The Australian Federal Government will step in to help salvage the ill-fated $15 million Endeavourreplica ship-building project in Western Australia by providing a staggered $1.5 million loan.

Work on the jarrah replica of the 33-metre ship was stopped abruptly last New Year's Eve when funding for the Bond Corporation Holdings Ltd bicentennial project dried up.

The Government said that assistance had been made available on the basis that the HM Bark Endeavour Foundation obtained clear, unencumbered title to the project from the Bond Corporation associate, Endeavour Replica Pty Ltd.

The Government will make funds available in three equal instalments, in this and the next two financial years.

The Endeavour Foundation has estimated that $6 million is needed to complete the project, and it plans to raise from the community and the private sector the remaining money required.

From information supplied by Ken Sheahan

Originally published in Cook's Log, page 803, volume 14, number 1 (1991).