Dispute Over Location of James Cook’s Shipwreck After Australian Experts Make Discovery

Australian experts said on February 3 they had discovered the shipwreck of Captain James Cook’s HMS Endeavour after a search that lasted more than two decades, in a claim that was quickly disputed by US experts. Video footage released by the Australian National Maritime Museum shows divers searching a wreck at Newport Harbor in Rhode Island. The museum’s CEO, Kevin Sumption, said the team had “positively identified” the site as that of James Cook’s ship, which was sunk by British forces in 1778. However, archaeologists in the US disputed the findings by their Australian colleagues, according to a statement reported by the Associated Press. “There has been no indisputable data found to prove the site is that iconic vessel,” said DK Abbass, the executive director of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, which has also been searching the harbor. Credit: Australian National Maritime Museum via Storyful