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Tales from a Tugboat Captain by Thomas Teague Sofe Cover
Tales from a Tugboat Captain by Thomas Teague
An inside glimpse of what it's like to live where you work.
Soft Cover
119 pages
Copyright 2019
CONTENTS
FOREWORD by Mark J. McDonnell
ONEHow it all Began1
TWOLearning to be a Tugboat Guy9
THREE Drinking23
FOURThe Gulf of Mexico33
FIVESea Stories and Weather51
SIXDanger63
SEVEN Nicknames73
EIGHT Jargon85
NINEBoredom103
TENTying it all Together119
FOREWORD
Ireally understood what Thomas N. Teague was about when word spread quickly that he had been fired. This, of course, was not true at all. As the story unfolded, it was just Tom being Tom.
On this occasion, he had two very official observers aboard. He was inbound East Rockaway Inlet pushing a loaded gasoline barge with a max flood current. The inbound leg takes a bit of tricky maneuvering and adding to this, the college-educated men were asking too many questions instead of watching and learning. They did not sense Tom's unease which grew by the minute. They continued with their incessant chatter until Tom could take it no longer! He told the Coast Guard officers to get off his tug now! At first, they stood motionless, not comprehending, until Tom made it all too clear in a language they both understood. They promptly called the USCG 44 footer that had been trailing them to come alongside. They departed the tug and then proceeded to follow Tom and the tug and tow into Rockaway Inlet while informing headquarters of Tom's egregious behavior.
Nobody, absolutely nobody, throws the United States Coast Guard off a boat, EVER! But on that day, TNT did.
Tom is a lifelong mariner and the perfect storyteller for these events. We have shared similar career paths and have been working as relieving captains together for the past two decades. I would say that we do the dirty work moving oil into tight creeks and narrow channels, staying on the center line, and hoping the bridges we called 10 minutes prior will open up on time. We operate in the shelter of New York harbor, for the most part, which allows us to work in some nasty conditions 24/7. In this changing industry, Tom and I continue to work on one of the remaining harbor tugs doing assorted assists, oil transportation, and our favorite, the "creek work" in New York harbor, Long Island, and Connecticut.
The job today is a far cry from when Tom and I began working on the water. Many things were overlooked, many just tolerated, and many a blind eye was turned. People from all sociocultural backgrounds could get a job on a tug. Friends of friends just released from a halfway house, recently incarcerated or from the asylum, even the bag boy from the local market. All were welcome provided they could cook and throw a line, and with practice, we could teach them the line bit.
This book is about the early times with this cast of characters, and how at the end of the day, the work somehow always got done, and Tom has yet to be fired.
Mark J. McDonnell Fellow Mariner
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