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Francene--Blog. Year 2014

Dredging for the past.

10/8/2014

6 Comments

 
Picturereplica year 2,000 - en.wikipedia.org
Joint forces of Australian and American marine biologists are trying to locate Cook's Endeavour. The combined mission is being launched to try to find the last resting place of the famous ship HM Bark Endeavour, a naval refitted Whitby coal ship commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery to Australia and New Zealand. The 1769 to 1771 ocean trip credited Cook with becoming the first European to chart Australia's east coast—a remarkable feat of navigation.

Having no charts, Cook sailed an unwieldy vessel north into a minefield of coral and the ship ran aground on Australia's Great Barrier Reef during the historic voyage to the South Pacific to observe the planet Venus. The crew repaired the hull before sailing on.

In 1972, I visited Cooktown in Queensland and camped on the rise above the safe harbor where the ship was repaired. I can imagine the heat would have been hard to endure so close to the equator.

Years later, marine archaeologists believe the Endeavour was scuttled off US waters during the Revolutionary War.

Picturewww.australiangeographic.com.au
An archive search in 1998 came across evidence that the roughly 100-foot Endeavour was part of a fleet of 13 ships that the British scuttled during the Revolutionary War in 1778 to blockade the port, listed under a different name, the Lord Sandwich.

However, the wreck might not remain in place. Sections of the wreck might have been salvaged soon after, or destroyed over the years by ship anchors.

The joint team hope to find the remains at the bottom of Newport Harbour, Rhode Island. The Australian National Maritime Museum want to be part of the recovery team, hoping it will be located before the 250th-anniversary celebrations of Cook's voyage in 2020.

Picturewww.ourpacificocean.com
A history professor at the University of Sydney, said Cook is considered the founding father of European-settled Australia, where England eventually set up a penal colony.

But the country's indigenous people consider Cook to be the first invader, and his landing ended their freedom and way of life.

The Australian aboriginal people were innocent and open to accepting new people. There will always be those who take advantage of others. Whatever the rights and wrongs of past actions, wars, invasions etc., we have no choice but to move on and learn from the exploits.

The same circumstances are happening around the world right now. These are actions we can try to influence.


6 Comments
Samantha Bresnahan link
10/7/2014 08:08:48 pm

This is a really interesting read, It gave me some information that I never knew.

Thanks for a fab post x

Reply
Anmol Rawat link
10/7/2014 09:21:29 pm

I agree with Samantha. Even I did not have any info regarding it.

Coming from UBC :)

Reply
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy link
10/7/2014 09:43:08 pm

Wow! I never knew most of this. Very interesting read.

Reply
Ashley Taylor Yannello link
10/7/2014 11:24:12 pm

This was such a fascinating read! I never about a lot of what you shared so perfectly! Very informative but not boring at all! Have a great day!

Reply
Tami Principe link
10/7/2014 11:57:57 pm

Very informative blog. Thank you for sharing this information, I knew nothing of it.

Reply
Pixee link
10/8/2014 02:11:17 am

Thank you for sharing such an interesting post! It's always lovely to read about history in such a refreshing way :') xx

Reply



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    Francene Stanley:
    Author
    I use news items in my fantasy novels.

    Born in Australia, I moved to Britain half way through my long life. If you like my writing, why not consider purchasing one of my books on the sidebar below?
    I blogged 260 days last year. Link.

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