The ship was built to replace the former research vessel RV Cirolana, and was designed to minimise underwater noise, and therefore disturbance of fish – ensuring better results from sonar equipment.

[6] She was named by Lindsay Murray, Cefas' science area head for environmental management at Burnham-on-Crouch, who was also wife of the former chief executive Peter Greig-Smith.

In February 2015 RV Cefas Endeavour was chartered by the Netherlands government in order to fulfill the Dutch component of the North Sea International Bottom Trawl Survey (IBTS).

Cefas scientists worked alongside those from Rijkswaterstaat (RWS) and the Institute for Marine Resources & Ecosystem Studies (IMARES), with local mobilisation in Scheveningen (Netherlands).

[8] From circa 2008 to 2011, Cefas Endeavour completed the East Coast Regional Environmental Characterisation survey undertaken to discover more about the seabed from north Norfolk to Walberswick, covering an area of 3,300 square kilometres (1,300 sq mi).