KINGSTON, R.I. – June 12, 2010 – With the world watching as oil continues to burn in the Gulf of Mexico, the crew of the University of Rhode Island’s research vessel Endeavor spent most of June lending a helping hand. On June 30, Sam DeBow, URI’s marine superintendent in charge of operations of the Endeavor, provided this update to David Farmer, dean of URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography:

David,

R/V Endeavor is safely alongside in the Port of St. Petersburg, Fl
after completing a very arduous mission at ground zero of the
Deepwater Horizon Spill. I can now rest easy for a few days. This
was another significant effort by many GSO Marine Office and Technical
staff to pull it off on such short notice (Ship sailed 1 week after
notification), but most importantly by a very talented and dedicated
ship’s crew who had to deal with the adverse conditions first hand.

Needless to say, I am very proud of everyone’s efforts to make this a
success,

Sam

The Endeavor left the Narragansett Bay Campus on June 8 with a team of scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The purpose of the mission – funded by the National Science Foundation – was to track, characterize and sample subsurface oil in the Gulf.

Among the researchers from WHOI who made the trip was URI Graduate School of Oceanography alumni Christopher Reddy (’92 chemistry, ’97 Ph.D chemical oceanography). There also were be 13 people from the University on board, including 12 crew members and one marine technician, according to DeBow.

Since the April 20 explosion aboard the British Petroleum oil rig Deepwater Horizon, tens of thousands of gallons of oil have been spilling into the waters off the Louisiana coast daily. Estimates of the total oil spilled have ranged from 21 million to 46 million gallons since the explosion, which killed 11 workers.