People of R/V Endeavor: Christopher P. Armanetti

June 23, 2026

Master

Chris Armanetti aboard the research vessel Endeavor, standing on a platform just outside from the bridge (the command center of the ship).
Christopher Armanetti aboard R/V Endeavor.

The Team Captain

I grew up in coastal Massachusetts and since I was a kid, I’ve always enjoyed being around the water. With my father, we would go fishing and cruise along the Cape, the Islands and Buzzards Bay. We would go past Massachusetts Maritime Academy and I was intrigued by it, so at an early age I thought about going to school there. While attending Mass Maritime we interned on a variety of ships, but my first job after graduation in 2010 was as a deck hand, officially an able-bodied seaman, on the research vessel Oceanus during her last year at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). I loved the work on a research ship – always enjoyable, never boring, meeting interesting people, finding out how the ocean works. After a few months, I stopped looking for other types of jobs.

In March 2012, the University of Rhode Island (URI) called WHOI looking for a relief second mate on R/V Endeavor for 2 weeks for an inspection. After that, URI kept me on for a cruise to investigate the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The first mate was Shanna Post-Maher and I learned so much from her. After a few years, Shanna left for another position and I moved up to first mate working with Captain Everett “Rhett” McMunn. Rhett oversaw me moving the ship in and out of SENSECO shipyard for maintenance. When Rhett retired in 2020 he had been with Endeavor for over 30 years and was the longest serving captain in the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) fleet, so you can just imagine the breadth of experience he had. There was no one better to learn from.

Rhett’s mentoring prepared me when I unexpectedly became Endeavor’s relief captain. I was first mate working with a relief captain when we left GSO in February 2020. At a stop in Barbados, Rhett was supposed to join us but could not and the relief captain had to leave, so URI asked me. This was my first time in command of the ship for a science voyage.  We continued taking cores for research along the way to the next stop, and arrived in Cape Verde on March 17, the day flights to the U.S. were cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. Anyone going back to the U.S. stayed on board, and we took 2 weeks (the quarantine period) to sail to GSO. My first time docking Endeavor at GSO by myself was on April Fool’s Day, with more than the usual group of people watching from shore, but it went smoothly because Rhett had taught me so well.

Chris Armanetti on the bridge of the ship with two men to his left.
Armanetti (left) on the bridge of R/V Endeavor, with his mentor Rhett McMunn (center) and Oscar Sisson (right) joining him.

Our crew of Endeavor is a tight-knit group. These people are passionate about their jobs, have the same work ethic and values, they work together well and have become a family. People stay on because it’s enjoyable and rewarding work. Some have been with Endeavor for over two decades. Now that Endeavor isretired, my focus is on keeping our team together and making sure we are properly prepared to operate GSO’s next research vessel, Narragansett Dawn.