The 12 tons of timber were once part a ship used in the Revolutionary War before being repurposed as a whaling ship.

The remains of the historic HMS Endeavour have been definitively located at a site near Newport, Rhode Island. The ship was the first European vessel to reach Australia's east coast.

The designation HMS, then, is primarily for commissioned ships of the British Royal Navy. Since 1913's Ships' Names Committee, there has been a British body in charge of naming vessels.