HM Bark Endeavour Totally Explained

Everything about Hm Bark Endeavour totally explained

His Majesty's Bark Endeavour was a small 18th century British sailing ship, famous for being the vessel commanded by Lt. (later Captain) James Cook, on his first voyage of discovery to the Pacific Ocean.

Construction and statistics

The Endeavour was originally a merchant collier named Earl of Pembroke after Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke. Her construction was completed by early 1768 at Whitby, North Yorkshire. She was ship-rigged, and sturdily built with a capacious hold. Despite not being very fast, her flat-bottomed hull was well-suited to sailing in shallow waters and more important for her proposed use: she was, like other colliers of the north-east coast of England, designed to be beached. Her length was 106 ft (32.3m), and 97 ft 7 in. on her lower deck, with an extreme breadth of 29 ft 3 in (8.9 m). Her burthen was 368 71/94 tons.

HMS, HMB, or HM Bark?

The Endeavour is known to history as HMS Endeavour or HM Bark Endeavour although the prefix HMS didn't come into use until the very end of the 1780's and the abbreviation HM wasn't used in formal communications.
   In Cook's published narrative of the Endeavour voyage he mostly uses "His Britannick Majesty's Bark" and only rarely "His Britannick Majesty's Ship".
   In the same way that ancient custom mandates the title of Captain for a ranked Lieutenant while commanding a ship, all Royal Navy vessels are customarily referred to as HMS even though they may have a different rating on the Admiralty's ship lists.
   Thus "Captain Cook of HMS Endeavour" is a correct customary usage for both the man and the ship while "Lieutenant Cook of HM Bark the Endeavour" exhibits the correct technical register of the language used in correspondence between the Admiralty and its officers.
   A popular contemporary usage is to refer to "Captain Cook of HM Bark Endeavour", which is a combination of both the customary and the technical.
   HMB is a late twentieth century neologism which would have been meaningless to anyone in the days of the sailing navy. The "B" would have been far more likely to have been guessed as Brig or Bomb (vessel) than the intended designation.

Purchased by the Admiralty

On 16 February, 1768 the Royal Society petitioned King George III to finance a scientific expedition to the Pacific Ocean. The expedition's ostensible purpose was to study and observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the sun (in concert with several other observations to be made from different locations). However, a more pragmatic reason was to be relayed to her captain by the Admiralty in additional instructions

; namely, to search out the southern Pacific for signs of the postulated continent, Terra Australis Incognita (Unknown southern land).
   The mission approved, the newly-built ship was purchased by the Royal Navy for the sum of £2307 5s. 6d. and assigned for use in the Society's expedition. She was renamed Endeavour after a major refit at Deptford on the River Thames in 1768, her improvements including caulking the hull and adding a third deck to prepare her for her new role as an exploration vessel. Classified by the Navy as a bark, she was known as Endeavour Bark to distinguish her from another Endeavour in the Royal Navy. This 18th century use of the term 'bark' shouldn't be confused with the barques of the later 19th and early 20th century. She carried 94 men on Cook's first voyage. Alexander Dalrymple from the Royal Society was first proposed for command of the voyage, but he made it a condition that he be given a commission with rank of captain, since otherwise the crew wouldn't be subject to naval discipline under him. First Lord of the Admiralty Edward Hawke refused, going so far as to say he'd rather cut off his right hand than sign a commission trusting one of His Majesty's ships to a non-seaman! Hawke may well have had in mind a recent case of Dr Halley who was given such a commission and the sailors refused to recognise his authority.
   The impasse was broken by Philip Stephens proposing James Cook who had done good work as a surveyor in Newfoundland and Labrador. The admiralty board accepted this and promoted Cook to the rank of lieutenant on 25 May 1768. (As commander of the ship he was naturally called Captain by those onboard.) Dalrymple took this disappointment badly.
   Other notable members on the expedition were the naturalists Sir Joseph Banks from England, Dr. Herman Spöring from Finland, Daniel Solander from Sweden (the Oxford University honoured the Swede with a Doctorate of Law after this expedition) and the English astronomer Charles Green, who was to be in charge of making the astronomical observations.

