Cook's crew sealed a sinking ship's hole by making the flood itself hold the patch shut

the problem

A hull breach was unreachable from inside and flooding faster than pumps could clear it

background

the move

Using a technique called fothering, Cook's crew took a spare sail, worked oakum, wool and manure into its fibers, and hauled it under the ship's hull on ropes until it settled over the breach. Rather than fighting the water pressure driving the flood, the technique used that same pressure to hold the sail firmly against the hole from outside, sharply slowing the inflow.

the payoff

The fix held long enough for Endeavour to be sailed to the mouth of what is now the Endeavour River, where the crew beached the ship and carried out more thorough repairs lasting until early August 1770 before continuing the voyage.

what came after

The Endeavour Reef fothering remains the most cited historical example of the technique in maritime history, and fothering itself is documented as a standard emergency method used elsewhere at sea for centuries — a textbook case of using the very force causing a failure to help hold its own fix in place.

references

1. [1]FotheringWikipedia, 2025en.wikipedia.org
2. [2]The Night James Cook Almost Lost Everything on the Great Barrier ReefMissed History, 2024missedhistory.com

was it genius?

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