Vessels at Work – Professional Mariner

Navigating the Erie Canal from end to end

Staying on course was not a worry for Capt. Brad Winchell on this voyage at the helm of Carver Marine Towing’s CMT Otter. The entire trip would happen in buoyed channels, mostly those of the New York State Canal System (NYSCS) — commonly called the Erie Canal — currently in its 200th season. Winchell has worked on the Erie Canal…

Piloting a piece of maritime history in San Diego Bay

Capt. John Eaton took the controls on the wood-hulled ferry Silvergate on a picture-perfect Southern California afternoon and steered into San Diego Bay. The destination lay barely a mile ahead on Coronado. “It’s a small ferry, but it’s really easy to drive,” Eaton said during the passage, which takes about 10 minutes. “I like the historic aspect of it and…

Swell time: RI ferry crew handles rough seas and dense fog on Vineyard run

The Rhode Island Fast Ferry Julia Leigh was northbound in Narragansett Bay on a damp summer night when fog reduced visibility to almost nothing. Capt. Jordan Ryan flicked on the bow lights but quickly thought better of it in the harsh glare. Suddenly, a voice cracked over the radio. A man hailed the U.S. Coast Guard on channel 16 to…

Timing and pitch: Piloting a ship is like ‘making beautiful music’

Our pilot boat rounded Ediz Hook, near Port Angeles, Wash., cutting through the nighttime sea and making a beeline for an inbound containership. We matched the ship’s speed and pulled along its lee side in the predawn darkness. With the lights of Port Angeles winking on the shoreline a mile away, the pilot, Capt. Pat Ninburg, and deck hand, David Ellis, stood on the…

Skill and Tradition on the Piscataqua River

Story and photos by Casey Conley Capt. John Reeves wasted no time getting the tugboat Z-One underway in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Like fellow Moran Towing Capt. Matt Brewster, who would soon depart aboard Handy Four, Reeves had a schedule to keep. Some five miles away, the inbound tanker New England was nearly ready to transit up the Piscataqua River to a Portsmouth oil…

Two Puget Sound captain’s paths to the pilothouse

Capt. Darius Rogers steered Bo Brusco away from the Foss Maritime dock in Tacoma, Wa., and headed into Commencement Bay. Before long, TOTE’s cargo ship Midnight Sun rounded the peninsula at Browns Point. The 839-foot roll-on, roll-off (RO-RO) Midnight Sun and its sister ship North Star are familiar sights in the Puget Sound. Both make weekly round trips between Tacoma…

Capt. Kyle Pfenning: Navigating the ‘Big River’

Capt. Kyle Pfenning claims he got “Mark Twained” during what he thought would be a single hitch on a towboat back in 1995. “I took the deck job just to say I’d done it,” he explained. But a single hitch it was not to be – almost a quarter-century later, he’s veteran pilot on the inland waters. Pfenning has…

Jacobsen Pilot Service: Blending old-school values and new technologies

On Dec.26, 2015, the containership CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin, bound for a berth at the Port of Long Beach, sailed into a placid San Pedro Bay on its maiden arrival. A cursory glance at the event would evoke minimal interest, seeing as countless ships have called at the Southern California port since it handled its first vessel more than 100…

A backward tow through the Ballard Locks

Capt. Travis Larsen looked over his right shoulder and then his left while backing through the crowded waters of Seattle’s Salmon Bay. For nearly 30 minutes, he had steered astern while guiding the 200-foot refrigerated cargo ship Coastal Progress toward the Hiram M. Chittendon, or Ballard, Locks. Larsen checked his speed and trusted his instincts as the tug…

A routine day for the tugboat Savannah

Crescent Towing Capt. Danny Hudson looked at the AIS screen aboard the tugboat Savannah and then glanced down the Lower Mississippi River. He predicted the inbound bulk carrier would round the bend near St. Rose, La., any second. Right on cue, the 623-foot Liberia-flagged, Aye Evolution appeared over the horizon. Riding high with ballast water, the ship towered above the…