High Seas: Ocean Tow Boats

When it came time for the Hamiltons to go to Austin, tears were flowing like Niagara Falls. So, Jim relented and allowed Jimmie to remain in Houston. He left money with Keith so that Jimmie could be enrolled in Higgins Academy along with Chai. It would not be very long before Professor James Hamilton took a teaching position at Texas A&M Campus in Galveston. When they finally thought it safe, all the boys returned to Higgins Academy Campus and all three boys led their teachers on a merry chase, one of their instructors mentioned at a parent/teacher conference the he felt like he had run in a marathon each day, just trying to stay ahead of those three boys!

Jimmie, Chai and Chico all applied for admission to the Merchant Marine Academy at Galveston and all three were granted admission. Their classes were to begin in August and there would be a two week acclimatizing period before regular classes would begin. They were told to come prepared for HELL WEEK!

All three boys had filled out and had been accused, only in half-jest, of being related to BIG-FOOT! They wore a size sixteen shoe, and all three had to have their shirts custom made, store bought shirts only lasted them a couple of days, if that long!

Professor Hamilton, Andrew and Keith were all watching as their boys were sworn in as Cadets of Texas A & M. They had no trouble spotting their sons in the ranks of new Cadets as they were all head and shoulders above their fellow Cadets.

Both Keith and Andrew were graduates of a similar college in California and they were snickering, wondering if any upperclassmen were brave enough to brace any one of those three, or in some horrific mistake, all three of them at the same time!

Andrew couldn't help himself, the thought of chickens being plucked went through his mind and he started to giggle. When Keith asked what was so funny, Andrew told him and they both had the giggles until after the ceremony had been completed.

Both Chico and Chai had handled drunken merchant sailors, angry bargemen and dock thugs bent on robbery. Neither had come out second best and they had taught Jimmie all they know about dock fighting!

Inside two weeks, they were Sasquatch 1 and Sasquatch 2, names they would carry for the next four years! Jimmie would be named BIG FOOT, his shoe size had graduated to size 17 shoes! They looked fine on him, but, as their classmates said, "On anyone else, they looked like they needed oars!"

They might be huge hunks and wonderful athletes, but it was scholarship where they really stood out. In the first six weeks they had established themselves as number one, two or three in their class. The three boys traded around the first three places, but every grading period they occupied those first three places. It didn't hurt that all three had their Coast Guard Documents as ABs (Able Bodied Seamen) from working on Bates Marine tugs.

The MANUEL JASPER was out on tow under the command of Captain Jeff Tillotson with Chief Engineer Billy Grouse. They had just dropped their tow at Playa del Carmen in the Yucatan and they were headed across the channel to San Miguel on Isla de Cozumel when the scream of "FIRE" came out of the ship to ship speakers.

They heard, "This is CRUISE SHIP GOLDEN LADY, we are twenty miles north of Isla de Cozumel, we are on fire and our engine room is dead., any ship respond, any ship PLEASE respond, we have eighteen hundred passengers on board!"

Jeff picked up the microphone and replied, "GOLDEN LADY, GOLDEN LADY, THIS IS BATES MARINE HEAVY TUG, THE MANUEL JASPER. I HAVE FIRE FIGHTING CAPABILITY AND I CAN BE TO YOUR LOCATION IN FIFTY MINUTES, OVER"

The reply was almost instantaneous, "TUG MANUEL JASPER, TUG MANUEL JASPER, THIS IS GOLDEN LADY, YOU ARE ONLY THE SHIP IN THIS AREA, PLEASE ASSIST US, THE FIRE IS GETTING WORSE AND WE CANNOT CONTROL IT. ALL OF OUR FIRE PUMPS ARE DEAD NOW."

Jeff rang down BOTH AHEAD EMERGENCY and The MANUEL JASPER'S engines began to howl in protest as their governors maxed out. It was a race against time and Jeff had no intention of losing that race!

The MANUEL JASPER surged forward, her huge screws thrashing in the water as they tried pushing the heavy tug faster.

In what seemed like forever, a large white cruise ship came up over the horizon, flames and smoke were billowing out from amidships and there was a bevy of small tugs, apparently out of the small port of Cozumel, taking off passengers by ladder.

Jeff called down to Billy to start all four fire pumps and he sent all available deck seamen to the fire nozzles up on the boom masts.

Billy called up to the bridge and reported all four pumps were on line at one-hundred-fifty pounds pressure.

Jeff swung The MANUEL JASPER around to come up on the windward side of the cruise ship and, without orders, the men manning the nozzles opened their valves and began playing the streams of water over the burning ship.

