George Maltby

George has been an Assistant Engineer aboard the R/V Endeavor for the past several years.  He was born in Portland, Maine where he was always on the water.  Like most of his friends, he would take any chance to be out in the ocean, whether it was by a ride on a tug boat or on a friend’s skiff.  At the age of 13 he started working with a good buddy’s family’s tug boat business, and from there worked his way up to “Deckineer,” (comparable to an Engineer’s position, but on a tug).  Around 16, he sought out a change of pace and pursued being a motorcycle mechanic for several years.  Eventually, the open water called back and he was aboard the tugs again.  During that time, he had some great experiences on the Cape Cod Canal, worked on moving the Intrepid, was involved in Fleet Week in New York, as well as worked around container ships.  He then pursued further training at Wyotech, in Daytona, FL focusing on Marine Mechanics and Engineering.

When George was working on the Cape Cod Canal, prior to moving to Daytona, he posted his resume up on https://www.unols.org/, a website home to the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System, just to see what opportunities were out there.  Out of the blue a few years later, he received a call from the University of Rhode Island, inquiring if he would like to join the R/V Endeavor.  At the time, a good friend of his was working aboard the ship.  He flew up, met everyone, and the rest is history.  Since then, he has had the chance to work on many cruises, including those to Africa, Barbados, St. John’s in Newfoundland, as well as up and down the coasts of the US.  He also was aboard this vessel last year during the Horizon oil spill, and was only 500 yards from “ground zero” at times.  He has seen a lot of amazing things, and truly enjoys the opportunities that come along with this job.

On a personal note, top of the playlist for him right now is artist Bon Iver.  Other audio favorites include Paranoid Social Club, whose guitar player happens to be his roommate, and exploring the wealth of music on the ship’s server.   George enjoys his time at sea, and aboard the R/V Endeavor; but like any job on a vessel like this, says the time away from friends and family never gets easy.