{"id":192379,"date":"2026-04-22T09:49:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/?p=192379"},"modified":"2026-06-09T08:44:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T12:44:39","slug":"end-of-an-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/publications\/aboard-gso\/end-of-an-era\/","title":{"rendered":"End of an Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

End of an Era<\/h1><\/div><\/div>
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Apply site-wide<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n

By Ellen Liberman<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A strong breeze was blowing out of the northwest at 25 knots, gently rocking R\/V Endeavor<\/em> at the pier. At the dinner hour on this late October evening, the bridge was quiet, but evidence of the day\u2019s activity could be found in the nest of disconnected cables on the bench and the empty spaces on the O1 deck. The bank of screens in the main lab continued to collect meteorological data, some of the ship\u2019s historic artifacts, like a framed piece of the original Endeavour<\/em>\u2019s wooden rudder, were still on the library wall.  But the flow-through science seawater system was gone and the ship\u2019s vaunted ice cream freezer\u2014which fueled many a midnight watch\u2014was low. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marine technician Lynne Butler opened the lid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll kinds of goodies in there. It\u2019s a popular spot\u2014especially when it\u2019s hot out,\u201d she says. \u201cBut we aren\u2019t buying any more now because the ship is being retired.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

“She\u2019s a working ship and she\u2019s out there to get a job done and get everyone home safely.\u201d<\/blockquote>Christopher Armanetti<\/cite><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n

After half a century carrying thousands of scientists, students, and teachers on 736 missions to 22 countries, the ship\u2019s owner, the National Science Foundation, declared her mission accomplished. She became the oldest ship in the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System\u2019s (UNOLS) academic fleet of 17 vessels, garnering the prestigious \u201cOrder of the Ancient Albatross.\u201d Endeavor<\/em> outlasted her two sisters, her builders, her vendors, her shipyard. Crew members and scientists completed entire careers within her term of service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are a lot of things on her that you\u2019ll never see again, like the teak rails and all the woodwork,\u201d says Captain Christopher Armanetti. \u201cShe has a lot of class, but she\u2019s not the Queen Mary. She\u2019s a working ship and she\u2019s out there to get a job done and get everyone home safely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frankie Frain, affectionately known as the thirteenth crew member\u2014although he never sailed on Endeavor<\/em>\u2014kept the Gordian knot of pipes on the hydraulics deck going for 43 years, installing winches, servicing the hardware and replacing rotted deck and hoses as one of Endeavor<\/em>\u2019s long-time outside contractors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Endeavor<\/em> was laid down in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, in the shipyard of Peterson Builders Incorporated, and named after another working ship, a Whitby-built collier that attained scientific distinction in the eighteenth century. Helmed by Capt. James Cook, HMS Endeavour<\/em> explored the Pacific Ocean and observed the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun. At 14 years old, she went to the bottom during the American Revolution, sunk by the British with four other transports to block French ships from entering Newport Harbor.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A
Nuala Pell christening the R\/V Endeavor, John Knauss watching. December 11, 1976. Photo courtesy of GSO Archives.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Peterson, founded in 1907, became a major U.S. Navy contractor during World War II, specializing in building small, complex boats. Its yards produced everything from mine sweepers to a floating aquarium for the New England Aquarium. In the early 1970s, the National Science Foundation hired Peterson to build three intermediate class regional research vessels. Oceanus<\/em> and Wecoma<\/em> were delivered in Nov., 1975. Endeavor <\/em>was delivered to her home port at the University of Rhode Island\u2019s Narragansett Bay Campus nearly a year later. On Dec. 11, 1976, she was christened in high-style as Nuala Pell, wife of U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell, broke a bottle of champagne over her bow and the Ram Band serenaded attendees at the GSO pier.  <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Endeavor
In 1976, Endeavor arrived in Narragansett Bay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Endeavor <\/em>replaced Trident<\/em>, a 180-foot, World War II-era U.S. Army coastal freighter that GSO Dean John Knauss bought for a dollar in 1962. Trident<\/em> was serviceable, but Endeavor<\/em> would be intentionally planned for a crew of 12 and a science party of 16, with three deep-sea winches, 1,000 square feet of laboratory space, a cruising range of 6,000 nautical miles and a 17.6-foot draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D. Randolph \u201cRandy\u201d Watts, then a new assistant professor at GSO, was one of four faculty working with Boston marine architects John Gilbert Associates to develop Endeavor<\/em>\u2019s specifications, \u201cleaving room for the most advanced electronics you could put on a vessel and for growth because it was expected to be around for at least 40 years. They did a lot of good research on Trident,<\/em> but it wasn\u2019t ever conceived of as a research ship. Endeavor<\/em> was specifically designed to be the most modern research ship that could be built at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She arrived in Narragansett with a white hull and two smokestacks, one to each side of the main bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou had to walk around on the bridge in order to see around them. Everybody thought that was a little bit strange,\u201d he says. \u201cBut they got used to it and it could be done safely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The staterooms were small, and below the waterline\u2014no windows. The diesel engines and the air compressors were noisy. And, recalls retired Capt. Everett \u201cRhett\u201d McMunn (the longest serving crew member in the ship\u2019s history), \u201cShe rolled heavily. The decks were low and we were constantly taking on water.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People