There was a tremendous explosion from the engine room area and fire and molten globs of steel were thrown into the air.

They heard the emergency speakers on the GOLDEN LADY announce, "ABANDON SHIP, ABANDON SHIP"

They could see the life boats being lowered to the boat deck and people were getting in the boats. The MANUEL JASPER continued to spray water on the burning ship in hopes of giving passengers and crew more time to get off the ship before it blew.

First Mate Chuck Tarkington got the portable Loud Hailer and went down to the fan tail. He called for all the boats to tie up to The MANUEL JASPER as they had only enough room on board for the injured and burned!

Within ten minutes after the last person had gotten off the burning ship, she began to sink.

By now, there were both Mexican and American Coast Guard Planes circling the area and, shortly after the GOLDEN LADY slipped beneath the waves, a small Mexican Naval ship arrived.

They were told to land the passengers at the INTERNATIONAL CRUISE SHIP TERMINAL at Cozumel. Chuck Tarkington stayed down on the fan tail to make sure that no lifeboat lost their line to the MANUEL JASPER. Jeff rang down slow ahead and headed the MANUEL JASPER to Isla de Cozumel and the International Ship Cruise Terminal.

They had ten injured and a few more with serious burns who were being treated on board The MANUEL JASPER. Ambulances came to meet the tug at the pier and they began to ferry the injured and the burned people to the small infirmary on the island.

It was nearly midnight before the last cruise ship passenger was taken from the lifeboats and the boats were tied up to the pier.

The Mexican Navy Incident Commander gave Jeff the cruise company's insurance information and permission for The MANUEL JASPER to depart and return to her original course. They had a pull waiting for them at Puerto Progresso and the Marconi Operator sent a message to the customer telling of their delay. The customer was not pleased, but there was nothing anyone on The MANUEL JASPER could do about it.

They picked up their pull the next day and headed for home, all the barges belonged to Lone Star Cement and Stone Company and they stored their barges in Houston.

Billy had put the evaporator on the line and did his best to keep the water tank full as everyone tried to get the smoke and soot off themselves. When they got home and Jeff was giving his report Peter asked him, "tongue in cheek" if he had been to a bar-b-que, he smelled like charcoal!

Things settled down to just a dull roar and all but one of their tugs were out on pulls.

Jim Hamilton was down from Austin, he had taken a teaching position at A&M and he was down, looking for a house.

The Dean at the Academy had notified them that sixteen Cadets would be arriving the next morning for eight weeks of training on board their tugs. All four of the large tugs were due in sometime in the next two days, so, by the time the Cadets had done the familiarization on The ANDREW, their tugs would be ready for them.

They would all be third year Cadets and would have enough knowledge to handle themselves on a working tugboat and they would all have their Coast Guard Certificates as ABs (Able Bodied Seamen) or Fireman/Water Tenders in the Engine Room.

The Cadets all arrived by bus at 0600 (six am) the next morning, just as The MANUEL JASPER was docking. The Cadets stared at the big tug and one of the girls was heard to say. "My God, no wonder those Bates Boys are so huge! Keith and Andrew heard her comment and couldn't help but chuckle.

They assigned two Deck Cadets and two Engineering Cadets to each tug and had them come into the training room, where Captain Gordon Jeffers and Chief Albert Cone went over operating and safety procedures before they let them crawl all over The ANDREW.

By the end of the day, The PEDRO, The JOHNNIE and The CARSON were tied up at the pier and The CHAI was due in the next morning. The Cadets were quick to pick up on the name of one of the tugs, the CHAI and they asked the significance of the name.

Keith said, "It is named after our son, Chai Bates, if you want any further information, you will have to ask him."

At the end of their training period, when they had returned to school, they did ask Chai how it was his name was on a huge tugboat. He told them the full story and many of the Cadets wondered about the names on some of the other tugs. They looked on the Freshman Cadets Chai Bates, Jimmie Hamilton and Chico Bates with new respect!

A number of the Cadets decided right then that they would be knocking on the door of Bates Marine Services as soon as they could get there from their Graduation Ceremony!

The training program was a great success and all the Captains told Keith and Andrew to hire any of the trainees when they graduated.

There were several more rotations of Cadets for training on the tugs before the end of the school year and, with few exceptions, it was a successful program. Both Keith and Andrew agreed to continue the program. In fact, one of the Cadets asked if working on the tugs could be extended to be part of their Sea Training.

It was something they would have to consider and discuss with the school authorities.

