HMS Endeavour HMS " Endeavour , also known as HM Bark " Endeavour , was a British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded on his first voyage of discovery , to Australia and New Zealand from 1769 to 1771 . She was launched in 1764 as the collier " Earl of Pembroke " , and the Navy purchased her in 1768 for a scientific mission to the Pacific Ocean and to explore the seas for the surmised " Terra Australis Incognita " or " unknown southern land " . The Navy renamed and commissioned her as " His Majesty ' s Bark the Endeavour " . She departed Plymouth in August 1768 , rounded Cape Horn , and reached Tahiti in time to observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun . She then set sail into the largely uncharted ocean to the south , stopping at the Pacific islands of Huahine , Borabora , and Raiatea to allow Cook to claim them for Great Britain . In September 1769 , she anchored off New Zealand , the first European vessel to reach the islands since Abel Tasman ' s " Heemskerck " 127 years earlier . In April 1770 , " Endeavour " became the first ship to reach the east coast of Australia , when Cook went ashore at what is now known as Botany Bay . " Endeavour " then sailed north along the Australian coast . She narrowly avoided disaster after running aground on the Great Barrier Reef , and Cook had to throw her guns overboard to lighten her . He then beached her on the mainland for seven weeks to permit rudimentary repairs to her hull . On 10 October 1770 , she limped into port in Batavia ( now named Jakarta ) in the Dutch East Indies for more substantial repairs , her crew sworn to secrecy about the lands they had discovered . She resumed her westward journey on 26 December , rounded the Cape of Good Hope on 13 March 1771 , and reached the English port of Dover on 12 July , having been at sea for nearly three years . Largely forgotten after her epic voyage , " Endeavour " spent the next three years shipping Navy stores to the Falkland Islands . Renamed and sold into private hands in 1775 , she briefly returned to naval service as a troop transport during the American Revolutionary War and was scuttled in a blockade of Narragansett Bay , Rhode Island in 1778 . Her wreck has not been precisely located , but relics , including six of her cannons and an anchor , are displayed at maritime museum s worldwide . A replica of " Endeavour " was launched in 1994 and is berthed alongside the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney Harbour . The space shuttle " Endeavour " is named for the original ship . " Endeavour " features on the New Zealand fifty cent piece in recognition of its significant place in the nation ' s history . Construction . " Endeavour " was originally the merchant collier " Earl of Pembroke " , launched in June 1764 from the coal and whaling port of Whitby in North Yorkshire , and of a type known locally as the " Whitby Cat " . She was ship - rigged and sturdily built with a broad , flat bow , a square stern and a long box - like body with a deep hold . A flat - bottomed design made her well - suited to sailing in shallow waters and allowed her to be beached for loading and unloading of cargo and for basic repairs without requiring a dry dock . Her hull , internal floors and futtock s were built from traditional white oak , her keel and stern post from elm and her masts from pine and fir . Plans of the ship also show a double keelson to lock the keel , floors and frames in place . Some doubt exists about the height of her masts , as surviving diagrams of " Endeavour " depict the body of the vessel only , and not the mast plan . While her main and foremasts are accepted to be a standard respectively , an annotation on one surviving ship plan records the mizzen as " 16 yards 29 inches " ( ( ( 16 + 29 / 36 ) * 0 . 9144 ) round1 m ) . If correct , this would produce an oddly truncated mast a full shorter than the standards of the day . Modern research suggests the annotation may be a transcription error and should read " 19 yards 29 inches " ( ( ( 26 + 29 / 36 ) * 0 . 