10. He sizes up an ocean barge.

After a morning of shifting little deck barges, and spending most of his afternoon in a noisy little tug, the lad needed to have a seat in the quiet and relax. His recent experience making up to the barge he was now riding had shown him that he could gain the skills of the tugboat craft and his confidence was seen in the relaxed posture he held as he leaned back against a container, smoking his cigarette. Bobby was sitting nearby smoking, as well, manipulating the cigarette with his damaged fingers, blowing smoke out forcefully as he too relaxed.

By now the sun was ahead of the tow. The seat they had chosen was shady and the cool breeze from the water was giving the lad chills as it blew across his sweaty t-shirt. He was sweating too. He looked down and realized that, with the exception of his shoulders, the entire shirt was soaked. There was a coating of rust on the wet material. His pants were soaked on the thighs where the wet lines had been leaning on him and they too had a large rust stain on each leg. He would love to be headed towards a shower now but the barge still had to be delivered to its berth. His buddy wasn’t saying much, so he thought he’d kill some time on his own. Slowly and with a bit of effort, he stiffly stood up and stretched. He wanted to explore the barge.

He walked a few steps to the starboard side. There was his tug, still made up and motoring along at a slow speed. The engines weren’t too loud now. He could see James’s feet sticking out from the pilot house window. Obviously James was relaxing a little too. As he looked down the barge, he observed that it was about 150 feet long so he took a quick glance to compare the breadth, about 50 feet as far as he could guess. The containers were stacked five long by four wide, and piled up four containers high. There was just enough room for a man to walk along the edge with one hand on the containers to steady himself, so the lad started walking toward the bow. On his way by the little tug, he nodded to James who was relaxing in the wheelhouse. James touched two fingers to his brow and swung them out as if to salute to the lad. The lad continued his way up to the bow of the barge where he found a large wall of metal about five feet high. It was angled forward and reinforced from behind with heavy angle iron. Here is where the navigation lights were mounted, their heavy batteries and boxes chained to the rear of the big sea-break, as this was called. Behind the sea-break was also a wide variety of scrap iron, old shackles, and pieces of odd rope and cable that had survived the transit across hundreds of miles of open ocean.

He walked around to the forward side of the sea-break. It was here that he was able to see the big towing gear that connected the barge to the tug. At each forward corner of the barge was attached a large chain with links as big as his flattened hand. These two chains were many feet long and met at a point well ahead of the barge, joined at its center line by a large shackle. These were the bridles. From the point where the two chains met, the shackle connected them to a bit of the same chain, but shorter in length than the bridles. That was the pendant. Ahead of the pendant was a large piece of white synthetic rope, with heavy metal thimbles spliced into each end. One end was shackled to the barge’s chain arrangement and the other end was shackled to the towing cable of the bigger tug. It was the thickest line he had ever seen, every bit as big around as his thigh. This was the line that was designed to absorb the shock caused by a tow straining against its cable in a high sea. It was good that he came up here. He now had a good idea of what a towing gear looked like when it was set up and he committed the picture to memory.

As he crossed the bow, he stepped carefully around the sea-break. It wasn’t too difficult to imagine your own body swept under the bow wave of the barge in the event of a misstep. He was watching his path carefully and was surprised when he looked up to see the beaches and houses of his own neighborhood. This excited him. Wouldn’t it be great if his wife could see him as she walked their dogs along the beach? He would love for her to see him walking along the moving barge as if he’d been towing all his life. She had supported him in this career choice so far and he wanted her to feel like the time and investment was worth it. He searched the beach line as if he could actually see her at that distance. Of course there was no chance of that, but he felt good for looking.

A hand gripped the top of his shoulder and he turned with a start to see Bobby. “If you aren’t too busy site seeing, we have to get ready to put this thing to the dock. We’re not far now.”

The lad frowned at the sarcastic remark but nodded and began to make his way to the tug without waiting for Bobby. What a fuckin’ smart ass. It’s not like anything else was going on. He was thinking he would say something but decided to leave it alone. He made his way to the edge of the barge where he was standing next the wheel house. James was standing up waiting for them. Bobby walked up beside him and James began to outline how they would be helping the little tug. He had been on the radio with the other tug’s captain and they came up with a plan to get the heavily loaded barge to the dock as easily as possible. When he explained it, the lad actually understood what was going to happen and kept up with the conversation.

They approached a very busy area around the military docks. The bigger tug had shortened her cable and the lad was impressed when her crew slipped the towing shackle and the towing arrangement flew over the bulwarks and into the harbor with a great splash. The bigger tug then began to maneuver around the bow of the barge. James got the attention of his crew and the two began to take in the lines, one at a time, in the opposite order that they went out. This time the lad went up to the barge. He boarded the little tug again when James nosed the high bow up to the stern of the barge. Bobby stepped up on the bow fender with an eye of the head line coiled on his arm. With one heavy throw, he lassoed the nearest cleat and hopped down from the bow backwards, making the line off to the H-bitt as soon as his feet hit the deck. The lad was impressed with this bit of tugboat seamanship.

Bobby told the lad that he should get off of the bow since the tug would be maneuvering on a head line. They went up one deck and sat with their backs against the pilot house, smoking. Bobby was fairly disinterested in the action but the lad was watching and listening to every move. He looked to the bow and saw a man climb from the bow of the bigger tug and disappear through the containers. He heard a lot of chatter on the radio and then a single blast from the tug’s whistle. The engines changed speed and the little tug eased toward the barge, bumping lightly but enough to make the deck shift under him. Another blast of the whistle and the engines increased their pitch, working harder into the barge.

Toot! The engines slowed slightly. TOOOT! The engines came to idle and the lad could feel that the propellers had stopped. Toot! Toot! The engines came to life and the little backed slowly against its head line, the line squeaking and popping under the strain.

The whole scene created an orchestra of whistles, engines, the sound of rubber grinding and squealing against heavy steel, and the occasional sounds from the head line as it protested against the work asked of it. Both tugs were hard at work moving their own end of the barge according to the directions of the man from the bigger tug. The air was thick with the acrid smell of oily diesel smoke. The water was churning and swirling around the entire side of the barge, trapping flotsam and thick foam in its many whirlpools and slip streams as tons of water were shoved about by the powerful propellers. It was hard to believe that this much work could be completed with the very little activity of the crews from the tugs. That would change shortly. A barge can’t tie itself up.

Bobby flicked his cigarette butt into the moving water and started to stand. “Time to get over there." We’ve got to be close to the dock by now.”

The lad stood up and followed Bobby. He hoped his day was soon over. He was beginning to feel the time with every heavy step but he would continue to work his first barge. That, he would do with purpose.