The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project says that it is closing in on Captain's James Cook's ship Endeavor, which was sunk in Newport Harbor by the British in 1778, during the Revolutionary War. Once the ship, which Cook used to claim Australia for the British, is found there would be danger of a dispute over which nation owns the wreckage, except that Rhode Island has the foresight to go to federal court in 1999 and claim ownership using an obscure, centuries-old maritime law. Here's to hoping that more obscure, centuries-old maritime laws make appearances in the near future.
• If Captain Cook’s ship is found, whose is it? Rhode Island’s [Boston Globe]