HMS Endeavour, Capt. James Cook's Flagship Found, Claim Researchers

Experts will soon announce that the well-known ship sailed by the legendary explorer Captain James Cook is buried in Rhode Island's Newport Harbor.

This was the ship that Capt James Cook commanded between 1768 to 1771, even as he sailed "uncharted waters" right down in the south Pacific Ocean. The ship passed through various hands, and was named Lord Sandwich later. However, it was not found for centuries.

 "Lord Sandwich was the first lord of the admiralty at the time so the name makes sense - a nod by its private owner," said Dr Kathy Abbass, the executive director of Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, a not-for-profit body set up in 1992 to study this region's maritime history.

On Wednesday, the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project is planning to announce that it is 80 to 100 percent sure that the remains of the HMS Endeavour is buried in sunken wrecks on the coasts of the state.

Through documents in London, the group was able to map and analyze the spots where the ship might be found in the harbour.

"We know from its size, dimension and these records that the Sandwich was the Endeavour."

Captain James Cook used the Endeavour to claim Australia for the British. U.K. soldiers sunk it, among 13 other vessels during the siege of Newport in 1778.

"The American army was assembled on the mainland and the French sent a fleet to help," says Ms Abbass. "The British knew they were at great risk so they ordered 13 ships out to be scuttled in a line to blockade the city. They were sunk in fairly shallow waters."

The team is now planning to undertake detailed exploration of the site and "a more intense study of each vessel's structure and its related artifacts."