Famed explorer Capt. James Cook mapped the Pacific and discovered Australia while sailing the British research vessel Endeavour from 1768 to 1771.
The ship was later sold and largely forgotten. It was renamed the Lord Sandwich and used to as a transport ship by the British during the Revolutionary War.
The ship was scuttled, or intentionally sunk, along with a fleet of others in 1778 in Newport Harbor, where it has remained for centuries.
Now the Rhode Island Historical Marine Archaeology Project is "80-100 percent" sure that it has found the sunken ship.
The group had already mapped nine sites and 13 ships resting at the base of the harbor.
Researchers located and analyzed historical documents in London that identified the ships through a grant from the Australian National Maritime Museum.
The group plans a news conference on Wednesday, Rhode Island's 240th birthday, to outline plans and confirm the shipwreck.
"For RIMAP to be closing in [on] one of the most important shipwrecks in world history, for that ship to be found in Newport, and for it to have an international reputation, should be an intriguing birthday gift for all of Rhode Island," the group said in a statement. "All of the 13 ships lost in Newport during the Revolution are important to American history, but it will be a national celebration in Australia."
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