Back to Philly

Here's a picture of the Grace

I'm back in Philly picking up some work while I'm out from DonJon. Actually, I decidedto take back my spot on the Grace Moran, it's still open so I pick up right back where I left off. The money is less then it is at Donjon, but there are no layoffs here. It's a steady pay check, and it's still a respecable living. There's a lot to recommend it: If I need to work extra there's always a spot open, the work is challenging, but there's plenty of down time so I'm not killing myself. Also, the whole atmosphere is a lot more laid back, if I want t run up the street and get a coffee or something, go in town to the bookstore or whatever, it's no problem as long as it doesn't interfere with the work. It's a good bunch of guys here for the most part. I'm glad to be back, really.

Just a picture I took of a yacht when I was attending S.T.C.W. classes in Ft. Lauderdale last month.

So it's another day on the Charles D. I found out today that we get our deckhand back, so I'll be up in the wheelhouse with the captain. I did a job with him today, it was an assist out of a dock in Newark. He let me do the job - put a line up on the barge, answer the commands coming from the other boat, "ahead easy", "back slow", "back half", "all stop", "take in your line".

I was doing fine, but at one point, he took it from me - I guess because I wasn't doing it exactly the way he'd have me do it. Exactly 10 degrees rudder instead of 12, or 800 r.p.m. instead of 830. I don't know, maybe I'm the same way when I'm breaking someone in, but I'd like to think not. Here's a guy who needs to be better than everyone else, never mind that it takes a little time to get the feel of a boat. You know the type, doesn't get that the other guy is just as effective, even though he does things a little different.

So I get through the job, get released, then when I'm backing away, he takes it again, says we're getting too close to the edge of the channel. Whatever, I'll give him that one, but why not just say " don't come back too much, there's not a lot of water there". Anyways, another few days and we'll get through this, be on the other side. Bottom line is: I know how to do this, and I'm pretty good at it too. I've been signed of by a few guys already, and there are a couple of dozen docking pilots between Boston and Philly who are more than happy to have me on the job. If he wants to be anal about it, than I'll just move on, that's all. One thing I don't want to do though, I don't want to get into a personality contest with the guy, he's the Master - it's his boat. I'll grant him his command presence. It's not for me to tell him how to do his job, even though I might disagree.

I started at McAllister N.Y. on the 28th - the day after thanksgiving. Spent about an hour filling out paperwork, then hung around for aboput another hour or so waiting for my boat to show up. I wound up on the Charles D. McAllister which is an old Exxon/ Sea River boat. She's a nice boat, real quiet and smooth. the quarters are a little small though. where it counts it's real nice. she's a twin screw with flanking rudders which makes it real manueverable.

Funny thing happened when I got aboard though. I'm sitting at the galley table reading through some of the papers that the office gave me, trying to get through it and get it over with. A guy comes down and gets his coffee, sits down and just kinda' ignores me - so I just kinda' ignore him back. Long story short, it turns out this guy's the captain! Argh!! Note to self: always, always, be the first to say hi and introduce yourself. Man! Talk about an awkward first couple of hours.

Anyhow, they lost a deckhand today to another boat, apparently they move people around all over the fleet here. So I wound being the deckhand on the mate's watch. On a tug the captain stands two watches a day, from 6 to 12 on both sides of the clock. The mate's watch is from 12 to 6. No big deal, I'm supposed to be demonstrating my boat handling abilities and getting some local knowledge, I was hired as a mate. But I can be deckhand for a couple of days, there paying me the same, after all. We assisted a tug/barge unit into K.M.I Staten Island, then we sailed a ship out of Carteret. Ah, just like the old days! I figured I'd better get right into the role, so I cleared everything off the counters in the galley and got out the bucket and a rag and cleaned all the counters, bulkheads ( those are what we call walls on a boat) then swept and mopped the deck. I figured I'd do it just like I expect my deckhands to.

These pictures are from the summer of "07 when I was working for Constellation Maritime. we were setting the buoys for the offshore LNG facility in Massachusetts Bay. Ships discharge their cargo directly into these buoys, which are connected to the pipeline on shore. http://www.excelerateenergy.com/northeast.html

It was a very interesting job. we had to hold the buoy between our two boats and pass a wire to the large anchor handling tug so the could tie into the anchors which were already set on the ocean floor. That yellow line you see on the big boat is a six inch diameter cable encased in a protective coating. There are eight of them for each buoy, arrayed in a circular pattern- picture a wagon wheel with the buoy being the hub and each wire leading to an anchor like the spokes. You can see the buoy in the top picture being lifted off the ship. It reminds me of the space capsules that the astronauts used to splash down in. When it's all set in place it actually sits about 50 feet or so under water.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/capnscruffy/1335359633/in/set-72157594528212267/

New Job

I'm starting a new job on friday at McAllister New York. I don't know what boat yet, or what I'll be doing - ship assist or towing- or even what the pay is. The truth is, I can't be too picky right now, I just have to get back to work right now, so I'm kinda' signing on blind so to speak.

The Holidays are here and I just spent all my money on S.T.C.W. classes (more on what that is at a later date) only to find that the boat I was working on was being sent to Africa, so I'm a little bit of a pickle money-wise. Yea, they still have a job for me, but it's on a boat that's in the shipyard for the next few weeks and I can't afford to wait for it so here I go again.