High Seas: Ocean Tow Boats

Peter's anguish was increased when it came time to read the will and Peter had to be led away when the attorney read, "and for Peter Van, know that I have loved you from the very beginning, but it was a love that could never be. To you, Peter I bequeath all my worldly goods and assets, you are to have the remainder of Bates' Marine Services stock, except for 10% that is reserved for the benefit of my Mother and Father, Thomas and Helen Bates. I trust you will care for the sons we share and that you will find happiness in knowing that I am waiting for you to rejoin with me in God's Light that knows no disapproval." Peter was bawling like a baby as his sons, Keith and Andrew put him to bed. Both boys sat beside Peter for the rest of the night, guarding him from any intrusion. When he awoke the next morning, he found his sons sleeping in chairs beside his bed. He woke them and hugged them mightily before they all went down for breakfast. In the days following Carson's death, Peter reorganized Bates' Marine Services, making Keith and Andrew Vice Presidents and repositioning their fleet to better serve their customers. He placed an order for a twin to the DAVID that was to be completed by June of 1968. It was to have all the latest "Bells and Whistles" and would become the flagship of the Bates Marine Fleet.

Peter survived the emotional blow of Carson's death and he immersed himself in running the company he had inherited. Revenues were flowing in and the war in Viet Nam seemed to go on without an end in sight. The flow of military cargo was tremendous, most of it originated at Oakland Army Terminal and down at Long Beach.

He stationed three ocean tugs at Long Beach, The TERRY, The MARTHA and The CARSON. The ANDREW was stationed at Sydney along with The PETER. The KEITH he sent to Singapore and The HELEN and The THOMAS worked out of Hong Kong. The two large tugs, The Manuel and The David were based at the hone pier.

He had not decided yet as to where the newest addition to the fleet, The JOHNNIE would be home ported. In fact, he had not even announced the new tug's name yet, he was waiting for an appropriate time to flummox Johnnie with the tug's name.

He had kept Andrew and Keith in command of the two Large Tugs and Del Johnson as Resident Manager out in Hong Kong. Del had met a Chinese woman when he was subbing for Andrew and they were seriously considering marriage, so Peter thought it was a good idea to leave Del where he was, besides, he was doing an excellent job pushing freight.

Peter had taken both Keith and Andrew with him when he went up to the Academy, as that institution was changing like the rest of the country and was branching out into other fields of education. Peter wanted to make sure that there were sufficient students in Marine Operation and Marine Engineering that he could man his tugs locally. Bates Marine already funded five scholarships annually with guaranteed employment, should the graduate wish to work on tug boats. Since he had just contracted to have another large tug built, he was going to need a Captain, Chief Engineer, four Mates and four Assistant Engineers in the near future.

There was a new port being built in Mexico and he was looking very hard at placing a Resident Manager at that port as it promised to be a busy port supplying cargo intended for the United States and he promised himself he would check out the new port facilities of the Gulf of Mexico, at Houston. He had heard glowing reports from his Captains who had called at that port and how much better it was than anything on the West Coast.

The MANUEL JASPER had established herself as the tug to call in emergencies. Fortunately, fires, like the one on The QUEEN OF THE SEAS, were very rare, but breakdowns and collisions were becoming a problem with the increased coastal traffic.

The MANUEL JASPER had been out on rescue twice in the last three months and her Captain, Andrew Bates, had been cited by the Coast Guard for excellence in life saving at sea.

Keith was the bus driver on the DAVID and he had gained an excellent reputation for the company for on-time delivery. Art Dempsey, his Chief Engineer had told Peter that the man was "Hell of Wheels" but, when Peter asked him if he wanted a transfer, Art got a look of horror on his face and replied, "Not only NO, but HELL NO!"

Peter figured it must be peculiar to the large tugs, Manuel Jasper was the Chief Engineer on the MANUEL JASPER and, when he had mentioned the possibility of a transfer to Manuel, he got red in the face and refused to even discuss the matter!

As big as Manuel is, Peter decided that he ought not bring that subject up again, EVER! The Giant Redwood Trees and Manuel Jasper have a great deal in common!

