High Seas: Ocean Tow Boats

Peter and Carson got tickets to Rotterdam and they flew out of San Francisco the next morning for an exhausting flight across the country and over to Europe. After two days in that damned airplane, both men were ready for solid land. Their factor met them at the airport and ushered them through customs before taking them to the hotel for a good night's sleep.

Peter Van and Carson Bates arrived in Rotterdam as the sun was rising on the third day of their trip. Both men were exhausted as neither had been able to sleep on the planes. They passed through Immigration and collected their luggage before riding in their factor's cab to their hotel.

When they checked in, there was a teletype message from Charlie that contained their Bidder's number and the receipt number of the bidder's fee of $20,000 that he had wired to the Dutch Government.

They got to their room and twenty minutes later they were both dead to the world in sleep. They awoke in time for a late lunch before they went over to the pier where the auction was to take place.

There was an English translation of the Notice of Sale posted on the door of the office, they noticed that they and only two others had filed to bid on the Salvage Tug, The two other bidders were both from Southeast Asia, one from Malaysia and the other from Singapore. In the fine print at the bottom of the notice was a statement that the bid permit from Singapore was conditional until the Bidder's Fee was received from the bidder.

The auction was to be held the next day, so they walked over to the pier where the ship was berthed and asked permission to inspect the vessel. They showed the official the receipt for their Bidder's Fee payment and, after several telephone calls, permission was granted for them to go on board the vessel.

They spent several hours going over the entire ship and both men were impressed with the ship and its design, they were becoming determined that they would bid high to ensure they won the auction. Peter asked Carson, "Ya' got a name for her yet?"

Carson laughed and replied, "Yeah, I do, how about The MANUEL JASPER, Jasper?"

Peter chuckled, "Yup, a salvage ship named for a salvaged boy!"

They spent the rest of the day acting as tourists before returning to their hotel for a solid meal and a good night's sleep.

They were up bright and early the next day and made themselves ready for the auction that was to begin at 10:00 am. When they arrived at the Sale Manager's office, they were told that the bidders had been reduced to two, the bidder from Singapore had backed out of the sale.

At 10 am sharp, the auctioneer rapped his gavel and the bidding began, in less than 20 minutes, Carson was signing a bank draft for $160,000, they had won out against the bidder from Indonesia by a margin of $5,000. For $160,000 they had purchased a ship that was worth several million dollars and, now they had to figure a way to get it home.

They were being charged $1,000 per day for the ship to remain tied up at the pier. They wired Charlie and told him to grab two crews of whatever of their tugs were in port and send them to Rotterdam immediately.

The crews off The TERRY and The KEITH were available and had departed at 9:00 AM that morning from San Francisco Airport. So, it was a waiting game until the crews got there. They both relaxed a bit and wandered about their new ship, poking into lockers and storerooms.

Peter was interested in the bridge and the navigation equipment and Carson spent several hours in the Engine Room. It was getting dark before they came back down the Gangway, they had forgotten about lunch in their interest in the new ship.

They were gratified to learn that the ship had recently been through overhaul and all its inspection certificates were up to date, they had collected all the certificates and registration for the ship and they would go down the next day to the American Consulate and get The MANUEL JASPER registered with the ABS (American Bureau of Shipping) and the U S Coast Guard. It could all be handled through the Consulate and the fees for transiting the Panama Canal and docking in American ports on the way home would be much less.

That evening, their crews arrived, as dead tired as they had been after that long flight. Despite their fatigue, the crews wanted to at least go by the MANUEL JASPER before they headed for their rooms in the hotel. Being all tug boaters, they marveled at the size of their new ship and began asking all sorts of questions about the MANUEL JASPER.

Carson held up his hands and said, "Tomorrow, you all go aboard her and see for yourselves what you are going to have to contend with on the way home." After a light supper, everyone folded and slept like stones all through the night.

They checked out of their hotel and they all caravanned in taxis down to the waterfront where The MANUEL JASPER was berthed.

Slowly, their prize began to come awake, they first built up starting air pressure using shore power from the pier. As soon as they had air pressure, they rolled one of the three-five hundred KW generators. As soon as the generator was stable, they paralleled it with the shore power, they were going to have to remember that their new ship was built for 50 cycles rather than the American standard of 60 cycles.

That would require them to always be sure to have sufficient high-pressure air in the bottles to start a generator while they were at their home pier.

Once they had electric power, they began starting up all the machinery that made the MANUEL JASPER what she was. The last to be started were the two main engines, they were six cylinder Gotavoerken Diesel Engines. Each engine was on its own propeller shaft through a hydraulic coupling. That allowed the ship almost infinite control over the speed of the screws.

