{"id":192450,"date":"2026-06-23T16:00:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/?p=192450"},"modified":"2026-06-23T16:00:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:00:38","slug":"people-of-r-v-endeavor-singer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/research\/people-of-r-v-endeavor-singer\/","title":{"rendered":"People of R\/V Endeavor: Lee Singer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Deckhand<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Lee
Lee Singer aboard R\/V Endeavor<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bringing New Skills to the Ship<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My chance for working on Endeavor<\/em> literally fell into my lap. On an August evening in 2023, I was playing my fife at an outdoor concert of the Wakefield Civic Band, and we had just finished a set and the next group was playing when my phone vibrated in my lap. A close friend had forwarded me a Facebook post by Matt Cavaco, coordinator of GSO marine logistics, saying he was looking for crew for Endeavor.<\/em> I had 7 minutes before I had to play again so I used my phone to email him my resume. When I next checked my phone, Matt was setting up an interview for the next day. And soon I was hired for Endeavor<\/em> as an ordinary seafarer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also brought to the position my certification as a medical person in charge (MPIC) meaning I could provide medical care, manage illnesses, handle injuries on board and be in contact with the Maritime Medical Office for consultation. I qualified for this certification because of my experience as registered nurse for 40 years, with a specialty in emergency medicine. Also, as soon as I turned 18 and was eligible, I became an emergency medical technician (EMT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a lifelong dream to work on ships. I started by volunteering on several tall ships to gain experience. Then I gained more experience working on cable laying ships, including my longest cruise of 110 days. So my resume was ready for the call about Endeavor<\/em>, my first time working on a research vessel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Endeavor<\/em> I work as a deckhand, usually part of the crew handing stern lines during arrivals and departures. My watch is usually the midnight-to-4-a.m. watch, so I often see beautiful moonlight on the water and star-filled skies out where there is no light pollution. I\u2019m also responsible for keeping an eye out on the bridge for any navigational hazards such as marine traffic, icebergs, rogue waves and also marine life such as whales. Part of the time on watch is walking the ship, checking for any issues – so I get plenty of steps in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lee
Singer manages the lines on the stern deck as R\/V Endeavor<\/em> steams out of Narragansett Bay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a MPIC on Endeavor, <\/em>I\u2019ve done everything from give out medications, to starting an intravenous line for fluids, to overseeing a ship member be transferred to a U.S. Coast Guard vessel while at sea so they could get to a hospital for cardiac issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my most memorable cruises was Endeavor\u2019<\/em>s last scientific cruise. We had a good trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, the science went very well, and we had some shore days, so I visited the tall ship Bluenose II<\/em> and sang sea shanties in a local pub. We also had time to decorate Endeavor<\/em> with flags from all the countries of people who have sailed on her and we made her ship-shape for her final arrival at the GSO pier. Now I\u2019m looking forward to learning all about the Narragansett Dawn<\/em> and bringing her to Narragansett.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Deckhand Bringing New Skills to the Ship My chance for working on Endeavor literally fell into my lap. On an August evening in 2023, I was playing my fife at an outdoor concert of the Wakefield Civic Band, and we had just finished a set and the next group was playing when my phone vibrated […]<\/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":[1838],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192450","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=192450"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192826,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192450\/revisions\/192826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}