HMS Endeavour: Difference between revisions

''Endeavour'' was originally the merchant [[Collier (ship)|collier]] ''Earl of Pembroke'', built by Thomas Fishburn for Thomas Millner, launched in June 1764 from the coal and whaling [[Port of Whitby]] in the [[North Riding of Yorkshire]].{{sfn|McLintock|1966}} She was a type known locally as the "[[Ship and boat building in Whitby|Whitby Cat]]". She was [[full-rigged ship|ship-rigged]] and sturdily built with a broad, flat [[bow (ship)|bow]], a square [[stern]] and a long, box-like body with a deep [[hold (ship)|hold]].{{sfn|Hosty|Hundley|2003|p=41}}

 

 

There is uncertainty about the height of her standing masts, as surviving diagrams of ''Endeavour'' depict the body of the vessel only, and not the mast plan.<ref name="Marquardt"/> While her main and foremast standing spars were standard for her shipyard and era,<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last=Mountaine|first=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a8IzAQAAMAAJ|title=The Seaman's Vade-mecum: And Defensive War by Sea|publisher=W. and J. Mount, T. and T. Page|year=1761|location=London}}</ref> an annotation on one surviving ship plan in the [[National Maritime Museum]] in Greenwich<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=Endeavour (1768) – National Maritime Museum – ZAZ6594|url=https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/86385.html|access-date=17 February 2021|website=collections.rmg.co.uk}}</ref> has the mizzen as "16&nbsp;yards 29&nbsp;inches" ({{#expr:((16+(29/36))*0.9144)round1}}&nbsp;m).<ref name="Marquardt"/> If correct, this would produce an oddly truncated mast a full {{convert|9|ft|m}} shorter than the naval standards of the day.<ref>Sutherland, Rushton, Cooper 1711</ref><ref>Davis and Edson 1985</ref> Late twentieth-century research suggests the annotation may be a transcription error with "19&nbsp;yards&nbsp;29 inches" ({{#expr:((19+(29/36))*0.9144)round1}}&nbsp;m) being the true reading. If so, this would more closely conform with both naval standards and the lengths of the other masts.<ref name="Marquardt">Marquardt 1995, pp. 19–20.</ref>