The oilers started up the donkey boiler to get some heat on the ship and the Oil King (a member of the engineering crew who has the responsibility over the fuel oil tanks and pumps and, on most vessels, the water tanks as well.) reported that the fueling barge was alongside. He filled all the fuel oil tanks in preparation to getting underway. The last to be filled were the water tanks and he would do that just before they sailed.

All the engineering machinery checked out and then they started testing the deck machinery. The winches, swing booms windlasses and the anchor windlass all tested perfectly. Delivery trucks arrived with food supplies, new linens, bedding and all the miscellaneous things that are needed to live on top of the water.

Down in the engine room, they tested the small distiller evaporator, the other two generators, all the pumps and emergency equipment. Much of it was brand new or had just been overhauled.

By dark, they were ready to sail, Carson was going to act as Captain and Peter would be the Chief Engineer for the voyage home. Carson made the decision to delay departure until the next day, in the daylight to sail out of a strange harbor. They all spent the night on board, after cook had outdone himself with their supper, topped off with fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream.

The entire crew groaned half the night from the effects of overeating!

The next morning, a second generator was started up and the main engines came on with a belch of smoke out the stack, they tested the hydraulic system for both forward and astern directions and then dumped the hydraulic oil until the bridge began ordering direction and speed. (Author's Note: Bridge controls at this time were not yet in common use)

Peter was down in the engine room overseeing the operation and Carson was on the bridge, waiting for clearance to sail from the Harbor Master.

The ship to shore came alive with their permission to sail and Carson ordered all the mooring lines singled up. He eased the stern away from the pier and then ordered the forward lines taken in as he carefully backed The MANUEL JASPER out, into the harbor. In mid-pool, he ordered BOTH AHEAD SLOW and they began to make way as they headed for the open sea.

As they passed the Harbor Master's Tower, Carson gave a blast on the ship's air horn in a courtesy "Thank you".

They had been berthed at Delshaven and they would have to negotiate the canal that led to the North Sea. They would then pass through the English Channel before entering the North Atlantic for their voyage to the Caribbean.

He had plotted his course to steam at the ship's most economical speed of 12 knots. He figured it would be fifteen days to the Panama Canal.

They hit rough weather in the mid-Atlantic that lasted until they had passed Bermuda. The MANUEL JASPER rode steady as a rock all through the turbulent weather, her deep draft kept her steady, with very little roll, her keel was twenty feet below the waterline.

They had plenty of fuel and the little distiller was keeping up with the freshwater usage, so Carson made no plans to stop at any port until they reached the eastern terminus of the Panama Canal, and then only if they needed fresh water.

They arrived at Colon and joined the lineup of vessels waiting their turn to pass through the Canal, it was a four-day wait before they were allowed to pass into the Gatún Locks. They were able to make the crossing in a single turn and they passed out of the last lock on the Pacific side just as the direction was turning.

The voyage north along the Pacific Coast was uneventful, the weather was good and the prospect of HOME was leading them all along.

The new ship had performed faultlessly and there were already more applicants for membership in The MANUEL JASPER's crew than there were berths. The only two crewmembers Carson and Peter had decided firmly on were Keith as Third Engineer and Andrew as Third Mate, all other positions were up for grabs.

They would, of course, have to partner with the unions to fill many of the positions, but The MANUEL JASPER was the largest and most powerful tug boat on the Pacific Coast and no other tug in the entire Pacific could do what she could do!

They finally crossed the Humboldt Current and entered the Golden Gate, as they approached their home pier there were three tug boats, all Bates Marine Services, lined up, spraying their fire nozzles into the bright sunshine, making a rainbow of colors in the falling water. As they passed the tugs, each bellowed out its welcome home in its horn and their families were lined up on the pier in greeting. Carson guided the MANUEL JASPER up to the pier and, when he rang down, "FINISHED WITH ENGINES", he let out a blast on the MANUEL JASPER's air horn that could be heard reverberating against the Berkley Hills!

The San Francisco Examiner Newspaper ran a front page spread with the MANUEL JASPER as she tied up to Bates Marine Services pier with the headline, "GIANT TUG BOAT MAKES IT HOME ON SAN FRANCISCO BAY"! Little did they know that, in the near future, that newspaper would turn on them in condemnation and hate!

Carson could figure no way he could justify leaving his desk and becoming Captain of the MANUEL JASPER, so that left only Peter who had large ship experience. It was even difficult for Peter to assume command, the business was taking them both to keep it going. Fortunately, the MANUEL JASPER was not at sea every day, so Peter could lend a hand to Carson in managing the company.

