PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Researchers say they believe the Endeavour — the ship that 18th century explorer Capt. James Cook used to sail around the world — is submerged somewhere in Rhode Island’s Newport Harbor, but it’ll take a lot of work and money to identify it.
The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, which is leading the search effort, said at a news conference in Providence on Wednesday that it has narrowed its search to a group of five sunken wrecks.
Nearly 250 years ago, Capt. James Cook voyaged to the South Pacific to observe the planet Venus. His ship was the Endeavour, an ugly and awkward little vessel that improbably helped him become the first European to chart Australia’s east coast.
Later, the Endeavour was part of a fleet of 13 ships the British scuttled during the Revolutionary War in 1778 to blockade Newport Harbor from the French, Abbass said.
It was listed in the records under a different name, the Lord Sandwich.