Cook's voyage

The voyage departed Plymouth on August 26, 1768, and took them to the Madeira Islands, along the west coast of Africa and across the Atlantic to South America, arriving in Rio de Janeiro on November 13, 1768. The next leg rounded Cape Horn into the South Pacific and on to Tahiti, where she remained for the next three months while preparations were made for observing the transit of Venus.
Her ostensible mission now completed, she continued with her "unannounced" tasks of charting the Southern Hemisphere. The Endeavour sailed from Tahiti to New Zealand, where she spent the next six months surveying and mapping the coast under some harassment from the Māori population. She features on the New Zealand 50 cent coin as a result. From New Zealand she moved west to the coast of Australia, sighting land on April 19, 1770. On April 29, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the continent, at a place now known as Kurnell. At first Cook bestowed the name Stingaree (Stingray) Bay to the inlet after the many such creatures found there; this was later changed to Botanist Bay and finally Botany Bay after the unique specimens retrieved by the botanists Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander and Herman Spöring.
For the next four months Cook charted the coast of Australia, until the ship ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef.

Endeavour Reef

Just before 11pm on the evening of 10 June 1770 the ship struck a reef, today called Endeavour Reef, within the Great Barrier Reef. The part they struck stands up steeply from the seabed, so casting the lead had shown 20 fathoms (36 metres) of water right up to the point of striking.
   With the sails immediately taken down, the coasting anchor was set out and an attempt made to pull the ship back off the reef, unsuccessfully. Because it was already around high tide the only option was to lighten the ship to float her off, so iron and stone ballast, spoiled stores, and the ships guns were thrown overboard, and the ship's water (drinking water) pumped out. The guns were not simply discarded; Sydney Parkinson records buoys were attached with the intention of retrieving them later, but that proved impractical. (The guns and ballast were found in 1969, #.) Parkinson also notes that every man on board took turns on the pumps, including Cook, Banks, and the officers.
   With about 40 or 50 tons lightened, by Cook's reckoning, on the high tide the next morning a further attempt was made to pull the ship free, but again unsuccessfully. In the afternoon the longboat carried out the two large bower anchors, and block and tackles were put on a total 5 anchors now set, ready to try again on the evening high tide. The ship started to take on water through the damage from the reef, and though the leak would certainly increase once off the reef Cook decided to risk that. At about 10:20pm the ship floated with the tide and was successfully drawn off. The anchors were retrieved, except for the small bower which couldn't be freed. (It too was found in 1969; see below).
   The leak increased with the ship off the reef, and the three working pumps were manned. A mistake happened in sounding the depth of water in the hold when a new man took over and measured from the outside plank where his predecessor had used the ceiling (the top of the cross-beams of the hull). The difference was about 18 inches so the new man's call made it seem the leak had gained on the pumps that much in just a short time, sending a wave of fear through the ship. As soon as the mistake was realized the relief acted like a charm and with redoubled efforts the pumps kept ahead of the leak.
   The prospects if the ship sank were grim. The typical understatement in the journals of the seamen make it easy to underestimate the danger, only in Banks is there a taste of it. For a start the ship was miles from shore and the boats couldn't carry everyone (being made for work, not as lifeboats) so many would surely drown. And those who survived would be left unarmed and without food in an unknown land. Banks noted the calm efficiency of the crew in the face of danger, contrary to stories he'd heard of seamen turning to plunder and refusing command in such circumstances.
   Midshipman Jonathon Munkhouse proposed fothering the ship, as he'd been on a merchant ship which used the technique successfully. He was entrusted with supervising the task, sewing bits of oakum and wool into an old sail, which was then drawn under the ship (on the outside), the theory being that water pressure (from the sea) would push those materials into the hole in the hull, plugging it. This technique worked better than any had hoped, and soon very little water was entering, allowing the the pumps to be stopped.
   The crew proceeded north looking for a harbour to make repairs and on the afternoon of 13 June came to Endeavour River, as Cook later named it. Strong winds prevented the ship getting across the bar until the afternoon of 17 June. There they careened her and made repairs to the hull. A piece of coral the size of a man's fist had sliced clean through the planks of the hull, and broken off, wedged there. It was fortunate it stuck, because (on Parkinson's reckoning at least) an open hole that size would in all probability have sunk the ship.
   With repairs made and after a delay waiting for the wind they were able to set off again on the afternoon of 3 August. The careening hadn't got the ship completely out of the water, so only a limited examination of the very bottom had been possible, but it seemed sound enough. When they later reached Batavia (9 November) it turned out some planks were damaged to within 1/8 inch (3 millimetres) of being cut through. It was a "surprise to every one who saw her bottom how we'd kept her above water" as Cook said (though doing more at Endeavour River may not have been practical anyway).

