2 December 2023: Here we are in December already; Christmas and the new year just around the corner. And then, 2024! Yikes! And a further "yikes" - Maritime Maunder has now passed 180,000 readers! As our British friends might say, "Egads!" Thanks so much to all of you!
Before we get into today's offering, a correction to the last post (on the Spanish treasure ship off Columbia): the estimated value of the treasure is $20 billion, not the $40 billion stated in the post. Where that came from, I have no idea but at least we have corrected it, in case any of you are planning to seek out the wreck and recover the treasure, we are sorry to have misled you! For only $20 billion, probably not worth it!
And speaking of wrecks, we have posted in the past about the discovery of the British ship sunk off Newport Rhode Island the struggle to identify it; is it HMB Endeavour (Cap't Cook's ship that sailed through the Pacific, discovering a host of islands and ultimately, Australia. She was subsequently given over to the Royal Navy for use during the American Revolution and renamed HMB Lord Sandwich) or is it a sister ship? The following combined (and edited) from ABC Australia and the BBC.
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'New evidence' found in mystery of where Captain Cook's HMB Endeavour shipwreck lies, National Maritime Museum says
Australian maritime scientists have doubled down on claims a shipwreck off the US coast is Captain Cook's Endeavour, which he famously sailed while exploring the South Pacific.
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| reproduction of Endeavour |
A pump-well and section of the wreck's bow further provide evidence as to the identity of the ship, the Australian National Maritime Museum said.
The museum first declared the wreck located in Newport Harbour, Rhode Island, to be the Endeavour in February 2022 following decades of archaeological examination.
However, the claims were shot down by US experts also examining the ship, who said that despite finds "consistent with what might be expected of the Endeavour" there was not yet indisputable data to support the claim.
Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project executive director Kathy Abbass said a "legitimate report" on the wreck's identity would be released when the group's study was complete.
But the museum said there had been no further dissenting responses to its claims that the vessel was the Endeavour in the past two years, and its final archaeological report would be released in 2024.
Most recently, the discovery of the vessel's pump-well allowed museum maritime archaeologists Kieran Hosty and James Hunter to compare it to plans of the Endeavour generated during a British Admiralty survey of the vessel in 1768.
According to the museum, the positions of the surviving pump-shaft stump and pump-well partitions on the wreck aligned perfectly with those in the archival document.
Having compared the wreck site to the historical plans, archaeologists were also able to accurately predict the location of the ship's bow, where they found another convincing piece of evidence.
A distinctive "scarph" joint in the surviving keel timber allowed the team to take further measurements of the wreck, providing another match to the historical British documents.
The design of the scarph itself, which was unusual for vessels of that era, was also an exact match for the form and size of the joint on the Endeavour's plans, the museum said.
A survey of 40 18th-century ship plans showed just one other matched the Rhode Island wreck — that of the Marquis of Rockingham, built in 1770 by the same shipwright that produced the Endeavour.
Maritime Museum director and chief executive Daryl Karp said the finds further supported Australian researchers' claims of the Endeavour's identity.
"The additional research done by our maritime archaeologists that led to the identification of the pump well, which in turn enabled clarity on the final physical position of the wreck and the keel-stem scarph joint, provides further evidence as to the identity of the wreck," she said.
The Endeavour was renamed Lord Sandwich and sunk by British forces during the American War of Independence in 1778, accounting for its possible final resting location.
Maritime Museum director and chief executive Daryl Karp said the finds further supported Australian researchers' claims of the Endeavour's identity.
'The museum of course also acknowledges the work of the team from the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, and the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission for their assistance and oversight over many years,' she said.
Time may be running out on full confirmation of the ship's identity after a report in August 2022 suggested the ship is being devoured by shipworms.
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Sounds like they might have got it right! Though with so little of the ship left, we are not sure if it adds much to the collective knowledge. I guess it's nice to close out the chapter and know the final resting place of such a famous vessel!
Until next time,
Fair Winds,
Old Salt
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