CAPTAIN James Cook would have noticed something familiar had he been in his old port of Whitby at the weekend, the launching of his famous ship Endeavour.

But the new version of the explorer's vessel is only two-fifths the size of the original, and is highly unlikely ever to venture as far as the South Seas.

Instead, it is destined to thrill holiday-makers on short trips to sea off Whitby.

The Endeavour replica has been built for Scarborough fisherman Colin Jenkinson and his wife Rachel by craftsmen at the Parkol Marine boatyard.

It has taken nine months to build, can accommodate 40 passengers and will be making journeys up the coast to Sandsend and Staithes, the village where Cook worked as a boy.

Mr Jenkinson is quitting fishing and wanted to add a new dimension to his career by operating the Endeavour as a pleasure boat.

"After deciding to build a pleasure boat, the Endeavour seemed a splendid idea and Whitby was the place for it to be," said Mrs Jenkinson.

The boat was launched by a long-standing friend of the Jenkinsons, Susan Crooks, who had five attempts to smash the bottle of champagne before it final broke on the bow.