| HMS Endeavor | |
|---|---|
|
Origin |
HMS Endeavor |
|
Type |
Royal British Navy Full Rig Bark |
|
Effects |
Self-sailing |
|
Downsides |
Strands crew for intermittent periods |
|
Activation |
Presence of a captain |
|
Collected by |
Warehouse 11 |
|
Section |
|
|
Date of Collection |
September 25, 1777 |
| [Source] | |
Origin[]
HMS Endeavour was a British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia on his first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771. 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 islands of Huahine, Bora Bora, and Raiatea west of Tahiti to allow Cook to claim them for Great Britain. In September 1769, she anchored off New Zealand, becoming the first European vessel to reach the islands since Abel Tasman's Heemskerck 127 years earlier.
In April 1770, Endeavour became the first European ship to reach the east coast of Australia, with Cook going 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. Endeavour was beached on the Australian mainland for seven weeks to permit rudimentary repairs to her hull. Resuming her voyage, she limped into port in Batavia in October 1770, her crew sworn to secrecy about the lands that they had visited. From Batavia Endeavour continued westward, 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.
The ship was largely forgotten after her Pacific voyage, spending the next three years hauling troops and cargo to and from the Falkland Islands. She was renamed in 1775 after being sold into private hands, and used to transport timber from the Baltic. Rehired as a British troop transport during the American War of Independence, she was finally scuttled in a blockade of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island in 1778.
Effects[]
Can sail itself fully under its own self-propulsion. Having extra crew members allows for more power to be placed into speed and bearings. Generates its own wind currents to unfurl the sails. Will weather storms without difficulty, although happens to stutter when nearing shores in fear of wrecking itself. Even when moving smoothly through the waters, will periodically stall for random amounts of time. Throwing armaments overboard or having the sailors swear to some form of secrecy immediately resumes motion.
Due to its self-sailing nature, it is used on reconnaissance and collection on nautical missions. Has been used several times to unsuccessfully track the Flying Dutchman and other drifting watercraft.