Things were beginning to settle down when a telephone call from the Transportation Officer at Oakland Army Terminal woke everyone up at Bates Marine, they had two priority pulls of twenty barges each that had to go NOW!

Johnnie got ahold of Peter right away and Peter immediately called Andrew and Keith and they started laying plans. The cargoes were both destined for Saigon and they were going to be very heavy, mostly ammunition and large, wheeled guns.

Keith had the bright idea that they should go over to the terminal and inspect the barges and their loads before their tugs arrived. Peter thought it was a good idea and the three of them made an appointment with the Transportation Officer to inspect the barges. The two Captains left their Chief Engineers to get the ships ready to sail, both held Master's papers as well as those for Chief Engineer, so they were well qualified.

Peter and the two Captains arrived mid-morning of the next day and they spent several hours inspecting the loads. The waterfront crews at the Terminal were now well acquainted with Bates Marine requirements for the loading of cargo barges, so they found only one barge that required minor adjustment of the load.

It was usual practice for the Terminal to line the barges up along the seawall and assist the tug crews in running the tow wires from barge to barge. Of course, the tug crew would thoroughly inspect the tow wires before they ever put a strain on the pull as they were ultimately responsible, regardless of who ran the wires.

It was going to be a big day, with forty barges departing at the same time! It was Bates practice to have the ammunition on the tail end of the pull, as far away from the tug as possible. Everything appeared to be correct and the two Captains signed off on the loads, final acceptance would be the next day when they made up the pull.

As dawn was breaking, The MANUEL JASPER and The DAVID got underway for the Oakland Army Terminal. They found their barges all lined up as the Transportation Officer had promised and, after checking the barge-to-barge tow wires, The DAVID backed down and the crew dropped their own tow wire on the lead barge and snugged it up.

Keith was on the bridge and, as soon as the First Mate waved his hand in the air, Keith started inching the DAVID forward to take up any slack in the tow wires. As soon as it came up taut, he began easing the load away from the pier so his brother, Andrew, could take up the next tow.

He stayed at slow until he saw the MANUEL JASPER begin to pull away from the pier, then he turned and headed for the Golden Gate. As was their usual practice when sailing together, Andrew and Keith had agreed to stay within radar contact with each other for the entire trip to Saigon.

They hit the Great Circle route and settled down, adjusting their speed only to stay in contact with each other. Both pulls were incredibly heavy, the engines on both tugs were working hard to maintain the speed they needed for on-time delivery.

It was a boring trip, the weather was fine and the seas were calm. It would be a twenty-day passage to the mouth of the Saigon River.

Meanwhile, Peter was investigating the new port at Houston, Texas. He flew into Houston and rented a car to go over to the Port.

The Port Manager met him at the gate to show him around. He was anxious to get Bates Marine Service to move their homeport to Houston. Bates Marine was the largest tug operator in the western United States.

Peter was impressed with what he saw and, knowing the Vietnam War could not go on much longer, he looked at what the man was showing him with a serious intent of making the change.

The port was dynamic and bustling as ships were loading and unloading in rapid succession. The Barge Terminal had twelve handling bays with overhead cranes for rapid load/unload turnarounds.

There were convenient fueling facilities and the man showed him a building and pier system that would be perfect for their new home. There were contract repair shops nearby and a marked "sortie lane" for emergency egress for any tug going out on a rescue run.

He sat down with the Port Manager, Davis Tallhorn, and by the time Peter needed to go to catch his plane, he had a contract in his pocket, ready to be signed.

He wanted Thomas Bates to go over the contract for any legal problems before he signed it.

Peter was excited by all the new possibilities that would be opened up if they moved their homeport to Houston and there was not a single tug there now that was in the same class as their, soon to be, three large tugs.

He figured that, as long as the war in Viet Nam remained, he would have to leave at least one of the large tugs in San Francisco, but he still had the DAVID, the MANUEL JASPER and the one that was currently being constructed to cover San Francisco. He just felt the move was right for them, he hoped everyone else would agree.

Meanwhile, Andrew and Keith had arrived at the mouth of the Saigon River and were waiting for pilots to take them upriver to Saigon. They did not have to wait long, both brothers spoke Vietnamese and Chinese and they did not like what they overheard the two pilots were saying. In a coded conversation over the ship to ship, Andrew warned Keith to be on "his toes", that these guys were up to "something"!

