THE Australian-built replica of Captain Cook's HM Bark Endeavour is to set sail for its native shores next month - and will never visit this country again.

The global roaming days of the hugely popular vessel are over and she is now destined to become a permanent exhibit at the Maritime Museum in Sydney.

It means her adopted home of Whitby, North Yorkshire, where the original Endeavour was built in the 1760s, will never again witness the spectacular sight of her coming into port with guns blazing.

And hopes that she could have been in British waters for the celebrations marking next year's 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar have now been dashed.

Endeavour was last night arriving in Greenock and after a short stay there will be moving on to Whitehaven, her last ever stop in Britain.

On November 8, she will set sail for the five-month voyage to Freemantle, where she was built, and from there will travel on to Sydney.

Although operated by a charitable foundation, the vessel is ultimately owned by the Australian government and it had always been the intention that she would eventually return to her native shores.

But it had been hoped that would not be for another year, and a sixth visit to Whitby had been tentatively planned over the Christmas and New Year period.

However, the vessel would not be able to get through the coming winter without some kind of financial support, and the Australian government has requested she return and is understood to be financing the journey.

The vessel has made five visits to Whitby and all have proved to be big moneyspinners for the town. Her first visit, in 1997, attracted a million people to the port in ten days, and her last, in May this year, saw a visit from the Duke of Edinburgh.

Many of her 56 crew are volunteers, and it is understood the decision to return next month has caused some anger on board.

In a statement issued last night, directors of the HM Bark Endeavour Foundation said: "We won't be returning to Whitby, much as we would like that to happen. If there was anything we could do to change that, we would."

Ken Dyson, of the town's Hotel and Catering Association, said: "It's sad to think we won't see her again."