Kerry Lynch

Kerry Lynch (Ph.D. 2010) is playing a critical role in helping solve a 240-year-old maritime mystery: what happened to the HMS Endeavour, the ship that Lt. James Cook captained on the first voyage by British explorers to Australia? A specialist in underwater archaeology, Lynch is field director for the exploration of Revolutionary War activity in Rhode Island’s Newport Harbor, and has worked on various underwater sites there since 1997. At a news conference in Newport last September, Lynch and other researchers announced a promising discovery at the bottom of Newport Harbor that could possibly be the remains of Cook’s famous ship.

Launched in 1764, the Endeavour was first purchased by the British Royal Navy for James Cook’s 1768-1771 scientific mission to the Pacific Ocean. Sold to private investors and renamed the Lord Sandwich, she later became part of American, Australian, and British history during the Revolutionary War. Chartered by the British Board of Transport, she was used to transport Hessian mercenaries to fight in the war. She was also used as a prison ship to hold American prisoners, Lynch said. In 1778, as an invading French fleet approached British-held Newport, the Lord Sandwich and 12 other ships were scuttled to block the harbor.

Now 240 years later, there remains much work to be done to know if the ruins at the bottom of the harbor are, in fact, the Endeavour. The next steps include excavation to measure timbers buried in the muck, recovery of possible artifacts, and non-destructive inspections, such as analyzing 3D imaging of site features. Then, wood samples from all the wrecks will be analyzed and checked against construction records. Additional clues may be pollen embedded in the pitch between timbers that could only have come from the Pacific, exotic wood used during repairs, or bits of cloth or buttons from a Hessian uniform.

Lynch was contracted for the project and she also volunteers her time. The project is supported by classes, including site mapping and other training provided by Lynch, Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) memberships, as well as federal and other grants, including from the Australian National Maritime Museum.