9144 ) round1 m ) , which would more closely conform with both the naval standards and the lengths of the other masts . The replica is built to this shorter measurement , as is the model in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich . Note , for example , the differences between the height of the mizzen fore - and - aft spar in the contemporary painting by Luny ( below ) and its position on the replica in the photographs , compared to the height of the lowest spars on the fore and mainmasts . Purchase and refit by Admiralty . On 16 February 1768 , the Royal Society petitioned King George III to finance a scientific expedition to the Pacific to study and observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the sun . Royal approval was granted for the expedition , and the Admiralty elected to combine the scientific voyage with a confidential mission to search the south Pacific for signs of the postulated continent " Terra Australis Incognita " ( or " unknown southern land " ) . The Royal Society suggested command be given to Scottish geographer Alexander Dalrymple , whose acceptance was conditional on a brevet commission as a captain in the Royal Navy . However , First Lord of the Admiralty Edward Hawke refused , going so far as to say he would rather cut off his right hand than give command of a Navy vessel to someone not educated as a seaman . In refusing Dalrymple ' s command , Hawke was influenced by previous insubordination aboard the sloop in 1698 , when naval officers had refused to take orders from civilian commander Dr . Edmond Halley . The impasse was broken when the Admiralty proposed James Cook , a naval officer with a background in mathematics and cartography . Acceptable to both parties , Cook was promoted to Lieutenant and named as commander of the expedition . On 27 May 1768 , Cook took command of the " Earl of Pembroke " , valued in March at £2 , 307 . 5s . 6d . but ultimately purchased for £2 , 840 . 10s . 11d . and assigned for use in the Society ' s expedition . She was refitted at Deptford on the River Thames for the sum of £2 , 294 , almost the price of the ship itself . The hull was sheathed and caulked to protect against shipworm , and a third internal deck installed to provide cabins , a powder magazine and storerooms . The new cabins provided around of floorspace apiece and were allocated to Cook and the Royal Society representatives : naturalist Joseph Banks , Banks ' assistants Daniel Solander and Herman Spöring , astronomer Charles Green , and artists Sydney Parkinson and Alexander Buchan . These cabins encircled the officer ' s mess . The Great Cabin at the rear of the deck was designed as a workroom for Cook and the Royal Society . On the rear lower deck , cabins facing on to the mate ' s mess were assigned to Lieutenants Zachary Hicks and John Gore , ship ' s surgeon William Monkhouse , the gunner Stephen Forwood , ship ' s master Robert Molyneux , and the captain ' s clerk Richard Orton . The adjoining open mess deck provided sleeping and living quarters for the marines and crew , and additional storage space . A longboat , pinnace and yawl were provided as ship ' s boats , though the longboat was rotten and had to be rebuilt and painted with white lead before it could be brought aboard . These were accompanied by two privately owned skiffs , one belonging to the boatswain John Gathrey , and the other to Banks . The ship was also equipped with a set of sweeps to allow her to be rowed forward if becalmed or demasted . The refitted vessel was commissioned as " His Majesty ' s Bark the Endeavour " , to distinguish her from the 14 - gun sloop . On 21 July 1768 , " Endeavour " sailed to Galleon ' s Reach to take on armaments to protect her against potentially hostile Pacific island natives . Ten 4 - pounder cannons were brought aboard , six of which were mounted on the upper deck and the remainder stowed in the hold . Twelve swivel guns were also supplied , and fixed to posts along the quarterdeck , sides and bow . The ship departed for Plymouth on 30 July , for provisioning and to board her crew of 85 , including 12 Royal Marines . Cook also ordered that twelve tons of pig iron be brought on board as sailing ballast . Voyage of discovery . Outward voyage . " Endeavour " departed Plymouth on 26 August 1768 , carrying 94 people and 18 months of provisions . Livestock on board included pigs , poultry , two greyhounds and a milking goat . The first port of call was Funchal in the Madeira Islands , which " Endeavour " reached on 12 September . The ship was recaulked and painted , and fresh vegetables , beef and water brought aboard for the next leg of the voyage . While in port , an accident cost the life of master ' s mate Robert Weir , who became entangled in the anchor cable and was dragged overboard when the anchor was released . To replace him , Cook shanghaiied a sailor from an American sloop anchored nearby . " Endeavour " then continued south along the coast of Africa and across the Atlantic to