Several times, Andrew had to countermand the pilot's instructions, had the helmsman done what the pilot said, they would have been imbedded in a mud bank, unable to move, and worse, the river would be blocked to all traffic until the mess could be cleared up.

Finally, Andrew sent Boats down to his cabin to get his pistol from out of the top drawer of his desk. Boats slipped Andrew the pistol and he put it in his pocket.

The next time the pilot gave the wrong instruction to the helmsman, Andrew shouted at him in Vietnamese and pulled out his pistol, telling the man to raise his hands.

He told the Mate to call The DAVID and warn Keith.

Both tugs arrived in Saigon with the pilots in handcuffs, screaming and shouting everything foul at both Captains. It turned out, they were not pilots at all, but Viet Cong operatives who had killed the two pilots and taken their places.

Both Andrew and Keith were as nervous as a worm in an aviary all during their stay in Saigon. They dropped their barges and took up the empties before departing the next morning.

Neither brother left their bridge until they had dropped off the return pilot and they were over the horizon from the Vietnamese coast.

They were running empty barges as far as Honolulu, where they would drop them off. Johnnie had a pull for both of them out of Honolulu to Long Beach and he promised a pull to get them home from there.

Peter had spoken to both his sons about his plans to investigate Houston and they were anxious to get home to see what had transpired. They were both in favor of the move, they could see that the San Francisco Bay Area was dying, marine commerce had dropped to almost nothing and the recent upturn had really not improved anything.

They noticed it more than their Dad did because they spent time in the busy ports of the Far East, where everything was bustling at high speed.

The two huge tugs pulled in to Honolulu and dropped off their empty Army barges and exchanged them for sixteen barges of liquid sugar for delivery to Los Angeles.

Keith was up on the bridge, enjoying the warm tropical sunshine while his crew was making up the tow. Boats came up to him and said quietly, "Cap'n, I thinks we's gotta problem down below."

That got Keith's immediate attention and he asked, "What kind of problem?"

Boats replied, "We's gots a stowaway. He be hidin' in the Fire Locker. I thinks it's a young boy, Sir. He done been with us since Saigon"

Keith said, "Well, let's go find him, but don't scare the kid, 'I'll bet he is scared silly right now."

The two men walked quietly down to the Fire Locker and carefully opened the door. There, hiding behind a row of fire hoses was a young oriental boy who couldn't have been more that thirteen or fourteen years old and was obviously starving!"

Keith leaned down and spoke to the boy in Vietnamese, "Are you hurt? Can we help you?" He opened his arms to the child and the boy began crying.

The child replied, "Me spek Engli, me call Chai Tong."

The child cowered away from Keith and screamed, "No hit, plis, no me hurt!"

Keith replied, "We will not hurt you and nobody will hit you. Are you hungry?"

The child said, "Yis, me got hunger, yus me fed?"

Keith got his arms around the small boy and picked him up, he was sure the child weighed no more than fifty pounds and he could feel all of the boy's ribs through his own shirt. All the child had on was pair of dirty shorts and some plastic beach shoes.

Keith carried the child up to the mess and hollered for Cookie to get some food "out here" Damned Quick!

Cookie looked through the pass-thru and saw what had his Captain so upset, he hurried to put together some scrambled eggs, toast and a large glass of fresh milk. He slathered the toast with butter and strawberry jam before rushing out to the table. He had been this route before!

The child looked at the food but did not touch it. Keith picked up a spoon and ate some of the eggs, then he refilled the spoon and placed the handle in the child's hand. The boy tentatively brought the eggs to his face and smelled them before gulping the whole spoonful down, nearly swallowing the spoon!

In seconds, the plate was empty and the last of the milk went gurgling down the boy's throat. The boy had a happy smile and looked up at Keith, "Plis, mor eat me?"

After the boy had eaten his fill, he told them he had escaped from the orphanage in Saigon, all the boys there were Vietnamese and they picked on the smaller boy and hurt him. He said by way of explanation, "Me Chinie boy."

