Researchers Spar Over Newport Harbor Shipwreck

NEWPORT, RI — The famed shipwreck of British explorer James Cook has been found, the Australian National Maritime Museum announced this week. The ship has laid beneath the waters of Newport Harbor for nearly 350 years, the museum said.

The wreck of the "Endeavour" was first discovered in 2018 in the waters off Goat Island, the museum said. The site was narrowed down to the single likeliest possibility after more than two decades of searching.

Kevin Sumption, the director of the museum, said Thursday that he was "satisfied that [Newport] is the final resting place of one of the most important vessels in Australia’s maritime history."

"Since 1998, we have been investigating the site where we believed that Endeavour sank, however, the last pieces of the puzzle had to be confirmed before I felt able to make this call," Sumption said at a news conference. "Based on archival and archaeological evidence, I’m convinced it’s the Endeavour."

However, not everyone is so sure the ship is, in fact, the Endeavour. D.K. Abbass, the executive director of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, issued a statement calling the museum's announcement "premature" and labeling it a breach of contract between the two organizations.

"The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project is now and always has been the lead organization for the study in Newport harbor," the statement read in part. "What we see on the shipwreck site under study is consistent with what might be expected of the Endeavour, but there has been no indisputable data found to prove the site is that iconic vessel, and there are many unanswered questions that could overturn such an identification."