South America , arriving in Rio de Janeiro on 13 November 1768 . Fresh food and water were brought aboard and the ship departed for Cape Horn , which she reached during stormy weather on 13 January 1769 . However , attempts to round the Cape over the next two days were unsuccessful , with " Endeavour " repeatedly driven back by wind , rain and contrary tides . Cook noted that the seas off the Cape were large enough to regularly submerge the bow of the ship as she rode down the crests of waves . At last , on 16 January the wind eased and the ship was able to pass the Cape and anchor in the Bay of Good Success on the Pacific coast . The crew were sent to collect wood and water , while Banks and his team gathered hundreds of plant specimens from along the icy shore . On 17 January two of Banks ' servants died from cold while attempting to return to the ship during a heavy snowstorm . " Endeavour " resumed her voyage on 21 January 1769 , heading west - northwest into warmer weather . She reached Tahiti on 10 April , where she remained for the next two months . The transit of Venus across the Sun occurred on 3 June , and was observed and recorded by astronomer Charles Green from " Endeavour " ' s deck . Pacific exploration . The transit observed , " Endeavour " departed Tahiti on 13 July and headed northwest to allow Cook to survey and name the Society Islands . Landfall was made at Huahine , Raiatea and Borabora , providing opportunities for Cook to claim each of them as British territories . However , an attempt to land the pinnace on the Austral Island of Rurutu was thwarted by rough surf and the rocky shoreline . On 15 August , " Endeavour " finally turned south to explore the open ocean for " Terra Australis Incognita " . In October 1769 , " Endeavour " reached the coastline of New Zealand , becoming the first European vessel to do so since Abel Tasman ' s " Heemskerck " in 1642 . Unfamiliar with such ships , the Māori people at Cook ' s first landing point in Poverty Bay thought the ship was a floating island , or a gigantic bird from their mythical homeland of Hawaiki . " Endeavour " spent the next six months sailing close to shore , while Cook mapped the coastline and concluded that New Zealand comprised two large islands and was not the hoped - for " Terra Australis " . In March 1770 , the longboat from " Endeavour " carried Cook ashore to allow him to formally proclaim British sovereignty over New Zealand . On his return , " Endeavour " resumed her voyage westward , her crew sighting the east coast of Australia on 19 April . On 29 April , she became the first European vessel to make landfall on the east coast of Australia , when Cook landed one of the ship ' s boats on the southern shore of what is now known as Botany Bay , New South Wales . Shipwreck . For the next four months , Cook charted the coast of Australia , heading generally northward . Just before 11 pm on 11 June 1770 , the ship struck a reef , today called Endeavour Reef , within the Great Barrier Reef system . The sails were immediately taken down , a kedging anchor set and an unsuccessful attempt was made to drag the ship back to open water . The reef " Endeavour " had struck rose so steeply from the seabed that although the ship was hard aground , Cook measured depths up to less than one ship ' s length away . Cook then ordered that the ship be lightened to help her float off the reef . Iron and stone ballast , spoiled stores and all but four of the ship ' s guns were thrown overboard , and the ship ' s drinking water pumped out . The crew attached buoys to the discarded guns with the intention of retrieving them later , but this proved impractical . Every man on board took turns on the pumps , including Cook and Banks . When , by Cook ' s reckoning , about of equipment had been thrown overboard , on the next high tide a second unsuccessful attempt was made to pull the ship free . In the afternoon of 12 June , the longboat carried out two large bower anchors , and block and tackle were rigged to the anchor chains to allow another attempt on the evening high tide . The ship had started to take on water through a hole in her hull . Although the leak would certainly increase once off the reef , Cook decided to risk the attempt and at 10 : 20 pm the ship was floated on the tide and successfully drawn off . The anchors were retrieved , except for one which could not be freed from the seabed and had to be abandoned . As expected the leak increased once the ship was off the reef , and all three working pumps had