The CTD (conductivity, temperature, density) rosette, working in rough weather.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Still, says Watts, who completed 10 science cruises with Endeavor<\/em> before his studies took him to other UNOLS ships and other regions, \u201cI was real pleased with Endeavor<\/em>. It was a great ship to work from.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a time before laptops and GPS via satellite, communication was once-daily by LORAN radio, data was stored on punch cards, navigation relied on paper charts, sextants and dead reckoning. Watts recalls the challenge of recording scientific observations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou ended up writing an awful lot of things by hand and then typing them up. It was tough reading a tiny thermometer on a rolling ship, banging around and then trying to work on a computer screen to enter the data and plot things up,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1993, Endeavor <\/em>returned to Peterson for a mid-life refit. With design guidance from GSO, she returned with an improved superstructure, a single smokestack aft of the wheelhouse, eight more feet of fantail, and bilge keels that smoothed out her ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life in a Microcosm<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There was no typical day on Endeavor,<\/em> but each was divvied into predictable, busy, 12-hour shifts\u2014collect\u00ading samples, keeping watch in the pilot house or chasing rust. The captain might be meeting with the chief scientist and the marine technicians to discuss the daily plan, plotting a course, or doing the paperwork in advance of pulling into a foreign port. The marine technicians would be preparing the equipment, handling last-minute changes, or conferring with a counterpart taking the next watch. The steward would be occupied by checking ship\u2019s stores, figuring out how to minimize food waste and preparing meals that could handle a full complement of food allergies and preferences. The bosun might be herding deck hands, overseeing loading and off-loading at the pier or overboarding and recovery of scientific equipment at sea. Bosun Steve \u201cOscar\u201d Sisson describes himself \u201clike Gumby, pulled in multiple directions.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the exception of the captain and chief engineer, scientists and crew typically bunked two to a stateroom. One\u2019s estimation of the accommodations depended on previous experience. Compared to a commercial fishing boat, Endeavor<\/em>\u2019s living quarters were a level up. Marine technician Bonny Clarke, who washed her clothes in a bucket in her last job aboard a tall ship, was impressed with the laundromat-worthy washer and dryer. Butler described the staterooms as \u201ccozy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Life at sea on Endeavor included enjoying meals in the galley. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The last five decades have seen major technological changes aboard Endeavor<\/em>. Data acquisition and storage morphed from tapes to DVDs to flash-drives and large computer hard drives. The electric winches became hydraulic. In 1989, Endeavor<\/em> was fitted out with GPS. Satellite communications replaced ship-to-shore radio; in the last decade, anyone on board with a cell phone could call home via satellite-connected WiFi. Data-presence was installed on Endeavor<\/em>, so that land-based scientists could view data in real time or request a course based on direct observations of a video feed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But some operations remained old-school. At times, the crew used paper charts, or Armanetti would take a position using the sextant his mentor McMunn handed down to him. Endeavor<\/em> was one of a few in the UNOLS fleet without a computer-controlled dynamic positioning system. In the absence of automatically activated propellers and thrusters, holding the ship in place for hours to deploy an ROV or to take a deep coring sample required a deft touch at the helm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re playing the ship\u2019s propulsion and steering against wind and current, and if you do it right, you can get it down to 0.0, 0.1 knots over the bottom for a good amount of time,\u201d Armanetti says. \u201cIt takes a lot of focus and constant, fine-tuned adjustments. But you really get a feel for the way the ship handles. She\u2019s very responsive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt really is just a part of your life,\u201d says McMunn. \u201cIt\u2019s still a part of my life. I\u2019m still having people over and I\u2019m still getting the morning report.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That camaraderie was built during card and board games, movie nights with a 16-millimeter projector, and equator-crossing ceremonies with homemade costumes and silly skits. Watts returned home from cruises with bruised shins from deck hockey games with sticks and crushed soda-can pucks. Alexander recalls gathering on the stern to swap tall tales, or in the wheelhouse trying to decipher the Red Sox games over a squelchy single-side band radio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Emeritus Tom Rossby, who sometimes reminisces about Endeavor<\/em> on his blog, wrote about his last swim call (a pleasure abandoned for safety reasons) on Endeavor<\/em>: \u201ca lovely day, a good gang, and a pestering chief scientist,\u201d he writes. \u201cIt was a glassy calm Sunday in April in the middle of the Gulf Stream. Some of us climbed down the rope ladder while others just plain jumped in\u2026Those were the days.