Name/TitleIron kentledge (pig-iron ballast) recovered from Endeavour Reef, Queensland. Jettisoned when ENDEAVOUR struck Endeavour Reef on 11 June 1770.
About this objectAfter Cook’s landing at Botany Bay, the ENDEAVOUR continued northwards up the east coast of Australia and on the night of 11 June 1770, at 11pm, she struck a reef (now called Endeavour Reef) about 13 miles off the coast of what is now Queensland, north and slightly east, of Cape Tribulation.
The ship was taking water and was grinding hard on the coral, and in the morning Cook ordered the jettisoning of condemned stores, pig-iron stone ballast, and six guns (all they had on deck), in an effort to lighten her. Even so, the ENDEAVOUR was stuck on the reef for over twenty-three hours and it was not until 10:20pm on 12 June, that she was floated off. To reduce the amount of water she was taking, a sail was sewn with hair, oakum and wool, and passed under her bows to “fother” the hole. This emergency treatment plus good fortune in that a lump of coral broke off and remained wedged in the hull blocking water ingress, saved the ship.
The ENDEAVOUR took refuge at a river which they named after the bark, at the site of the later town of Cooktown, from 18 June until 5 August, during which time the vessel was beached, and her damaged timbers replaced and repaired. Upon leaving the ENDEAVOUR River the ship negotiated, with difficulty, the remaining hazards of the reef-strewn channel, and made for open water through Cook’s Passage, jut north of Lizard Island. Cook sailed on to claim the east coast of Australia for England.
Date Madec1770
Period18th-century
Medium and MaterialsIron
Object TypeArchaeology
Copyright Licence
Attribution - Non-commercial - No Derivatives (cc)