to be continually manned . A mistake occurred in sounding the depth of water in the hold , when a new man measured the length of a sounding line from the outside plank of the hull where his predecessor had used the top of the cross - beams . The mistake suggested the water depth had increased by about between soundings , sending a wave of fear through the ship . As soon as the mistake was realised , redoubled efforts kept the pumps ahead of the leak . The prospects if the ship sank were grim . The vessel was from shore and the three ship ' s boats could not carry the entire crew . Despite this , Joseph Banks noted in his journal the calm efficiency of the crew in the face of danger , contrary to stories he had heard of seamen panicking or refusing orders in such circumstances . Midshipman Jonathon Monkhouse proposed fother ing the ship , as he had previously been on a merchant ship which used the technique successfully . He was entrusted with supervising the task , sewing bits of oakum and wool into an old sail , which was then drawn under the ship to allow water pressure to force it into the hole in the hull . The effort succeeded and soon very little water was entering , allowing the crew to stop two of the three pumps . " Endeavour " then resumed her course northward and parallel to the reef , the crew looking for a safe harbour in which to make repairs . On 13 June , the ship came to a broad watercourse that Cook named the Endeavour River . Cook attempted to enter the river mouth , but strong winds and rain prevented " Endeavour " from crossing the bar until the morning of 17 June . She grounded briefly on a sand spit but was refloated an hour later and warped into the river proper by early afternoon . The ship was promptly beached on the southern bank and careened to make repairs to the hull . Torn sails and rigging were also replaced and the hull scraped free of barnacles . An examination of the hull showed that a piece of coral the size of a man ' s fist had sliced clean through the timbers and then broken off . Surrounded by pieces of oakum from the fother , this coral fragment had helped plug the hole in the hull and preserved the ship from sinking on the reef . Northward to Batavia . After waiting for the wind , " Endeavour " resumed her voyage on the afternoon of 5 August 1770 , reaching the northernmost point of Cape York Peninsula fifteen days later . On 22 August , Cook was rowed ashore to a small coastal island to proclaim British sovereignty over the eastern Australian mainland . Cook christened his landing place Possession Island , and ceremonial volleys of gunfire from the shore and " Endeavour " s deck marked the occasion . " Endeavour " then resumed her voyage westward along the coast , picking a path through intermittent shoals and reefs with the help of the pinnace , which was rowed ahead to test the water depth . By 26 August she was out of sight of land , and had entered the open waters of the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea , earlier navigated by Luis Váez de Torres in 1606 . To keep " Endeavour " s voyages and discoveries secret , Cook confiscated the log books and journals of all on board and ordered them to remain silent about where they had been . After a three - day layover off the island of Savu , " Endeavour " sailed on to Batavia , the capital of the Dutch East Indies , on 10 October . A day later lightning during a sudden tropical storm struck the ship , but the rudimentary " electric chain " or lightning rod that Cook had ordered rigged to " Endeavour " s mast saved her from serious damage . The ship remained in very poor condition following her grounding on the Great Barrier Reef in June . The ship ' s carpenter , John Seetterly , observed that she was " very leaky – makes from twelve to six inches an hour , occasioned by her main keel being wounded in many places , false keel gone from beyond the midships . Wounded on her larbord side where the greatest leak is but I could not come at it for the water . " An inspection of the hull revealed that some unrepaired planks were cut through to within ⅛ inch ( 3 mm ) . Cook noted it was a " surprise to every one who saw her bottom how we had kept her above water " for the previous three - month voyage across open seas . After riding at anchor for two weeks , " Endeavour " was heaved out of the water on 9 November and laid on her side for repairs . Some damaged timbers were found to be infested with shipworm s , which required careful removal to ensure they did not spread throughout