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Endeavor<\/em>\u2019s last steward, Sugeng \u201cAndi\u201d Suwandi, who has fed large crowds on larger UNOLS ships and at Las Vegas hotels and casinos, said that running Endeavor\u2019s galley \u201cwas like cooking for friends and family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Million-Nautical-Mile Journey<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Endeavor<\/em> was considered a good sea boat, built to withstand the tantrums of the North Atlantic in winter. Most veterans can recount the sight of waves so steep they topped the bridge. During one Arctic cruise, the waves drove a log into the bridge just below the windows leading McMunn, who was a mate at the time, to quip, \u201cI think we hit the North Pole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One November in the late 1990s, Endeavor<\/em> got caught in a storm on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, with 80-knot winds and 40-foot seas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McMunn concedes \u201cthat was scary. But you have people aboard whose lives you are responsible for, so you put your nose into it and keep the speed so that you just go up and down and hope she doesn\u2019t turn sideways, and roll or get over-washed\u2014but we never came close to letting that happen.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that was one key to her longevity, says Port Engineer Dan Alexander, part of Endeavor<\/em>\u2019s small, but dedicated team for 27 years. \u201cWe ran her easy.\u201d The other was a rigorous maintenance schedule that included annual inspections by the American Bureau of Shipping and dry docking twice every five years, to replace sea valves, probe the hull for spots that needed re-plating, and other repairs. Her GM engines and the Caterpillar generators were stalwarts of the industry. But keeping vintage 1976 machines in good working order was not getting any easier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe hydraulics system was very complicated and it was high-pressure so it was dangerous, too. In the end, nobody really wanted to maintain it,\u201d Frain says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Seven
The “old timers” of the Endeavor crew, from left , Brendan Thornton, Rhett McMunn, Dan Alexander, Kevin Walsh, Valmont Reichl, Chris Armanetti, and Oscar Sisson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most of the crew came aboard as relief, then transitioned to a full-time position and moved up the ranks. Sisson came from the commercial fishing industry, and he liked the steady pay check, the health insurance and the 401K retirement account. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainly, the crew liked each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to come to a new ship because everyone knows each other and it feels like showing up to a TV show in season eight, where so much has happened. Are you going to fit in? But I got to the ship and immediately people were so nice and welcoming that it felt like a home,\u201d says Chief Mate Valmont Reichl. \u201cA lot of people had been there for a really long time and they have been trained by previous people who had been there for a really long time, so it was generational and a really great place to grow and learn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swan Song<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On Sept. 20, 2025, Endeavor<\/em> returned to her home pier for the last time. She\u2019d spent more than three weeks in the Atlantic, off the northeastern coast of Newfoundland, where Canadian and American scientists collected water and sediment samples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She entered the bay on a warm, sunny day and Armanetti and the crew gave her a paying-off for the books. A U.S. Coast Guard response boat escorted Endeavor<\/em>, dressed fore and aft with pennants snapping smartly in the breeze, representing all of the countries she had visited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe entire crew of the ship came out and scrubbed, de-rusted, and shined her up.\u201d Riechl says. \u201cPeople put a lot of effort into making the ship look good for her last arrival. And everyone was really proud of how she looked and what it symbolized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lone bagpiper, a fife and drum corps, and the URI Sea Shanty Social Club provided the score to this major-motion-picture ending. Two hundred of her closest friends\u2014including former crew members who reconnected with their old mates for the final good bye\u2014waited on the pier amid members of the Pawtuxet Rangers, dressed in Continental garb and firing their Revolutionary War three-pounder cannon. The Narragansett Fire Department came down and added to the farewell blast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was bittersweet,\u201d says Armanetti. \u201cA sad day in some ways, but also something we\u2019ll never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Endeavor<\/em> will be succeeded by Narragansett Dawn<\/em>, a 61-meter long research vessel funded by the National Science Foundation, operated by the East Coast Oceanographic Consortium, and moored at GSO\u2019s pier. Endeavor<\/em>\u2019s crew is looking forward to getting to know the new ship. Narragansett Dawn<\/em> will be equipped with the latest in high-resolution mapping and dynamic positioning, which will \u201creally advance the science,\u201d says Clarke. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a great asset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, useful equipment is being stripped out before the crew takes her down to the last port. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the years, we\u2019ve all spent a lot more time on this ship than we have at home,\u201d Armanetti says. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be tough to pull that throttle back for the last time.\u201d\u2002<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A
Endeavor is greeted at the Bay Campus pier after her final cruise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ellen Liberman A strong breeze was blowing out of the northwest at 25 knots, gently rocking R\/V Endeavor at the pier. At the dinner hour on this late October evening, the bridge was quiet, but evidence of the day\u2019s activity could be found in the nest of disconnected cables on the bench and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aboard-gso"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192379"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192487,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192379\/revisions\/192487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}