Captain James Cook's famous HMS Endeavour ship is believed to have been finally found, 250 years after his historic Australian voyage of discovery.

Marine archaeologists who have spent more than two decades painstakingly searching for the vessel say they have now identified what could be the wreck's exact final resting spot.

Details of what will solve one of the greatest maritime mysteries of all time will be officially announced on Friday in the United States.

The event will take place on Goat Island, a small island in Narragansett Bay, off Newport, Rhode Island, near to where the scuttled remains are believed to be.

Archaeologists learned 20 years ago that the ship was scuttled in Newport Harbour. But the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP), said experts have 'narrowed the search for the Endeavour from a fleet of thirteen vessels to five, and now possibly to one or two archaeological sites'.

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Marine archaeologists believe they have pinpointed the exact place where the scuttled remains of Captain James Cook's HMS Endeavour ship (a replica of the ship is pictured) are located

Captain James Cook (pictured) commanded the HMS Endeavour to Australia during his voyage of discovery in the late 1700s

The Friday announcement will involve archaeologists from RIMAP and the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANNM).

'The event will review how the 25-year-long archaeological study of the Newport transports has narrowed the search for the Endeavour from a fleet of thirteen vessels to five and now possibly to one or two archaeological sites,' a statement posted on the RIMAP website said.

'RIMAP and the ANMM researchers will discuss the 2018 fieldwork results, and release to the public a 3-D photogrammetric image of a promising site located in the Limited Study Area, just off the Goat Island shore near Gurneys Resort.'

The identification of the vessel's final resting place has raised hopes the HMS Endeavour will be able to be excavated next year.

Director of RIMAP, Kathy Abbass, said the discovery would be significant for a number of countries, including Australia, the US, Britain and New Zealand.

'It is exciting, we are closing in,' she told Fairfax Media.

The latest development comes after the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project made an important discovery, saying the ship was scuttled in Newport Harbor in 1778 by British forces in the lead up to the Battle of Rhode Island.

The HMS Endeavour was then discovered to be among 13 other ships in a massive archaeological investigation that combined high-tech mapping of the seabed with analysis of historical shipping documents found in London.

The event will take place on Goat Island, a small island in Narragansett Bay, off Newport, Rhode Island, near to where the scuttled remains are believed to be located

Pictured, a replica of the HMS Endeavour. The HMS Endeavour is one of the most famous ships in naval history and was used for Captain Cook's discovery of the East Coast of Australia in 1770

This chart from 1893 shows tracked the HMS Endeavour's journey

But the website statement added more detailed work would have to be undertaken.

'Now that RIMAP and the ANMM have identified a possible site in Newport Harbor that might be the Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour, the detailed work must begin to prove it,' it said.

The HMS Endeavour is one of the most famous ships in naval history and was used for Captain Cook's discovery of the East Coast of Australia in 1770.

The last sighting of the HMS Endeavour was around 1778 when it is believed the ship was sold, renamed the Lord Sandwich, and then used to transport British troops during the American Revolution.

The HMS Endeavour was first launched in 1764 as the Earl of Pembroke, and then renamed His Majesty's Bark the Endeavour after it was purchased four years later by the British Royal Navy.

A cutaway painting of Captain Cook's HMS Endeavour ship during its famous voyage of discovery

The HMS Endeavour was first launched in 1764 as the Earl of Pembroke. Pictured, the Earl of Pembroke leaving Whitby Harbour in 1768

It was sent out to explore the Pacific Ocean in August 1768 both to observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the sun and in the search for the continent which was then called Terra Australis Incognita, or unknown Southern land.

The previous transit of Venus in 1639 had provided a vast amount of the information astronomers and scientists had about the size of the solar system and universe.

The ship departed from Plymouth with 94 people on board, including Captain James Cook.

It traveled down the coast of Africa before cutting across the Atlantic and arriving in Rio de Janeiro in November of that year.

The boat then set out to round Cape Horn, which it managed to do on its third attempt in January after wind, stormy weather and difficult conditions foiled Cook's first two attempts.

Captain James Cook is pictured arriving at Queen Charlotte's Sound in New Zealand, in this A print from an oil painting attributed to J Clevely

In April the ship reached Tahiti, where it stayed for the next four months and where astronomer Charles Green was able to study the transit of Venus in June.

After months exploring the Pacific for islands, the Endeavour reached the coast of New Zealand in October, becoming the first European vessel to land on the island in over 100 years.

Dutch explorer Abel Tasman had previously reached the islands of New Zealand and Tasmania during his 1642 journey while with the Dutch East India Company.

Cook spent six months exploring and mapping the coast of New Zealand and claimed the land for Great Britain before sailing west.

In April of 1770 individuals on the ship first spotted Australia, and on April 29 the HMS Endeavour became the first European vessel to make landfall on the east coast of the island.

Cook spent four months charting the coast and at one point ran into trouble when the ship struck part of the Great Barrier Reef.

The ship was 24 miles off the coast at the time with not enough life boats, but managed to clear the water from the hull of the ship and make its way safely back to shore.

Captain Cook was killed in 1779 during a fight with Hawaiians on the island. The Endeavor soon become a naval transport ship

HISTORY OF COOK'S ENDEAVOUR The HMS Endeavour was a British research vessel sailed by Captain James Cook. Captain Cook set off from England in the Endeavour in 1768 in search of Australia – then known as the 'unknown Southern Land'. The Endeavour was a small ship - less than 100ft long - and housed a crew of around 100 sailors. Before coming to Australia, Captain Cook reached New Zealand in 1769. He circumnavigated New Zealand's North and South Islands and drew the first complete chart of the country's coast. The Endeavour was the first ship to reach the East Coast of Australia, landing in Botany Bay in 1770. The vessel returned to England in 1771 and was largely forgotten before it was sold in 1775 and renamed The Lord Sandwich. Source: Australian National Maritime Museum Advertisement

The ship continued to explore the east cost of Australia, and in November was taken out of the water to have major repairs done before setting sail back to Great Britain.

It set sail the day after Christmas, and in March rounded the Cape of Good Hope before docking in Cape Town.

On July 12 it made its way into port in Dover, almost three years after it first left from Plymouth.

Cook was later promoted to Commander and explored the Pacific twice more on the HMS Resolution.

He was killed in 1779 during a fight with Hawaiians on the island.

The Endeavor soon become a naval transport ship, and was sold to a shipping magnate just before the start of the Revolutionary War.

That individual then tried to sell the ship back to the British when the demand for ships increased during the war but they would not accept the vessel given its age and what it had been through over the years.

The seller then made the decision to rename the boat Lord Sandwich and try to sell it again, which worked after the boat underwent serious repairs.