the hull . Broken timbers were replaced and the hull recaulked , scraped of shellfish and marine flora , and repainted . Finally , the rigging and pumps were renewed and fresh stores brought aboard for the return journey to England . Repairs and replenishment were completed by Christmas Day 1770 , and the next day " Endeavour " weighed anchor and set sail westward towards the Indian Ocean . Return voyage . Though " Endeavour " was now in good condition , her crew were not . During the ship ' s stay in Batavia , all but 10 of the 94 people aboard had been taken ill with malaria and dysentery . By the time " Endeavour " set sail on 26 December , seven crew members had died and another forty were too sick to attend their duties . Over the following twelve weeks , a further 23 died from disease and were buried at sea , including Spöring , Green , Parkinson , and the ship ' s surgeon William Monkhouse . Cook attributed the sickness to polluted drinking water , and ordered that it be purified with lime juice , but this had little effect . Jonathan Monkhouse , who had proposed fothering the ship to save her from sinking on the reef , died on 6 February , followed six days later by ship ' s carpenter John Seetterly , whose skilled repair work in Batavia had allowed " Endeavour " to resume her voyage . The health of the surviving crew members then slowly improved as the month progressed , with the last deaths from disease being three ordinary seamen on 27 February . On 13 March 1771 , " Endeavour " rounded the Cape of Good Hope and made port in Cape Town two days later . Those still sick were taken ashore for treatment . The ship remained in port for four weeks awaiting the recovery of the crew and undergoing minor repairs to her masts . On 15 April , the sick were brought back on board along with ten recruits from Cape Town , and " Endeavour " resumed her homeward voyage . The English mainland was sighted on 10 July and " Endeavour " entered the port of Dover two days later . Approximately one month after his return , Cook was promoted to the rank of Commander , and by November 1771 was in receipt of Admiralty Orders for a second expedition , this time aboard HMS " Resolution " . He was killed during an altercation with Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay on 14 February 1779 . Later service . While Cook was feted for his successful voyage , " Endeavour " was largely forgotten . Within a week of her return to England , she was directed to Woolwich Dockyard for refitting as a naval transport . She then made two routine return voyages to the Falkland Islands , the first to deliver provisions and the second to bring home the British garrison . She was paid off in September 1774 , and in March 1775 was sold by the Navy to shipping magnate J . Mather for £645 . Mather renamed the increasingly decrepit ship " Lord Sandwich " and returned her to sea for at least one commercial voyage to Archangel in Russia . In late 1775 , he was asked by the Admiralty to provide a ship to transport soldiers to North America to help defeat the colonial militia during the American Revolution . Mather offered to return the ageing " Lord Sandwich " to military service , but her condition was so poor that she was declared unseaworthy in December 1775 . After extensive repairs , the ship was finally accepted as a troop transport in February 1776 and embarked a contingent of Hessian mercenaries bound for New York and Rhode Island . After delivering her mercenary cargo , " Lord Sandwich " sailed to Newport , Rhode Island where she was retained at anchor and was intermittently used as a prison ship under the British flag . Final resting place . " Endeavour " ’ s end came in August 1778 , when the British settlement at Narragansett Bay was threatened by a fleet carrying French soldiers in support of the colonial militia . The British commander , Captain John Brisbane , determined to blockade the bay by sinking surplus vessels at its mouth . Between 3 and 6 August a fleet of Royal Navy and private craft , including " Lord Sandwich " , were scuttled at various locations in the Bay . The owners of the sunken vessels were compensated by the British government for the loss of their ships . The Admiralty valuation for 10 of the sunken vessels recorded that many had been built in Yorkshire , and the details of the " Lord Sandwich " transport matched those of the former " Endeavour " including construction in Whitby , a burthen of 368 tons , and re - entry into Navy service on 10 February 1776 . In 1834 