Graduation at the Academy was upon them and Carson was asked to speak at commencement. War was looming on their horizon, the Korean Peninsula was aflame in bullets and there was talk of sending in the United States Marines.

Andrew and Keith were in the Class of 1949 and Graduation was set for August 20th. Carson spoke for nearly twenty minutes on the needs of the American Merchant Marine and what it was going to take should the country again go to war. He touched briefly about the need for tug boats and he reflected upon what might happen should there be a disaster that required the MANUEL JASPER.

Most of the senior class had already toured the MANUEL JASPER and there were several that were drooling over the possibility that there would be two crews for the ship. In fact, Carson and Peter had discussed that very need, and had decided to double crew the ship.

Carson, of course, would be the second crew Master, but all the other positions were up for grabs. As Carson concluded his speech, he announced the formation of a second crew for the MANUEL JASPER and he was inundated by newly made Third Mates and Third Assistant Engineers! He held up his hands in surrender and told them all to be down at their terminal Monday morning to sign up. He and Peter shuddered at the thought of being mobbed the next Monday morning! They were!

The MANUEL JASPER required a crew of twenty to sail the ship and not all the positions were operating personnel. There was a cook and his helper and several room stewards to keep the place clean.

They had a temporary Marconi operator coming home from Holland and he had departed as soon as the ship had docked at Bates Marine. Both Carson and Peter felt they needed two Marconi operators whenever the ship was at sea and, they could not wait while Marconi located two operators in the case of an emergency, so they requested they be put on the payroll permanently.

Business began to return to normal. The MANUEL JASPER went on several runs that required her tremendous horsepower, otherwise she sat, tied up to the pier in almost instant readiness.

Peter did all he could to reduce the load on Carson and their business was booming. They purchased several more tug boats. Several were harbor tugs, the first such tugs they had ever used, and two more ocean tugs were added to the Ocean Fleet. The SHIRLEY, named for Peter's sister and the CAROLYNN, named for Carson's Aunt, were added to the Ocean Fleet.

The Ocean tugs were hardly ever in port, the rumors of war had spurred marine sailings and the barge traffic up and down the West Coast. The sea lanes almost needed traffic signals!

Winter passed into spring of 1950 and the saber rattling became loud and frightening. On June 25th, North Korea and China invaded South Korea and the war was on.

Two days later, troop ships were ferrying troops to the Far East and Bates Marine Services received orders to supply six ocean tugs to haul barges of weapons, ammunition, vehicles and supplies to the Korean Peninsula. They applied for draft deferments for all their young crewmembers. By force of necessity, the deferments were granted.

They decided to use the MANUEL JASPER to haul a pull of sixteen heavily laden barges to Korea. Peter assembled his crew and they collected their pull off Goat Island in San Francisco Bay. As Peter eased the huge tug ahead, taking up the slack in the long, double line of barges, the whole ship could hear the main engines take up the strain. The whole ship throbbed with each thundering explosion in the cylinders. It got so they didn't hear each cylinder fire, they felt its concussion!

Peter brought the speed up to 22 turns on each shaft as they crossed the bay, the newspapers had gotten a picture as they passed Alcatraz Island and the headlines read, "LARGEST TUG PULL EVER ASSEMBLED ON THE WEST COAST".

They passed out through the Golden Gate, headed for the Great Circle Route. The engines' thunder increased as Peter ordered the turns increased until, at 85 turns, they felt the thunder more than they heard it! At 85 turns, each of the six cylinders on the engines were running at maximum exhaust temperature, they were getting all that their engines had to give.

Jackson McLeish, a displaced Scot from the last war, was Chief Engineer and he had taken a particular liking to Keith Bates, his Third Assistant Engineer. He understood the relationship between Keith and their Captain, but it didn't bother him a bit, he had a son at home whom he had rescued fifteen years earlier from a dreadful situation and that son was entering the Freshman Class at the Academy in just a few days!

Chief McLeish took Keith under his wing, but he soon discovered that the young engineer was a star in his own right. He knew that power plant upside and downside and every time Keith was on watch, those engines sang, he squeezed out every last drop of thrust they could produce on the screws.

Whenever there was an equipment failure on Keith's watch, Keith had it either repaired or nearly so before Chief McLeish could get down to the Engine room!

Whenever the Chief sang Keith's praises to Peter, Peter just smiled and walked off with an ear-to-ear grin on his face. He had already learned what his son was capable of and he sure didn't mind hearing others sing the boy's praises!

They made good time crossing the Pacific, the war news was all bad and the Communists had crossed the border and were charging south towards Seoul, the capital. By the time the pull neared the Korean Peninsula, only the port of Pusan remained open to them.

