The Endeavour
The Endeavour in Galena Bay, Prince William Sound, 2021 (Photo: P Murphey)
The Endeavour was built in 1954 for the U.S. Army. She is 72 feet long with a draft of 6 feet and a beam of 17 feet. The hull is welded Corten steel, with a full displacement of 100 tons and a range of 1,750 nautical miles. She is a stout little ship.
Pilot House
Salon and Galley
The boat accommodates up to eight guests plus two crew. There are four bunk rooms for guests with two bunks each. There are two heads, both with showers.
Forward Bunkroom
The walk-around engine room includes the main engine, two diesel generators, a boiler for central heating, a tool bench, arc welder, air compressor, a desalinator (which makes 35 gallons of drinking water an hour), and a full-sized washer-dryer.
There is a 1-ton crane on the top deck.
The Endeavour carries two shore boats: a 14-foot Zodiac with a standard propellor outboard and a 13.5-foot jet boat for getting up rivers. It also carries three canoes. For divers, there is a hot-water washdown on the main deck.
The ground tackle is a 210-pound Forfjord anchor with 600 feet of 1/2-inch chain, backed up by a 100-pound Baldt anchor.
For open-ocean work, the boat has paravane stabilizers to reduce rolling in adverse seas, and a parachute anchor for over-nighting offshore.
Aft Bunkroom
Engine Room Access
Electronics include multiple GPS receivers, chart plotters, radios, a radar, a 2000-foot sonar, autopilot, and a subsystem that monitors all tanks, temperatures, batteries, and electrical use. When needed, the boat can tow side-scan sonars, sub-bottom profilers, magnetometers, and other equipment. A satellite link provides high-speed interent everywhere.
Safety equipment includes immersion suits for all hands, a life raft, and satellite communications.
True to her mission as a research vessel, this little ship is named the Endeavour, after Captain James Cook's ship on his first voyage of discovery to the South Pacific in 1768.