a letter appeared in the " Providence Journal " of Rhode Island , drawing attention to the possible presence of the former " Endeavour " on the seabed of the bay . This was swiftly disputed by the British consul in Rhode Island , who wrote claiming that " Endeavour " had been bought from Mather by the French in 1790 and renamed " La Liberte " . The consul later admitted he had heard this not from the Admiralty , but as hearsay from the former owners of the French ship . It was later suggested the " La Liberte " , which sank off Newport in 1793 , was in fact another of Cook ' s ships , the former HMS " Resolution " , or another , a naval schooner sold out of service in 1782 . A further letter to the " Providence Journal " stated that a retired English sailor was conducting guided tours of a hulk on the River Thames as late as 1825 , claiming that the ship had once been Cook ' s " Endeavour . " In 1991 the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project ( RIMAP ) began research into the identity of the thirteen transports sunk as part of the Newport blockade of 1778 , including the " Lord Sandwich . " In 1999 RIMAP discovered documents in the Public Records Office ( now called the National Archives ) in London that confirmed that the " Endeavour " had been renamed " Lord Sandwich " , had served as a troop transport to North America , and had been scuttled as part of the 1778 fleet of transports in Newport . In 1999 a combined research team from RIMAP and the Australian National Maritime Museum examined some of the known wrecks in the Harbour and in 2000 , RIMAP and the ANMM examined a site that appears to be one of the blockade vessels , partly covered by a separate wreck of a 20th - century barge . The older remains were those of a wooden vessel of approximately the same size , and possibly a similar design and materials as the " Lord Sandwich " ex " Endeavour " . In the years since the ANMM visits , RIMAP has continued to investigate the transport fleet and has mapped a total of eight 18th - century sites in Newport Harbour , with more yet to complete . Many of these sites have features and conditions consistent with potential identification as the " Endeavour . " Confirmation that Cook ' s former ship had indeed been in Newport Harbour sparked considerable media and public interest in confirming her location . However , RIMAP ' s meticulous work to study so many vessels ( 13 in the fleet that included the " Lord Sandwich " ex " Endeavour " , plus other vessels lost in the harbour in the same period ) is slow . Despite the ANMM researchers ' s fondest hope that the site investigated in 2000 could be the " Endeavour " , too little evidence was gathered in that preliminary study to establish definitively that this particular wreck had been Cook ' s ship . RIMAP ' s research plan is to complete the pre - disturbance mapping of all the 18th - century sites in Newport Harbour , and only then to conduct the intense studies ( including excavation ) that might determine which site is which . Whether or not the " Lord Sandwich " ex " Endeavour " can be identified , in 2006 RIMAP announced that the wrecks would probably not be raised , although the creation of RIMAP ' s research facility / museum with proper technical accommodations for wooden structures may allow a change in that decision . " Endeavour " relics . In addition to the search for the remains of the ship herself , there was considerable Australian interest in locating relics of the ship ' s south Pacific voyage . In 1886 , the Working Men ' s Progress Association of Cooktown sought to recover the six cannons thrown overboard when " Endeavour " grounded on the Great Barrier Reef . A £300 reward was offered for anyone who could locate and recover the guns , but searches that year and the next were fruitless and the money went unclaimed . Remains of equipment left at Endeavour River were discovered in around 1900 , and in 1913 the crew of a merchant steamer erroneously claimed to have recovered an " Endeavour " cannon from shallow water near the Reef . In 1937 , a small part of " Endeavour " ' s keel was gifted to the by philanthropist Charles Wakefield in his capacity as President of the Admiral Arthur Phillip Memorial . Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons described the section of keel as " intimately associated with the discovery and foundation of Australia " . Searches were resumed for the lost Endeavour Reef cannons , but expeditions in 1966 , 1967 , and 1968 were unsuccessful . They were finally recovered in 1969 by a research team from the American Academy of Natural Sciences , using a sophisticated magnetometer to locate the cannons , a quantity of iron ballast and the abandoned bower anchor . Conservation work on the cannons was undertaken by the Australian National Maritime Museum , after which two of the cannons were displayed at its headquarters in Sydney ' s Darling Harbour . A third cannon and the bower anchor were displayed at the James Cook Museum in Cooktown , with the remaining three at maritime museums in London , Philadelphia , and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington . Replica vessel . In January 1988 , to commemorate the Australian Bicentenary of European settlement in Australia , work began in Fremantle , Western Australia on a replica of " Endeavour " . Financial difficulties delayed completion until December 1993 , and the vessel was not commissioned until April 1994 . The replica vessel commenced her maiden voyage in October of that year , sailing to Sydney Harbour and then following Cook ' s path from Botany Bay northward to Cooktown . From 1996 to 2002 , the replica retraced Cook ' s ports of call around the world , arriving in the original " Endeavour " ' s home port of Whitby in May 1997 and June 2002 . Footage of waves shot while rounding Cape Horn on this voyage was later used in digitally composited scenes in the 2003 film " " . The replica " Endeavour " visited various European ports before undertaking her final ocean voyage from Whitehaven to Sydney Harbour on 8 November 2004 . Her arrival in Sydney was delayed when she ran aground in Botany Bay , a short distance from the point where Cook first set foot in Australia 235 years earlier . The replica " Endeavour " finally entered Sydney Harbour on 17 April 2005 , having travelled , including twice around the world . Ownership of the replica was transferred to the Australian National Maritime Museum in 2005 for permanent service as a museum ship in Sydney ' s Darling Harbour . A second full - size replica of " Endeavour " is berthed on the River Tees in Stockton - on - Tees . While this reflects the external dimensions of Cook ' s vessel , this replica was constructed with a steel rather than a timber frame , has one less internal deck than the original , and is not designed to be put to sea . The Russell Museum , in the Bay of Islands , New Zealand has a seagoing one - fifth scale replica of the Endeavour . It was built in Auckland and during 1969 – 70 it sailed some in New Zealand and Australia . Notes . Footnotes . In today ' s terms , this equates to a valuation for " Endeavour " of approximately £265 , 000 and a purchase price of £326 , 400 . Provisions loaded at the outset of the voyage included 6 , 000 pieces of pork and 4 , 000 of beef , nine tons of bread , five tons of flour , three tons of sauerkraut , one ton of raisins and sundry quantities of cheese , salt , peas , oil , sugar and oatmeal . Alcohol supplies consisted of 250 barrels of beer , 44 barrels of brandy and 17 barrels of rum . The shanghaiied man was John Thurman , born in New York but a British subject and therefore eligible for involuntary impressment aboard a Royal Navy vessel . Thurman journeyed with " Endeavour " to Tahiti where he was promoted to the position of sailmaker ' s assistant , and then to New Zealand and Australia . He died of disease on 3 February 1771 , during the voyage between Batavia and Cape Town . Some of " Endeavour " s crew also contracted an unspecified lung infection . Cook noted that disease of various kinds had broken out aboard every ship berthed in Batavia at the time , and that " this seems to have been a year of General sickness over most parts of India " and in England . A number of British vessels were sunk in local waters in the days leading up to the 29 – 30 August 1778 , Battle of Rhode Island . These were the four Royal Navy frigates on 5 August along the coast of Aquidneck Island north of Newport : " Juno " 32 , " Lark " 32 , " Orpheus " 32 , and " Cerberus " 28 ; the Royal Navy sloop of war " Kingsfisher " and galleys " Alarm " and " Spitfire " in the Sakonnet River on 30 July ; the Royal Navy frigate " Flora " and sloop of war " Falcon " in Newport Harbour on 9 August ; and ten of the thirteen privately owned British transports sunk in Newport Harbour between 3 – 5 August were " Betty " , " Britannia " , " Earl of Oxford " , " Good Intent " , " Grand Duke of Russia " , " Lord Sandwich " , " Malaga " , " Rachel and Mary " , " Susanna " , and " Union " .