They hit the breakwater three weeks after they had sailed, the American troops had been pushed backwards nearly the whole length of the peninsula and they were desperate for the goods and supplies on the barges being pulled by The MANUEL JASPER.

As the small harbor tugs nosed each barge up to the pier, American Soldiers and Marines unloaded them and they were gone before the next load even began arriving on the pier.

Barges were in short supply, so, as soon as they were unloaded, The MANUEL JASPER and her crew lined them up and they headed back for another load. The huge tug could handle as much as four standard ocean tugs could pull and she was the only one available!

Carson and Peter rotated each other along with their crews, Peter began looking forward for the MANUEL JASPER to come home so he could get away from that damned desk!

Carson only laughed at him.

The MANUEL JASPER could pull such a huge load, she was kept busy the entire period of war in Korea!

Both Andrew and Keith sat for their Seconds' License as soon as they had sufficient time on their Thirds' and both passed it on the first attempt.

In January of 1953 the war had moved sufficiently north they could use the port of Pohang and four barges at a time could be unloaded while moored at the pier.

They were making up the pull for the return voyage home and Second Mate Andrew Bates was in charge of the fantail. He looked up and spotted a small figure huddled on the closest of the barges, at first, he thought it was a dog and then, it stood up. It was a Child!

He directed the AB to pull in the tow wire and bring the barge up close to the fantail. When the AB had it as close as he could, Andrew jumped from the fantail to the deck of the barge and he found a small child huddled in the shelter of the forward lip of the barge.

He gathered the child up and headed back to the MANUEL JASPER, sending the AB (Able Bodied Seaman) for the Captain.

It was Carson's rotation and, when the AB reported to him on the bridge in a breathless voice, he had run all the way from the fantail, up the several ladders and into the bridge, "sssSSir, child, sssecond mate, cccccome qquick!"

Carson wasted no time, he turned the bridge over to the First Mate, and followed the AB as he raced back to the fantail. He found Andrew in the Bosun's Locker, wrapping a small child in clean dry rags.

The child was a boy and could not have been more than five years old. He was shaking and shivering so hard, Andrew could hardly keep hold of him.

Carson was amazed, the child was a Caucasian! They found out later the child's parents had been Missionaries and had been murdered by the Communists.

He had been living on the streets and his parents had always told him that if he ever saw the American Flag, that was a place of safety. He had seen the American Flag on the halyard of the MANUEL JASPER and he had slipped onto the barge, hoping to make his way to the big boat.

Carson called the Third Mate to take charge of the fantail and he and Andrew carried the child up to the mess where they could warm him up and get some food into him. He told them his name was Davey Thomas and his Mommie and Daddy had been killed by the northern soldiers with red stars on their hats.

There was no question for Andrew, he had been there and done that as a small child himself, without asking permission, he carried the boy into his stateroom and laid him on his bed, covered in warm blankets. He stepped out of his stateroom, ready to do battle with his own father, but Carson was smiling and said, "OK, son, you and Keith can take care of the boy, at least until we get back home."

Andrew, replied, "Nope, Pop, he goes with us when we get home, he is ours to care for!"

Keith was already inside the stateroom and he stepped out, holding his brother's shoulder and said, "Me too, Pop, he is gonna be a Bates Boy and me and my Bro are gonna raise him up right!"

The matter was not settled until they returned home and Peter sided with their sons!

On the return voyage back to San Francisco Bay, little Davey became a favorite of the crew and, by the time they reached their home pier, his sunken stomach and pipe-stem arms and legs had filled out.

His cheeks had a rosy color of health to them and the little beggar could talk any crew member out of his cookies or cake dessert at supper!

As they were sailing across the Pacific on their return, Carson sent a Marconi to Peter to get the lawyer busy for a new boy. When the MANUEL JASPER tied up at Bates Pier, Peter, the lawyer and a representative of Social Services were waiting for them, with papers in their hands to be signed by both Andrew and Keith as they were to have joint custody of young David Thomas Bates as his two older brothers.

Little Davey went on many voyages with his older brothers and, he, in his turn, became an entering Freshman at the Academy and would major in Marine Engineering!

The Korean War sputtered to an end shortly after their return, but that did not diminish the freight barge traffic between the United States and South Korea. The next several years saw them in continuous transit hauling as many barges as their ships could handle.

The MANUEL JASPER was paid for and Peter and Carson agreed to commission a new Ocean Tug even larger than The MANUEL JASPER, it would be completed by Bethlehem Shipyard in 1958 and would be named The DAVID!

TBC

Peter and Carson are getting a little too old to be chasing across the oceans and they will be forced to learn to like commanding a desk as Keith and Andrew begin to take up the reins of management.