The last training cycle was coming to a close and Cadets Cindy Mayhew and Roger Templeton were on The JOHNNIE with a fast tow to Belem, Brazil. They had ten heavily laden barges of cattle feed in large sea containers. The two Cadets were excited to be included in the trip and they gathered their passports and documents to be able to go. They were the last cadets in that cycle and there was just the two of them.

As huge as the JOHNNIE was, it was a struggle, her engines howled and protested the entire trip south, even with the pitch set at maximum on the screws, the best they could make was eight knots.

The two Cadets were going to be late returning to their classes.

Their pull was destined for Sotave Terminal in Agua Boa and it was a relief to Captain John Carey when they finally arrived. His Chief Engineer, Paul Deems, had been warning him about the awful fuel consumption and that they were going to be forced to refuel before making the return trip.

They dropped their load and headed for the fueling pier before picking up their return load at AgroPalma at Tapana, a little further up river. They remained tied up at the fueling pier overnight and, first thing in the morning, they headed to the customer's pier in Tapana.

AgroPalma had special barges for transporting palm oil and, from the way the barges were sitting deep in the water, John knew it was going to be a tough pull home.

They spent another night at Tapana before departing with seven barges of palm oil. Their speed was hardly better than their southbound trip had been, they were making all of ten knots through the water! They were all praying for calm weather, they didn't need a storm or high winds to contend with.

Four days in to the pull, Cadet Cindy Mayhew, the Deck Trainee, asked to speak with Captain John Carey.

She said, "Sir, I think we have a couple of stowaways down in the Deck Equipment Locker, Sir."

John knew the company policy on stowaways that they were to be brought home and cared for. He accompanied the Cadet down to the Equipment Locker and he carefully opened the door, He did not want to frighten anyone who might be hiding inside.

Huddled in the corner was a young man holding a tiny child in his arms. The young man was clearly frightened and John held his empty hand out in front of him and said carefully, "Son, we are not going to hurt you and, who is that you are holding?"

The young man was manfully trying not to cry, he did his best to answer the Captain's question, "Senhor Capitán, me be José do Tinho. Esta pesoa be mi hiho, er, son, Tomás. We flee mal homes, er bad mens."

He could no longer contains his tears as he tried to continue, "ss ssSS Senhor os mal eer bad mans want Tomás para, er for slav er slave."

The Cadet was in tears as she said, "Captain, we just cannot send them back, Sir!"

John told her, "No, we are not going to send them back, the bosses are very strict about that. Do you know that their sons were discovered just like this boy and his son?"

Cindy replied, "I had heard rumors of that sir, they are Cadets at the Academy right now."

John brought the trembling young man out of the Equipment Locker and led him up to the small passenger cabin just under the bridge."

Cindy asked to hold the child while John helped José get cleaned up a bit.

Then José wanted his son, and he bathed the small child with great tenderness and care, both Cindy and John could see that José cared a great deal for the child.

José looked at John and explained, "Mi esposa está mort, er a dead, j’esta sol mi y Tomás."

John called down to the galley and had a lunch brought up for José and soft foods, like Jello and cereal for Tomás.

As they continued north, José could not understand why they were not being turned over to the authorities and John sat with him to make him understand that he was headed to Estados Unidos dá America.

José looked at him and kept saying, "¿Verdado, verdado?"

John knew very little Portuguese, but he understood that the young father was asking him if he was telling the truth, so he replied, "Sim, es verdád."

That broke the young man down, he sat on the deck of the small cabin and cried. He held his baby son cradled in his arms and said over and over, "America, America, nos vamos á America."

Both José and Tomás were exhausted, so John helped José into the bunk and placed Tom s between him and the bulkhead so the child would not roll out of bed. Both were asleep as John and Cindy slipped out the door and quietly closed it.

Cindy asked, "Is this company policy?"

John smiled and said, "Yup, like I told ya' the boys in the Bates Family have all been rescued as stowaways. It is standing orders to bring'em home!"

When Cindy told her partner, Roger Templeton, about the incident, Roger said, "Yeah, I heard that Freshman Cadet, Chai Bates, tell how he was rescued from Viet Nam and Chico Bates was plucked out of a sinking boat in the Caribbean!"

He shook his head and continued, "They mean what they say, BRING'EM HOME!"

There were two Cadets who had made the decision they WERE going to be Bates Employees, come hell or high water!

Meanwhile, John was carefully composing a radio message to the front office about "extra baggage" discovered in the Deck Equipment Locker. He didn't want to alert the authorities but he did want the "boss" to be aware of what they were bringing him.

