Australian Archaeologists Find Captain Cook’s Shipwreck

A replica of Captain Cook’s ship, the Endeavour, sailing off the coast of New Zealand in 1995. The replica was built in Australia in 1994, where Cook is a national hero. Reuters
A replica of Captain Cook’s ship, the Endeavour, sailing off the coast of New Zealand in 1995. The replica was built in Australia in 1994, where Cook is a national hero. Reuters
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Australian Archaeologists Find Captain Cook’s Shipwreck

A replica of Captain Cook’s ship, the Endeavour, sailing off the coast of New Zealand in 1995. The replica was built in Australia in 1994, where Cook is a national hero. Reuters
A replica of Captain Cook’s ship, the Endeavour, sailing off the coast of New Zealand in 1995. The replica was built in Australia in 1994, where Cook is a national hero. Reuters

Australian archaeologists have found the wreck of Endeavour, the vessel of Captain James Cook that sank off the coast of the US state of Rhode Island over 200 years ago. But their US research partners are not amused.

The vessel, in which Cook sailed in a historic voyage to Australia and New Zealand between 1768 and 1771, sank in Newport Harbor during the War of Independence.

"Since 1999, we have been investigating several 18th-century shipwrecks in a 2-square-mile area (3.7 square kilometers) where we believed that Endeavour sank," Kevin Sumption, director of the Australian National Maritime Museum, told a Thursday media briefing.

"Based on archival and archaeological evidence, I'm convinced it's the Endeavour," he added. But the US Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project also involved in efforts to locate the vessel has slammed the announcement as premature.

In a statement, the executive director of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, DK Abbass said the Australians were guilty of a "breach of contract," adding that "conclusions will be driven by proper scientific process and not Australian emotions or politics."

The Australian Museum, in its turn, denied violating any partnership agreement, with a spokesperson saying Abbass was "entitled to her own opinion regarding the vast amount of evidence we have accumulated."

Endeavour is the ship used by Captain Cook to voyage from England to Tahiti before charting Australia's east coast in 1770.

When it sank in the Newport Harbor, in August 1778, it was renamed as Lord Sandwich and used by the British forces to lockup prisoners during the American War of Independence.

The British forces deliberately sunk Captain Cook’s ship and four others to block a French fleet from entering the harbor to support the Americans in the War of Independence.

This took place few months before Cook died in Hawaii, in February 1779. The museum said only about 15 percent of the vessel had survived two centuries under water. "The focus is now on what can be done to protect and preserve it,” Sumption said.



Firefighters Battle a Wildfire Burning Out of Control on the Greek Island of Chios

A firefighting helicopter during firefighting operations on Chios Island, Greece, 24 June 2025. EPA/KOSTAS KOURGIAS
A firefighting helicopter during firefighting operations on Chios Island, Greece, 24 June 2025. EPA/KOSTAS KOURGIAS
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Firefighters Battle a Wildfire Burning Out of Control on the Greek Island of Chios

A firefighting helicopter during firefighting operations on Chios Island, Greece, 24 June 2025. EPA/KOSTAS KOURGIAS
A firefighting helicopter during firefighting operations on Chios Island, Greece, 24 June 2025. EPA/KOSTAS KOURGIAS

Hundreds of firefighters backed up by aircraft were battling a wildfire burning out of control for the third day on the eastern Aegean island of Chios Tuesday, with authorities issuing multiple evacuation orders.

Towering walls of flames tore through forest and agricultural land on the island, where authorities have declared a state of emergency and have sent firefighting reinforcements from Athens, the northern city of Thessaloniki and the nearby island of Lesbos, said the Associated Press.

By Tuesday morning, the fire department said 444 firefighters with 85 vehicles were tackling the blaze on scattered fronts. Eleven helicopters and two water-dropping planes were providing air support.

Emergency services have issued evacuation orders for villages and settlements in the area since Sunday, when fires broke out near the island’s main town. The fire department has sent an arson investigation team to Chios to examine the cause of the blaze.

“We are faced with simultaneous fires in multiple, geographically unconnected parts of the island — a pattern that cannot be considered coincidental,” Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Giannis Kefalogiannis said Monday from Chios. Authorities, he said, were “very seriously examining the possibility of an organized criminal act, in other words arson.”

The minister said police forces on the island had been reinforced, while military patrols had been doubled.

“Whoever thinks that they can play with the lives of citizens and cause chaos with premeditated actions will be led to court,” Kefalogiannis said. “Arson is a serious crime and will be dealt with as such.”

Wildfires are frequent in Greece during its hot, dry summers. In 2018, a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee. More than 100 died, including some who drowned trying to swim away from the flames.