During a discussion on Sunday morning’s Sky News, presenter Niall Paterson was joined by Endeavour discoverer Kieran Hostey to discuss the recent findings and the ongoing tension between Australia and America. During the discussion, Kieran gave a brief rundown of Endeavour’s time on the sea, where he touched on the involvement of Britain.
Introducing Kieran to the show, Niall said: “For 22 years, researchers from Australia and the United States have been in partnership to try and locate Captain Cook ship, The Endeavour.
“Now, the Australian team believes they have located the wreck in waters off Rhode Island, but their US partners aren’t so sure.
“Joining us to explain a little bit more is Kieran Hostey, from the Australian National Maritime Museum, great to see you this morning.
“What on earth is going on, as I understood, you guys have been working very well together, the US and the Australians?”
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Kieran explained: “That’s right, we have been working with Dr Bass in the Rhode Island Marine Biology department since 1999.
“Looking for Lieutenant James’ ship, Endeavour, and we have been working very well together, there has just been a conflict over our recent announcement.
“Dr Bass and her team believe that we have breached a contract with them, it’s a misunderstanding.
“We believe we understand that the contract between the Rhode Island Marine Archeology project and the National Maritime Museum expired in November 2021.
“It’s a very weird story,” Kieran began. “Many people know about the voyage of Cook into the Pacific, his mapping of the east coast of Australia.
“Then after he returned to England, the vessel got sold out of service, it had done a lot of miles, it was a high miler, and they decided to sell it.
“It needed extensive repairs, and it was purchased by a private individual, he subsequently carried out those repairs, he then used it to continue what ships did in the 18th century.
“It went down to the Falklands, and then the American revolutionary war broke out, British Government realised it needed ships to transfer German mercenaries to America.
“It was chartered by the British government, carried the mercenaries to New York, then went up to Newport Rhode Island where it was converted into a prison ship to house prisoners of war.
“When it was in Newport, the vessel became involved in the conflict, and the British in charge of Newport decided to put through a barrier of decrepit vessels which included Endeavour.”
Niall interrupted and tested: “So you’re saying, once again, it is the British’s fault?”
Laughing at the joke, Kieran explained: “No, never!”
Published at Sun, 06 Feb 2022 09:10:00 +0000
‘You’re saying it Britain’s fault!’ Endeavour discoverer explains why UK is responsible
