In Greek mythology, Tiphys (Ancient Greek: Τῖφυς) was the first helmsman of the Argo, a Thespian (Boeotian) pilot famed for reading sun, stars, and weather. Athena herself urged him to join Jason's crew; he steered the ship until he died of illness among the Mariandyni, after which Ancaeus took the helm.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Tiphys" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Tiphys is usually the Thespian son of Hagnias, or else of Phorbas of Elis and Hyrmine, daughter of Epeius — in the latter account a possible brother of Augeas and Actor. He left the Siphaean people of the Thespians to sail with the Argonauts.
II.Pilot of the Argo
Apollonius of Rhodes presents him as skilled to foretell rising waves and to infer stormy winds from sun and star; Tritonian Athena herself urged him to join the chiefs, and he came among them a welcome comrade. Later epic (Valerius Flaccus, Statius, the Orphic Argonautica) likewise places him at the tiller, watching the heavens and guiding the vessel through dangerous seas.
III.Death
On the voyage toward Colchis he died of a mysterious illness in the land of the Mariandynians — or, in some accounts, of a snakebite. After his death Ancaeus (son of Poseidon) piloted the Argo in his place.