Keith asked, "Where did they hurt you?" Chai Tong pointed to his bottom and said, "Mik bled me!"

That was about all Keith could handle, he rushed the boy down to the First Aid Room and bathed him thoroughly before checking him over for cuts and bruises. His anus was terribly bruised and discolored, but it was no longer bleeding. There was dried blood on the boy's shorts, which were so disgusting that Keith just tossed them in the trash.

The Mess Attendant was only slightly larger than Chai, and he volunteered some trousers and a shirt for the boy. Everyone on the ship treated the child with kindness, but it was Keith who he was attached to. Wherever Keith went, there also was Chai Tong. Keith fixed the boy a cot in his stateroom, but, more often than not, when Keith awakened, Chai was snuggled up to him and sleeping soundly.

Keith spoke with his brother, Andrew, on the Ship to Ship, asking advice on what to do. Andrew chuckled and told him, "Looks like I got me a nephew, bro!"

Keith had not really considered that, but, the more he thought about it, the better it settled on him. By the time they got to Los Angeles, Keith had decided, he went out to the telephone on the pier and placed a telephone call to two people, his Grandfather, Thomas Bates and to his own Father, Peter Van. Peter told Keith not to say any word about the boy on the radio and Thomas told him he would get to work on it right away.

Keith tried to make Chai understand what was going on, but the boy did not seem to understand what Keith was trying to say to him. Keith finally gave up and just enjoyed Chai's presence. That night, it all came clear to him, Chai crawled up into Keith's bed and wrapped his thin little arms around him and mumbled, "Papa, Papa" before he drifted off to sleep.

Johnnie had gotten them a pull from Los Angeles, six barges of rolls of newsprint for delivery to the San Francisco Examiner and five barges of iron castings destined for the Enterprise Engine Works near Hunter's Point in San Francisco. Keith took up the newsprint pull and Andrew accepted the iron castings, since they both loaded at the same time, they agreed to sail together and three days later they were dropping off their tows and headed for home.

It had been a long trip and Keith was on "pins and needles" about Chai. When he swung the DAVID around and moored her starboard side to, he spotted both his Grandfather and his Papa standing on the pier. He pointed them out to Chai and told him who they were.

There was no question in his mind that Chai was going to be safe with him. His trust was well placed, Thomas had bent a few arms and called in a few favors and Chai's adoption papers were in his hand, ready to hand to Keith.

Chai was very shy around the two new men, that is, until Peter leaned down and picked the boy up, giving him a kiss on his forehead and saying in Chai's own language, "Good Morning, Grandson!"

Keith was surprised and said, "Dad, I didn't know you spoke Chinese."

Peter replied, "I don't, but I just had to learn that much so I could greet my new grandson!"

Andrew was standing there laughing and said, "Well, now I guess it is up to me to make us a complete set!"

The two Captains set their crews to cleaning up the tugs and refueling them, just to be ready in case of an emergency. Once they saw the works started, Peter said, "Guys, we got some business to talk about."

They all headed for the office and Thomas pulled out a stack of papers. Chai sat on the floor, just watching everyone interact with each other, Peter noticed a look of longing on the boy's face and motioned for him to come over and sit in his lap.

Chai climbed up into Peter's lap and promptly fell asleep. Peter was hooked, if he had not been before that, he surely was now, he was so happy you could have sold him square bowling balls and he would not have cared!

They discussed all the pros and cons of moving their homeport to Houston and, when Peter told them about the nearby repair facility; that sold it for both Keith and Andrew.

It was decided that Andrew and his MANUEL JASPER would lead the THOMAS, PETER, TERRY, and the CARSON right away and get their new home set up. Charlie was to be named San Francisco Resident Manager and Johnnie would become their Business Agent in Houston. Charlie was happy with that, he was getting along in years and was happy to be able to slow down a bit.

As soon as the Houston Facility was up and running, Keith would follow with the DAVID and the HELEN, the MARTHA and the ANDREW would tag along. The new JOHNNIE would stay in San Francisco along with the KEITH to handle pulls and any emergencies on the West Coast.

The local unions put up an immediate uproar, but there were no lienholders on any of their ships that the unions could lean on, so, it was a "done deal".

