It was 230 years ago on this date that Captain James Cook was bludgeoned and stabbed to death on the island of Hawaii for staying just a little too long at the luau. (And if you haven’t read Blue Latitudes by Brown alum, Tony Horwitz, put it on your list.) Maritime archaeologists now suggest that The Endeavor, Captain Cook’s ship on his first voyage, may be sitting on the bottom of Newport harbor. The refitted ship was possibly part of the British fleet scuttled to prevent the French from entering in 1778. According to the BBC,
Four of the ships were discovered in August 2005 by Professor Rod Mather of the University of Rhode Island and graduate student Jamin Wells.
“As is the case with many 18th Century shipwrecks, the newly discovered vessels were pinned to the bottom of Newport Harbor with their own ballast stones,” said Mather.
I can find no updates on this project. Funding may become a problem for cool stuff like this — I suppose it can wait another century or two.