{"id":192455,"date":"2026-06-23T16:06:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/?p=192455"},"modified":"2026-06-23T16:06:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:06:57","slug":"people-of-r-v-endeavor-alexander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/research\/people-of-r-v-endeavor-alexander\/","title":{"rendered":"People of R\/V Endeavor: Daniel Alexander"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Port Engineer<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Daniel
Daniel Alexander on the Narragansett Bay Campus pier.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Staying Current<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since 2011, I\u2019ve been port engineer for R\/V Endeavor<\/em>. My job is to keep the ship operating properly, oversee maintenance and upgrades, prepare and plan for inspections, keep the machinery running, oversee dry docking, and make sure the ship stays American Bureau of Shipping certified. Now that Endeavor<\/em> has re-located to Brownsville, Texas, I have plenty of time to look over the design of Narragansett Dawn<\/em> and understand her new capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally from Long Island, my brother Tom and I both went to the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y. and graduated in 1973 and 1978, respectively. Soon after, we worked on a group of five liquefied natural gas tankers and brought them to Newport. And that was how we ended up in Rhode Island<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in 1986, the Narragansett Caf\u00e9 in Jamestown came up for sale and we decided to buy it. By then my brother had started the Lightship Group, a marine engineering firm in North Kingstown. In true Rhode Island fashion, I \u201cknew a guy\u201d who told me about a position as Relief Chief Engineer on the Weatherbird<\/em> II<\/em> out of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, so I applied and was hired. It helped me keep up my sea time for certifications. My brother and I both continued running the bar while also being employed in the marine field. I worked on the Knorr<\/em>, Oceanus<\/em>, and Endeavor<\/em> and later Atlantic Explorer<\/em>, the ship that replaced Weatherbird<\/em> II<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2008, we sold Jamestown Caf\u00e9 and I was looking for a full-time marine-related job. In 2011, GSO\u2019s Marine Superintendent Sam De Bow was leaving and Tom Glennon, GSO\u2019s port engineer, was moving up to marine superintendent. Tom asked me to come on as port engineer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Endeavor<\/em> had one engine, a locomotive engine, and by 2014 it had enough hours on it that it was due for a major overhaul. I did an \u201cin place\u201d engine rebuild, replacing or cleaning each piece. That timing was good, because the National Science Foundation (the owner of Endeavor<\/em>) had at the time money to fund the rebuild. Endeavor<\/em>\u2019s engine has been stellar ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dan
Alexander securing Endeavor<\/em> to the pier. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m looking forward to working on Narragansett Dawn. <\/em>Think about all the improvements between 1976 and now! Endeavor <\/em>was operated with a computer that is a programmable logic controller which has \u201cdata in and data out.\u201d Narragansett Dawn<\/em> will have a computerized maintenance management system, a software package that monitors the ship and logs information. It will also have an industrial marine computer, an autonomous system designed to run the ship. These new systems will tell you if anything is wrong and help you trouble shoot. Of course, cybersecurity is crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with these computer systems, the ship can\u2019t run and carry out science without the crew. As we transfer to a new ship, the most important thing is that we get to keep the crew. Endeavor<\/em>\u2019s crew are people who know and trust each other, and that is the most essential part of the new ship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Port Engineer Staying Current Since 2011, I\u2019ve been port engineer for R\/V Endeavor. My job is to keep the ship operating properly, oversee maintenance and upgrades, prepare and plan for inspections, keep the machinery running, oversee dry docking, and make sure the ship stays American Bureau of Shipping certified. Now that Endeavor has re-located to […]<\/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-192455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192455","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=192455"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192669,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192455\/revisions\/192669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}