Homeward

She turned for home arriving, after several other stops, on July 11, 1771. Cook's first voyage in Endeavour is of historical importance because of its contributions to the world's knowledge of seamanship and navigation, as well as geography.
Approximately one month after his feted return to England, Lt. Cook was promoted to the Royal Navy rank of Commander, and by the end of November he was in receipt of Admiralty Orders for a new expedition to the southern hemisphere and search for Terra Australis.
Cook's two subsequent voyages of exploration were made in command of another vessel, HMS Resolution. The first of these (1771—1776) circumnavigated the globe at a high southern latitude in the Southern Ocean, and laid to rest any lasting doubts that there was an undiscovered continent at these latitudes. On the second Resolution expedition (1771—1780), Cook charted the western coastline of North America, from California northwards to Bering Strait. Finding his attempts to sail through the strait frustrated by pack ice, Cook returned southwards through the central Pacific to the Hawaiian Islands, which he'd first encountered in the earlier part of this voyage, naming them the Sandwich Islands. It was here, after spending some months in the archipelago that Cook met his end— killed in an altercation with the local Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay on February 14, 1779.

Scurvy

Much has been made of Cook's success avoiding scurvy on the voyage. Although the efficacy of oranges and lemons had been known for some 175 years (since Hawkins in 1593), they couldn't always be obtained. The disease wasn't well understood and was a very serious problem on long voyages.
   The Admiralty Sick and Hurt Board gave Cook a number of believed anti-scorbutics, based mainly on ideas of Dr David McBride. These included malt (which McBride favoured), concentrated orange juice, and sauerkraut. Malt is now known to be ineffective, having barely a trace of vitamin C; and concentrating juices by heating destroys much of their vitamin C. Sauerkraut is a good source of vitamin C and was apparently new to a shipboard diet.
   Sailors of the day were notoriously against innovation, and at first the men wouldn't eat the sauerkraut. Cook used a little trick, one he'd never known to fail. He ordered it served to himself and the officers, and left an option for crew who wanted some. Within a week of seeing their superiors set a value on it the demand was so great a ration had to be instituted. (Cook's journal 13 April 1769.)
   Cook's general approach was essentially empirical, encouraging as broad a diet as circumstances permitted, and collecting such greens as could be had when making landfall. All onboard ate the same food, with Cook specifically dividing equally anything that could be divided (and indeed recommending that practice to any commander – journal 4 August 1770).
   Two cases of scurvy did occur on board, astronomer Charles Green and the Tahitian navigator Tupaea were treated, but Cook was able to proudly record that upon reaching Batavia he'd "not one man upon the sick list" (journal 15 October 1770), unlike so many voyages that reached that port with much of the crew suffering illness.

