HMB Endeavour sailed for just 14 years, but its name reverberates through history. This book examines why it is still charismatic and controversial, 250 years later.

There are many views of Endeavour. To some, it is a great ship of exploration and science, a symbol of the Age of Enlightenment. To indigenous people of the Pacific, especially Australia, it represents invasion and ongoing dispossession. To those who sail on or visit the Endeavour replica, it is a triumph of craftsmanship and a vessel of adventure and education.

Endeavour's story is a living one, and this book presents a few possible interpretations of the ship: as the refitted collier that took James Cook on his first Pacific voyage, a vessel of first contact, a survey ship, a long-forgotten wreck, and a working replica that has given thousands of people a taste of 18th-century sailing.