands laid the foundation for British colonization in those areas, which is why, for different reasons, it's an important part of Australian history, according to the museum's report.

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