A Mariner’s Notebook – Page 3 – Professional Mariner

‘Blow the Man Down’: A salty take on maritime music

As someone who grew up listening to Supertramp, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, it was a different experience coming up for breakfast one autumn morning to the sounds of “As I was a walking down Paradise Street, way, hey, blow the man down” reverberating through the kitchen. There was my dad, who sailed for years as an able…

Working the holidays can pay — in more ways than one

We had just cleared the Panama Canal’s Miraflores Locks westbound on the Pacific side. I was the second mate on a tug pulling a loaded 450-foot petroleum barge from Lake Charles, La., and Beaumont, Texas, to Long Beach, Calif. It had just turned midnight, the start of Christmas Day. Jerry, the able seaman on my watch, came up to the…

Jones Act provisions should extend to US territories

For more than 100 years, the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, commonly known as the Jones Act after U.S. Sen. Wesley Jones of Washington state, has been a legal bedrock of the United States maritime industry. Adopted by a congressional vote, the purpose of the Jones Act was to establish and protect a vibrant American maritime industry in times of…

U.S. merchant mariners served valiantly during wartime

My father-in-law served in the merchant marine during World War II, sailing as an assistant purser on a supply ship. I asked him once about his most frightening experience of the war. He replied grimly, “Our ship was part of a convoy of 20 merchant ships, and we had two Navy ships escorting us. One night in the North Atlantic…

No kitten: Time again to welcome cats aboard merchant ships

was hired as the extra mate during a voyage from the fishing grounds in Alaska down to Seattle. After a long day filled with flights and shuttles, I finally got on board late in the evening. After checking in with the captain, who I had sailed with before and knew well, I went down for a nap before assuming watch…

Think twice before sailing on a foreign-flagged ship

I had been mentoring Shaun, a student from the California Maritime Academy, who was now set to graduate. Excited and ready to go, he was looking forward to entering the industry, making money and paying off his student loan. A few days after graduation, his third mate license in hand, he texted me with news of his first job. He…

Maritime high schools can prepare the next generation of mariners

Back when I was a kid, my dad would tell me what it was like working in the merchant marine. He sailed as an able seaman and boatswain, and I loved hearing his tales of working on a tanker off Venezuela, a stick ship in Africa and a freighter in Alaska. After dad retired, one of his friends who’d heard…

Catching Covid-19 on a commercial ship

For mariners working on commercial vessels, the process of obtaining official documents is not the only change Covid-19 has brought. In October, President Biden mandated masks be worn on board all U.S.-flagged commercial vessels. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) backed the mandate and added some recommendations of its own. Along with wearing masks, the CDC advises crews on…