The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project will announce Wednesday that it is 80-100% sure the Endeavour is among the wrecks

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — If the ship that Capt. James Cook sailed around the world, and from which he claimed Australia for the British, is one of the sunken wrecks in Newport Harbor, as has long been suspected, Rhode Island will be getting "an intriguing birthday gift" this year.

On Wednesday, which is R.I. Independence Day, the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project will announce that it is 80 to 100 percent sure that the remains of the bark Endeavour are among the wrecks in Newport Harbor.

In 2006, RIMAP called the chances 50/50.

The Endeavour, which was renamed the Lord Sandwich and used as a British troop transport during the Revolutionary War, was one of 13 vessels sunk by the British in 1778, when Newport was under siege.

Thanks to a grant from an Australian museum, RIMAP found documents in London describing the boats and where they were scuttled.

The project has mapped four of the sites, and analysis of the fifth site indicates that the Lord Sandwich/Endeavour could be there.

On Wednesday, RIMAP will announce its plans to confirm the fifth site and outline how it will determine which ship rests in which site.

Before that can begin, RIMAP needs a place to store, study, conserve and display the artifacts removed from the water, and for that it needs to raise money.

Because the ships were sunk just before the Battle of Rhode Island in Portsmouth, RIMAP has proposed building the marine archaeology center at Butts Hill Fort, where the Americans stopped the British from advancing. It has launched a capital campaign.

RIMAP will announce its plans at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission offices in the Old State House, 150 Benefit Street, Providence.

There will be celebrating in Australia, and world attention will be drawn to Rhode Island, if RIMAP proves that it harbors the wreck of Cook's ship, which is considered the founding ship of Australia.

Other events are planned for Saturday, including a class about how the Cook-Endeavor story was the foundation for the "Star Trek" Kirk-Enterprise story.

For event details, visit www.rimap.org or contact RIMAP at rhodeislandmap@yahoo.com.

dnaylor@providencejournal.com

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