(photos:sky news)
Researchers believe they have found the wreckage of one of the most famous ships in British naval history, the Endeavour, off the coast of Providence, Rhode Island. English-born explorer, Captain James Cook, used the ship as he navigated and explored areas around Australia and New Zealand in 1768. The HMS Endeavour was renamed Lord Sandwich and sold before being used in a multi-ship channel blockade by the British during the American Revolution.
The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project says they are almost 100 percent sure that the wreck is Cook's ship, still in port. They've been working closely with the Australian National Maritime Museum to comb through historical records and maps in order to pinpoint the wreckage. When interviewed by Rhode Island Public Radio, Executive Director, D.K. (Kathy) Abbass said researchers have discovered over 200 ships from the American Revolution in Narragansett Bay. Abbass says, "We may have been looking right at her without even knowing it. The important thing now is to get the funding so that we can build the facilities to process and house all of the artifacts we must examine to prove which one of the wrecks is Endeavour."
Charlotte Taylor of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission says the resting place for these ship time capsules are difficult to explore without time, money and effort at each step. "Divers battle very poor visibility and lots of silt, which is hard to remove and risky to do, because it has essentially been protecting the wood of these ships for hundreds of years." The group hopes to have the exploration of the site completed this summer.
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