Endeavor Returns

The research vessel Endeavor made a return visit today, March 26, presumably for the same reason that it was here seven and eight years ago.

Not Captain James Cooks's ship Endeavour (note the difference in spelling), this one flies the flag of the United States of America and is based in Narragansett, Rhode Island. It is owned by the United States Science Foundation and operated by Rhode Island University.

In 2017 and 2018 it was chartered by Fisheries and Oceans Canada to conduct the bi-national Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program annual survey. Canada's oceanographic research ship CCGS Hudson was in one of its prolonged life extension refits and was not available for the work. (Hudson has since been retired ansd scrapped and its replacement, orginally to be delivered in 2017, may now be delivered in 2026.) The Bedford Institute of Oceanography has chartered in replacement ships to meet some of its obligations, but its science programs have been severely hampered.

The Endeavor was built by Peterson Builders in Sturgeon Bay, WI in 1976. In 1993 it was lengthened from 177 ft to 185 ft ( 53.9m to 56.39m) and is now approximately 298 gross tons. It operates with a crew of 12 and can accommodate 18 scientists.

Canada's new oceanographic ship, when it is finally in service, will accomodate 26 scientists and will requiure a crew of 34. Its initial price tag of $109 mn has risen to $1.28 bn (as of now).

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