Profile - Becoming a Mariner Kirsten Buccigrossi, The Great Lakes Towing Co. Training captain & marketing director Some days, Kirsten Buccigrossi focuses on marketing and communications for The Great Lakes Towing Company. Others, she’s out on one of the company’s tugs assisting ships on the Cuyahoga River. Buccigrossi, 36, grew up in Wadsworth, Ohio. She began her maritime career in…

Profile - Becoming a Mariner Nick Parks Western Towboat Co., Engineer Nick Parks first got to know Western Towboat Company crews while serving on security boats at Naval Base Kitsap, where he would inspect tugboats and other vessels entering restricted waters.  With his four-year naval term winding down, he joined Western crews on a voyage towing a cargo barge between…