Later history

In 1773 the British Admiralty fitted out Endeavour as a store ship and finally sold her in 1775 for £615. After that point there's much doubt as to her fate. One account has her sold to the French in 1790 and renamed La Liberté, finally running aground in 1794, near Newport, Rhode Island, USA. Another version has her moored as a hulk on the River Thames near Woolwich in 1825. Yet another version has Endeavour returned to the coal trade in 1775 and grounded at Rhode Island in 1790, this version being the more plausible.
   After being sold out of the Royal Navy, she was purchased by James Mather & Sons in 1775 and re-named Lord Sandwich in 1777 (Ref: Lloyd's Register of Shipping.) Mather used the old ship as a transport on voyages to Archangel in Russia to bring back European fir trees to make masts and spars for the over-burdened Royal Navy.
   When Lord Sandwich was all but a wreck, Mather was asked to provide one of his three hundred ships to transport Hessian mercenaries to Rhode Island, USA, to help the British put down the recalcitrant Colonial Americans. Mather offered one his 'relics,' the old spongy Bark Endeavour renamed Lord Sandwich.
   At Newport, Rhode Island, Lord Sandwich was turned into a Prison ship under the British flag.
   In the spring of 1778 the French and Americans signed a treaty. This union saw the French dispatch an armada of ships with 3,000 troops to America to assist in the war effort. Eventually the French forces arrived at Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. The British Commander in charge, Captain Brisbane, realised that he'd little defence against superior forces and so ordered a number of ships sunk as a blockade to the Newport, Rhode Island's outer harbour entrance. This blockade proved successful.
   The blockade ships sunk by Captain Brisbane during August 1778 included HM Frigates Juno 32; Lark 32; Orpheus 32; Cerberus 28; a number of HM Galley ships Spitfire; Alarm; Pigot; sloop Flora 12-pdr (later raised); and the Sloops Falcon (later raised); and Kingfisher, and ten transports. Some of these ships were later raised and placed back in service.
   Rhode Island Marine Archaeologist Dr Kathy Abbass set out to find out more about the demise of Lord Sandwich by delving through the copious files at the Public Record Office, London. This search found some persuasive evidence that brings the location of the demise of Cook's Bark Endeavour closer.
   Amongst the information gleaned from the PRO records:

4 February, 1776, the Lord Sandwich was accepted into Transport Service (to the US) a Transport Office survey showed:
- Lord Sandwich "Burthen according to Measurem[en]t" is 368 71/94 tons and Above 7 ft 6 in Height, between Decks Midships 7 ft 9, in Abaft 7 ft 11 in.
7 February 1776 – "Ready to enter into pay"

In a ledger called "Entry of Transport Charter Party's 1774 - 1794" is also found the Lord Sandwich under contract as of 2 January, 1776, entered into pay 7 February, 1776, and with tonnage of 368 71/94 tons.
   Probably one of the most persuasive documents found by Dr Abbass was a letter from Captain Brisbane, the senior naval commander at Newport RI. On August 3 He wrote to Admiral Howe in New York to report on circumstances in Newport:
� "As to the time the Garrison may be able to sustain the Attempts of the Enemy, Is the General says, very uncertain and depends upon the Numbers they throw in—With respect to the nature of their hostile operations, There are two Ships of the Line up the Naraganset [sic] Passage; Two Frigates a large Brig and two Sloops in the Seconnet; The rest consisting of Ten Sail of the Line and one Frigate are still at Anchor without any form, between Churche's [sic] Point, (which forms the West Side of Easton's Beach) and Brenton's Reef, the Southmost about 5 miles Distance from the Island, the other Frigate is supposed to be Cruizing off Montock Point". The blockade ships sunk by Captain Brisbane during August 1778 included HM Frigates Juno 32; Lark 32; Orpheus 32; Cerberus 28; a number of HM Galley ships Spitfire; Alarm; Pigot; sloop Flora 12 pdr (later raised); and the Sloops Falcon (later raised); and Kingfisher, and ten transports including Lord Sandwich.

Captain Brisbane further stated: � "This Morning I caused five Transports to be sunk in the passage between Goat Island and the Blue Rocks, to prevent the Approach of the Enemy too near the North Battery so as to attack it with Advantage. And Five more Transports are proceeding out, in order to be sunk between Goat Island and Rose Island for the same Purpose".

