8. He makes his first tow.

The lad found Bobby in the galley, reading an old magazine while having a cigarette. He told him the captain needed to see him. Bobby kept reading. He made sure to tell him that the bigger boat was in sight. The reason for the summons didn’t change Bobby’s indifference but at least it got him to move a little. When the lad was sure that Bobby was going to get up, he left the galley to get another look at the bigger boat from the bow. He sat on the H-bitt with his feet up on the cap rail of the bulwarks. The little tug was small enough that he was very comfortable in this position, with his elbows resting on his knees. He lit a cigarette and looked out down the bay.

He could see the bigger boat clearly. It was coming into view more and more each minute and soon he could see a group of figures on the bow of her, grouped around a set of steps that led to the pilot house. He soon realized that the tug was being followed by a large object. It was their tow, a barge stacked with shipping containers but from that distance it looked like a big box made out of multi-colored children’s blocks. He was amazed at the size of the tow compared to the dwarfed tug. Bobby walked up behind him, breaking his concentration.

“Vacation’s over. Eh?” he said. “James wants to try to tow her in. I told him it won’t work but he isn’t listening. He thinks he’s on a big ocean rig. That little tow winch doesn’t do this stuff. Does he think I’ve never done this kind of work before? I think I have. He’ll see.”

Bobby was rambling. The lad didn’t care how they helped the tug and tow in; he wasn’t that experienced yet. But he didn’t care to hear Bobby complaining about the upcoming work. He was ready for anything at this point and didn’t need to hear anything that would reduce his excitement. He changed the subject.

“What should I be doing now?” he asked Bobby.

“Come on back to the winch. We’ll have to take in the pushing gear and shorten the tow cable,” replied Bobby, waving his hand towards him as he walked aft along the waist.

They got to the winch and the lad watched as Bobby moved levers and rods to set the little winch up for retrieval. It wasn’t really a towing winch. It was more like the deck winches that the lad had used during his stick shipping days when he operated yard and stay rigs. The little winch only stood about three feet tall and had a simple braking lever with pins to dog the drum in place when securing it. The buttons to operate it were simple too- two directions and a stop button. Bobby pointed to the buttons and the lad mashed the one to bring the cable in. The drum turned slowly while Bobby guided the little tug’s thin cable onto the drum as evenly as he felt like. In just a minute or so, the eye was on deck.

The lad stopped the drum and the two of them turned to see the bigger tug almost next to them running at the same speed. As James eased the little tug closer, the figures on the bow became clearer. There were three of them. One was a young man with a map of curly blonde hair blowing around in the bay breeze. He waved a quick wave to Bobby who threw his head back in response. The other was a thin man with long graying hair, a gray beard, and little sunglasses. He was dressed a bit shabbily and stooped when he stood up. The lad thought of a marooned character from a pirate novel when he saw him. The third man couldn’t be missed. He looked angrily at Bobby. He looked so angry that the lad could see the creases in his forehead as he scowled at his crew mate. He was a fat man. His round torso supported by skinny legs, he was bobbing slightly and holding on to the railing of the ladder, as if he would jump to the deck of the little tug. Why was he so angry at Bobby? Even his free hand was balled up into a fist.

“Look at those clowns,” Bobby huffed. “It’s a wonder they could make a trip that far away and come back in one piece. Who knows what ‘Mr. Mechanic’ did to the engine?” He was on another rant. He went on for another minute or so about each of the characters on the bow, giving the lad a quick run-down of their individual traits and faults. It was clear to the lad that if he listened to anything Bobby said that these men were approximately worthless as boatmen. He certainly wouldn’t judge. At this point in his career, he knew less than anyone on the scene and his main concern was to try and look competent in front of even this lot.

Now they were close enough to the bigger boat that James was hanging out the pilot house window talking loudly to the captain of the bigger boat. When the brief conversation was over, he nodded to Bobby who turned toward the group on the bigger boat and waved his hand inward, signaling them to throw a line over.

“No!” shouted the fat engineer. “You send your line over.”

“Fuck that!” shouted Bobby. “We’re here to help you. Not do all the work!”

“Just throw a line over you lazy little bastard!”

“No! I’m not pulling your heavy-ass line over. This cable is smaller than your deck lines,” he loudly explained. “You can’t pull on a little……..”

“Hey!” shouted James. “Just send the line over. We don’t have all morning to listen to you guys fight this out.” All eyes were on him and he didn’t move a muscle. It was clear that he was serious.

Bobby looked at James for a moment and then bent to pick up his messenger line. The lad could see he wasn’t happy but it was hard to tell if Bobby was acting out of obedience or resignation. The messenger line was thrown across the choppy void and the fat engineer directed the blond deck hand to make it fast to the deck line. The big Dacron line was hauled across by the lad and a grumbling bobby and then laid on the stern deck of the little tug where the tow cable was made to the line with a shackle that the lad would have considered large. With no concern for anyone around him, Bobby picked up the shackled assembly and threw it roughly over the side. The short end of cable came tight with a loud noise.

Bobby looked up to the pilot house and waved to James who had been up on the boat deck at the stern controls watching the work. He nodded back and Bobby went to the control buttons. He let out just a bit of cable. James eased the boat over to get in front of the bigger boat. When the little tug was in position, Bobby let more cable out. James widened the distance between him and the bigger tug and Bobby filled the gap with cable. They worked together with no need to speak, each man reacting to the situation at hand as he needed. This job had been done many times before.

After the bigger tug was far enough away, James shouted down to Bobby, “Dog her down. That’ll do it.” Bobby turned the little brake wheel down and then set the pin that secured the winch’s drum into its matching holes. Everyone went to their places again, James to the pilot house and the two deck hands to the galley.

Once in place and smoking, Bobby was telling the lad how many ways this tow could turn bad; how “he would have done it.”: The speed of the tugs could be different. The weather could set waves on them and stress the cable. The bigger tug should turn off his engine and let the little tug tow. There should be a weight in the belly of the small line. The little tug’s skipper should…….

BOOM! A terrific noise was heard from the stern. Both men looked at each other, wide eyed for just a second. Then Bobby smiled from ear to ear.