Crew Member Gabe Matthias, RV Endeavor Ships Technician 3

I am Hali Rederer, a graduate student in the Biological Science Department at California State University Sacramento.  As a volunteer on a twenty day scientific cruise aboard the RV Endeavor I will be occasionally blogging about the science and the people aboard.  This blog results from an interview I conducted with a member of the ship’s crew.

Gabe Matthias ( fig.1) grew-up on the water in Narragansett, Rhode Island. Gabe attended the University of Rhode Island.  He graduated in 2013 with a joint MBA and Masters of Science in Oceanography degree. He also holds a 100 ton Captains License. 

Three months ago Gabe became the RV Endeavor Ships Technician 3. Prior to coming back to Narragansett for UNOLS, Gabe spent 3 years working in private sector ocean technology related jobs in Maryland, Georgia, and North Carolina. Beaufort, NC is among Gabe’s favorite stations.  On the RV Endeavor he is in charge of all the ships operating science programs. This includes collaborating with shore resources via satellite phone if serious problems arise.  The science functions of the ship include flow through and CTD  (temperature, depth, oxygen, fluorometer, salinity, and collecting water samples at different depths).  When water samples are brought up they are filtered but usually analyzed on shore.  Gabe provides information technology support to science crews and the ship’s crew aboard the RV Endeavor. Gabe explained that the surprising aspect of his job is how poor internet connection is aboard and how expensive it is.  More and more principle investigators are including money in their grant proposals for internet.  Gabe gave an example of a recent inner space media project on the RV Endeavor where the cost was $10,000 a day for internet service.

Gabe expects to be at sea 80-100 days per year. His time is split evenly between the ships science functions and the ships maintenance of its systems. When the RV Endeavor is docked at its Narragansett home port there is shore work that includes recalibrating instruments in a supporting role. Years down the road Gabe is looking forward to being on the new ship being built to replace the RV Endeavor.