Mather as owner of these vessels sunk at RI despatched a letter via his Agent to the Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy dated London, December 2, 1778 requesting that a valuation certificate be issued by the Deptford Naval Yard:
� "Honble Sirs. The Masters of the Transports Destroy’d at Rhode Island are arriv[e]d and passing their Accounts at the Victualling Office, I beg the favour you'll be pleased to order the Deptford Officers to Send up the Value of Eache" [sic].

The letter achieved its purpose for a valuation certificate for all of those vessels sunk at RI was issued. It included the Lord Sandwich of 368 71/94 tons that entered into pay on February 7, 1776.
   Confusion with this story isn't helped when the history of Cook's other ship Resolution is followed up - she too was renamed, as Marie Antoinette and later La Liberte and serendipitously she also ended her days in Newport, RI (Now under the car park at Sherman's Wharf).
   Dr Abbass concluded: � "Based on the Public Records Office documents, there can be no doubt that this is the same Lord Sandwich that had been HMB Endeavour, and that she was one of the transports sunk in Newport's outer harbour in 1718. If Connell and Liddy ("Cook's Bark Endeavour: Did this Vessel end her days in Newport, Rhode Island?", Great Circle Vol. 19, No 1 1997) are correct that La Liberte was Cook's Resolution, abandoned at a dock in Newport's inner harbour in 1793, then Newport was the final port of call for two of the four vessels that went around the world with Captain James Cook".

A Reuters article published on May 16, 2006 seems to indicate the possible presence of the Endeavour within Rhode Island's state waters; it was reportedly sunk in 1778, bearing the later name Lord Sandwich, according to the records of archaeologists with the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project .

Endeavour Reef recoveries

In 1886 the Working Men's Progress Association of Cooktown wanted to recover the cannons Cook had left at Endeavour Reef when grounded there, for a proposed memorial. They offered a £300 reward but searches that year and the next failed to find anything. Further later searches in 1966, 1967 and 1968 were unsuccessful too. The anchor and another cannon are displayed at the James Cook Historical Museum in Cooktown. Those items are all long-term loans from the National Museum of Australia.

Replica vessel

In January 1988, to commemorate the bicentenary of European settlement in Australia, work began in Fremantle, Western Australia on a replica of Endeavour. The survival of the original drawings from the 1768 refit at Deptford meant that the replica could be made as similar as possible to the original ship. Financial difficulties delayed completion until April 1994. She then embarked on her own world trip, calling at many ports along the way. After a long voyage the ship is alongside at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney.
   The ship first visited Whitby, the original Endeavour's home port in England, in 1997 and left in 2003.
   Research conducted by Karl Heinz Marquardt has cast interesting doubt on the accuracy of the Mizzen Mast dimensions in replica craft (and scale models). A number of the original drawings of Earl of Penbroke and Endeavour still are in existence, although these don't include a mast plan. One drawing (3814c) has written mast and spar dimensions including that of 16 yards 29 inches for the mizzen. Marquardt compares the dimensions of the masts to those in the Navy Standard (W Sutherland, The Ship Builders Assistant, (London 1711, reprint Rotherfield 1989) and dimensions suggested by other sources for mizzen (specifically J Davis from The Seamen's Speculum, London 1711 reprint N.R.G 1985 and J H Roding (unattributed)). All of the other masts are longer than contemporary standards. The mizzen is however shorter than the standards, unless the length in the drawing 3814(c) is a transcription error and should be 19 yards 29 inches (rather than 16/29). The 16/29 reproduction produces a very truncated looking mast, and is inconsistent with the few contemporary reproductions of Endeavour (including sketches of the acclaimed Sydney Parkinson who was the draughtsmen on the first voyage).
   Details taken from K H Marquardt "Captain Cook's Endeavour" published 1995 (ISBN 9708 85177 8969) from the "Anatomy of the Ship" series by publisher Anova Books, London, pp18-20, Parkinson sketch p32.

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