HMS Endeavour: Captain Cook's ship

 

Endeavour was the ship on which Captain James Cook made his first voyage of exploration from 1768 to 1771.

The ship was only 100 feet in length and carried a crew of 100 sailors. It was specially selected for the voyage on account of being sturdy and flat-bottomed, the expectation being that it might well have to be beached on remote unpopulated islands.

Endeavour started life as the Earl of Pembroke, launched in 1764 as a coal carrying merchant ship. It was purchased by the Royal Navy and renamed HM Bark Endeavour. It could not be called HMS Endeavour at that time, due to there already being a naval vessel of that name.

Cook’s voyage began from Plymouth on 8th August 1768, and sailed around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean. The voyage had a threefold aim, firstly to observe a transit of Venus across the Sun in 1769, secondly to find and chart islands in the South Pacific, and then to explore the possibility of there being a continent to the west of the Pacific Ocean. After sailing round both the North and South Islands of New Zealand, Endeavour did indeed reach the east coast of Australia, but only after suffering serious damage by running aground on the Great Barrier Reef and having to be refloated.

It was only after Endeavour reached Batavia in the Dutch East Indies that the extent of the damage could be fully appreciated. The ship had been taking on water but some of the planks in the hull were only 1/8 of an inch (3mm) from being completely breached.

After repairs, Endeavour then completed her round-the-world voyage, returning to Plymouth in 1771.

Cook did not sail on Endeavour for his second and third voyages, and the ship was decommissioned by the Royal Navy, being sold to a private buyer in 1775 and renamed Lord Sandwich. There was a brief return to naval service for the ship during the American War of Independence when she became a transport and store ship.

The last known location of Endeavour was off the coast of Rhode Island when she was scuttled in 1778. It is now believed that the wreck has been found and divers expect to find evidence to confirm this.

The name Endeavour was remembered in much later times, being used for the command module of the Apollo 15 lunar mission in 1971 and the fifth and final space shuttle, which was first launched in May 1992.

© John Welford