Andrew departed two days later with a string of tugs like little ducklings, following him as they streamed out under the Golden Gate and headed south for the Panama Canal.

Peter and Keith laughed at the self-righteous editorials and lambasting headlines in the local newspapers.

Keith had taken a couple of days off to acquaint Chai with his new home and Martha, Peter's Mother fell in love with the boy and discovered the young teen was a pretty good cook. Chinese delicacies began appearing on the Van dining table and Thomas and Helen managed to wrangle an invite for supper and went away singing Chai's praises.

Within a few weeks, Chai's frail body began to fill out and Martha needed to buy new clothes for him as his beltline increased as well as his trousers becoming "high water"!

He picked up English rapidly and Keith hired a tutor for him and, by the time they were ready to move to Houston, Chai was ready for Junior High School.

Keith invited his Grandmother and Peter to ride The DAVID as passengers for the trip to Houston, Martha had sold their house and cut all her ties with the Bay Area and looked forward to the trip. Chai got together with Cookie and they laid in a supply they purchased at the local oriental market. The folks on The DAVID were going to eat good on their way to Houston.

Johnnie had departed with Andrew earlier and was already set up in Houston.

Andrew was singing praises of Houston every time he called in and Keith was getting antsy to get going. At last they closed out the last of their long term towing contracts and, as the month of July of 1967 began to close they took delivery on their newest tug, The JOHNNIE. It was to be their flagship of their reduced San Francisco Fleet.

They were kind of sad, San Francisco had been home to them all since the beginning, but the business just wasn't there anymore and the unions were threatening work rules that would have made it impossible to use the large tugs on anything other than rescues.

The new tug was everything they had ever wanted in a large ocean tug, it had power to spare and was any tug captain's dream. Keith was sorely tempted to stay in San Francisco and let Bob Way have his DAVID. As it was, Robert Way was announced as the Captain of the new tug and he proudly brought it home from the builder's.

The San Francisco Examiner newspaper refused to carry the story, but the other news media made The JOHNNIE a big splash, especially when they learned who the tug had been named for. A lost boy brought to safety and given a chance to make good. The story made good copy and was picked up by newspapers across the country, so much so that Johnnie had to take to answering the telephone as John Bates, rather than Johnnie Bates!

Moving day arrived almost before Keith was ready, he gathered up his family members and Peter decided to ride with them. He had returned to oversee the final part of the move and he was anxious to return to Houston.

The DAVID and the HELEN, the MARTHA and the ANDREW tagging along behind as they made quite a flotilla heading for the Golden Gate.

The DAVID sailed sedately south along the coast, with her little ducklings tagging along behind. Without a pull, the tugs made good time and two weeks later they were off the coast of Panama, waiting for their turn to go through the canal.

They got split up going through the locks but everyone made it through and they reclaimed their "fleet" status as they emerged into the Caribbean.

From there, it was a short run up to Houston and they slipped into the Houston Ship Channel just ahead of a storm that was threatening to become a hurricane.

It did!

Andrew was waiting for them, anxious to show off their new home. The office complex was huge, it was three stories and the ground floor was already set up as a Dispatcher's Office. They had hired new three clerks to handle the dispatching and order-taking.

Charlie was there, temporarily, he claimed, to help set up the business office. The top floor was set up as sleeping quarters for those on call duty and the middle floor was for corporate offices and a training center.

The front of the building looked out on their waterfront where there was sufficient room for twenty tugs, if the need arose. It did not look like they would outgrow their new home any time soon.

Over the next several days, Keith noticed the increased tempo of their business, a tug hardly ever spent more than overnight at the pier. The MANUEL JASPER and The DAVID were constantly on the move, these new tugs were what the oil folks were praying for. A single tug that could move an entire Texas Tower and need the smaller tugs only for steering!

They had been there hardly a week when both Keith and Andrew were having to think about another new tug! They were so delighted with The JOHNNIE that they let a contract with Texas Shipbuilding to build a second tug, just like The JOHNNIE.

When Andrew asked Keith if he wanted to call the new tug the CHAI, he agreed immediately. They decided not to tell the young teen about the new ship and its name until it was time for launching.

Let us hope they are not biting off more than they can chew!