Refloating HMS Endeavour off a Coral Reef – 1770

Just before midnight on 11 June 1770, HMB Endeavour — Lieutenant James Cook in command — struck coral on what we now call Endeavour Reef, off the coast near modern Cooktown. She was surveying the east coast after leaving Botany Bay and Port Jackson behind. Not a Sydney story; a Great Barrier Reef one. The crew lightened ship — stores, ballast, and six carriage guns went overboard — and got her off on the rising tide around 12 June.

They nursed the leaky bark north and into the mouth of the river Cook named the Endeavour River, on Guugu Yimithirr country. There she was careened and patched for weeks before sailing on toward Torres Strait. The reef grounding is the near-miss; the river camp is the repair. Cannons recovered from the reef in 1969–70 now sit in museums — including a Darling Harbour thread at the Australian National Maritime Museum — a Sydney cross-link without pretending the grounding happened off South Head.