INTO THE ETHER:
As noted in the text from the article posted by the Capn, the ENDEAVOR was a former collier refitted for Capt. Cook's expedition in 1768. .....so the notes on coal residue used as an element of evidence in proof of identity are salient.
As often the case, when I see an article like this, my curiosity is piqued.
So could not resist actually looking further about the Endeavor.
Actually the vessel was built at Whitby, near Newcastle in Northeast England, and launched in 1764. It was apparently a type of ship similar to a bark, but was among those known as the WHITBY CAT.
This term (Fr. chatte'? CAT meaning coal & timber, primary loads) designated a type of vessel of low draft, narrow square stern, broad flaw bow (void of prow ornament) and a long deep waist, projecting quarters and designed for coastal trade. Here she plied the route from Newcastle to London and ports enroute.
Its name was Earl of Pembroke, renamed Endeavor by Cook. Cook had been apprentice in Whitby and knew these 'CAT's'.
This vessel was ideal for the expedition with its numerous refittings.
It was grounded off the Great Barrier Reef in Australia(1770), and cannon and various material discarded in that event have become historic memoribilia there.
On return to England the ship became unceremoniously a 'work horse' renamed "Earl of Sandwich', which carried cargo and troops during the Revolutionary War. She also carried troops and cargo to the Falkland Islands.
In 1778, she was among five ships scuttled in blockade of Narrangansett Bay, off Goat Island in Rhode Island.
This is the difficulty in identifying shipwrecks positively, the lack of identifying items (bell etc.) and the contamination of other subsequent wrecks and activity.
On another note, regarding Whitby.
This was the bustling coal port (and ship building) whaling etc. which Bram Stoker visited in late 1880s and where he learned of the 'wreck' of a "Russian' (actually from Narva, in now Estonia) brigantine named "Dmitry" in 1885.
Actually in huge storm, the great seamanship of the Captain navigated into the harbor and was grounded, but unharmed. In the event, a huge dog leaped from the ship, bounding up old stone stairs into the graveyard of a ruined old abbey. This of course became a great local tale, told to Stoker, and part of his immortal novel "Dracula" in 1897.
In the novel the ship becomes the "Demeter" from Varna, and the recent movie "Last Voyage of the Demeter", further sensationalized.
The wonder of history, is that in its study, that is serious study, one never knows where it will lead !
Its like geneology, while not necessarily in direct lineage......often figures and events become distant cousins, and with intriguing connections.
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