You might have tried ‘parking’ your little boat alongside the local marina or mooring ball in 20kts of wind …. and failed miserably. Ignoring experience and practice, a strong breeze, or the lack of it, can be your enemy for sure. No big deal, go around and give it another go. Apart from a dented ego, no harm done.
Try this on something like the 199 meter long “Alliance St. Louis”, a Höegh Autoliner, without scratching the paint. Shaped like a giant milk carton, it has a carrying capacity of 19600 tonnes plus it’s own weight.
The problem of controlling any vessel, at low speeds with limited room to manoeuvre has been part of maritime history from the get-go.
Captain Cook had to resort to using small, 8.5m long ‘rowboats’ called sweeps, to pull the Endeavour away from the reefs of North-Easter Australia, driven by nothing but desperation instead of three 2250hp diesels, even though he did so due to the total lack of wind and an unfavorable current.
As a matter of fact, the lads were praying for any breath of wind at the time to get some steerage.
Visiting my parents in Germany, a side trip to Bremerhaven is a must for a nautical fix, especially when it involves super large vessels.
Walking around the harbour, I spotted a woman painting the railing of on of these big harbour tugs, aptly named after my father – PETER. I always wanted to drive one of those.
Curiosity got hold of me, I had to find out what it takes to be ‘Captain Tugboat’ … one never know where the next job opportunity lies and I always felt I should have taken to the seas instead of the sky for a job.
So I started talking to Ann-Kathrin, the lady covered in red, who works on RT PETER, part of a fleet of harbour tugs in the area which have recently been brought out by the Spanish firm Boluda.
It’s 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. 3 people to a boat on rotating shifts; an engineer, a mate and the captain, usually the same team for a specific boat. No deckhand on this tug.
To be in charge of one of these powerhouses you first need to learn the trade at a specific maritime trade school, at least in Germany. Then it’s off to gather experience on smaller ships and towing vessels for years until you are finally worthy to paint the rails – red.
All jokes aside, it’s a hard gig to land. Jobs are far and few between and you got to get along with people. No doubt their recruitment team will be paying close attention to your personality traits.
Once you finally made it to be in charge, you will still be told what to do because it’s the Pilot who directs the play when it comes to moving the big stuff. She or he, armed with years of local knowledge, gets temporarily placed on the bridge of the monstrosity that needs to be parked and has a complete overview of where to pull, push, shove or as the case may be … tug!
It is then up to the tug captain and the crew to execute the order with precision … rail, hail or shine. That’s no doubt where all this experience comes in handy. Knowing the power of your machine, the inertia of what you move and the environmentals that effect your manoeuvre …
Not unlike flying a commercial airliner really. If COVID keeps my industry in tatters, I might be applying with Ann for that paint job. Apparently the new owner’s colours are blue instead of red so there could be an opening…
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Watch these things at play…
