NEWPORT, RI (WPRI/CNN) – American and Australian researchers say they're closing in on finding Captain James Cook's lost ship, the HMS Endeavour.
The ship took the British to Australia for the first time nearly 250 years ago. Cook claimed the east coast of the continent for Britain after spotting it.
The British later used the ship in the Revolutionary War. They deliberately sank it, along with a dozen other ships, in Newport, Rhode Island's harbor, to create a blockade.
The search for the wreckage has been ongoing for a quarter century.
Kathy Abbass, executive director of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, described where researchers are in their hunt for the ship:
We have limited the study area to five vessels out of the 13. It took us many years to get there. And then of those five vessels, we think we know we've got a good candidate for which one might be the Endeavor. Of course, it's going to take a lot more work, but we've made that first step to say, 'Maybe we should take a closer look.'
Researchers have taken about 10,000 photos of the site in question to create 3D renderings.
On Thursday, divers took several samples of wood from the wreckage.
Researchers said it could take several months before they can make a final determination on whether the samples were from Cook's ship.
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