Vessels at Work – Professional Mariner

Cable transfer barges to Lake Champlain bring clean power to New York

Guiding a barge 43-feet-and-6-inches wide into a 45-foot opening from the helm of a tugboat over 200 feet back demands expertise. Captain Nick Pucello demonstrates this prowess as he directs the 1,000-horsepower tug Edna A to finesse a barge with several thousand tons of load, including ballast, into a lock chamber without damage. But the accomplishment is magnitudes more difficult…

Two major ferry systems face different job and employment realities

The two largest ferry operators in the United States have been recruiting from within their own ranks and from within their own communities to build a new mariner workforce. Both NYC Ferry, one of several maritime operators in the New York Metro Area, and Washington State Ferries (WSF) have fostered homegrown captains and crew and expanded their workforces to meet…

Working a wind farm in New England

On the first Tuesday of February, Captain Joshua Rand was catching scallops in the cold waters off Barnstable, Cape Cod, Mass., where he grew up. Well before sunrise on Wednesday morning, he was aboard WINDEA Intrepid at a dock on Pope’s Island in New Bedford, Mass., with his four-person crew preparing for a voyage to Vineyard Wind. Rand grew up…

Moving ships with Bisso’s new tug

Mr. Brian sat at the Bisso Towboat Co. Inc. dock around Mile 165 AHP of the Mississippi River in Convent, La., waiting for a ship. Waiting for two, actually — one bulk carrier was coming off the dock, destined for sea; another was shifting from an upper to lower berth. Mr. Brian, along with Capt. Joseph Bisso, was waiting patiently. …

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…