The reply came back almost immediately, "Ticket the extra baggage and deliver it to Bates Pier upon arrival."

When they finally made Houston Harbor, they dropped their barges off at Monsanto and headed for home. Both Keith and Andrew were waiting for the tug and they brought young José and little Tomás into the house and got them settled.

Terry was already working on a way to allow the two to remain, Keith and Andrew would have to adopt both boys as José was only seventeen years old. Joel Peterson ran the papers over to Judge Parker, who was waiting for them and José and Tomás both became sons of Keith and Andrew Bates!

Years later, they learned that the Port Authorities had knowledge of what the Bates Brothers were doing, but, as long as it did not become a problem, they could pretend they didn't know!

Little Tomás Bates soon became a favorite of the household, everyday someone would bring him a new toy and they saw to it the boy had a full wardrobe of clothing for every occasion. He was everyone's favorite little boy!

José came to Keith one day, it was apparent that he had been studying his English, "Senhor Keith, me be a cuisiniero, er cook. Me want cook for you and Senhor Andrew, Me be Good Cook!"

Andrew and Keith decided to give the young man a try and, after the first meal they told José he had a lifetime job! There was almost always a guest or two who had wrangled an invitation to supper every night!

Tomás latched onto Chico as his special friend and every time the Bates boys were home from the Academy, Tomás would toddle after Chico. Tomás had such a sunny personality, Chico just could not ignore the child.

Many afternoons found Chico sitting in the sun room, reading a story to Tomás. His favorite story was "Tommy The Tug Boat" and Chico had read it to Tomás so many times, he didn't need to look at the pages. He didn't dare skip even a sentence, Tomás would catch him in the act and demand that he read the story "RIGHT"!

Time passed quickly and, almost before they realized it, it was time for graduation. Chico, Chai and Jimmie were all Honors Students and were graduating in the first three places with Academic Honors.

Professor Hamilton was near busting his buttons with pride and both Andrew and Keith were wearing huge smiles the morning of Graduation.

All three were "Deck" Cadets and had brand new, shiny Third Mate's Licenses.

They would be joining other former cadets, Cindy Mayhew, who was Second Mate on The PEDRO and Roger Templeton was Second Engineer of The MANUEL JASPER, in service on the BIG BOYS. Both tugs were in port and The CHAI, with Captain John Porter who was among the very first group of Cadets to train with Bates Marine, was due in the next morning.

Cindy and Roger were invited to the house to join in the celebration. José had baked a cake in the shape of a tug boat and put on a spread of Brazilian delicacies for everyone's enjoyment. Judge Parker had been invited and all the Family had managed to get there.

After they had eaten, Chico stood and said, "Friends, Family and loved ones, I wish to tell you of what my life would have been, had not Papa snatched me out of that small boat. IF I had even survived, I would have been forced to work for any fisherman who found me, for little or no pay. I would never be allowed to keep anything I earned and would spend my nights sleeping in a box on a pier somewhere. Because these two men, my Papas, Andrew and Keith Bates took me in, loved me and nurtured me, I have become a Man. A Man of the Sea. A Man of AMERICA! I have before me, a life that I could have never had and I and my Brothers, Chai and Jimmie, wish to start a program that will save, that will nurture and that will love boys like us, teach them of the sea, teach them to be men and let them be Americans. We wish to call it BATES ACADEMY and the young boys that our tugs save will go to school and learn the things that our Papas have taught us. They will spend time on the tugs, they will spend time in school and they will learn that there is a better place for them than what they had. We propose a scholarship, so that any graduate of BATES ACADEMY may go to college if they wish. To that end, we, myself, Chai and Jimmie pledge one third of our earnings to support Bates Academy and we hope that others will assist us in creating the scholarships."

Those in the room were dumbfounded, the boys had never before expressed a desire to help others in this manner, but no person there could fault what they proposed.

Judge Parker offered to head up the project and, that very day, BATES ACADEMY FOR BOYS was begun. It would not be very long before the first residents of the Academy would arrive and the local newspapers got wind of the Boys' idea and contributions began to flow in.

The first residents, two brothers from Beliz were rescued from a small boat off the coast of San Pedro, they were fleeing being forced into prostitution. The PEDRO picked them up fifteen miles off the coast in International Waters. They were severely dehydrated and very frightened.

The boys were identical twins, Frederico and Samuel, and Captain Billy Bayard was determined to make them his own sons. He and his wife had lost their only child to a tragic playground accident and the moment he saw the boys, he knew they were destined to be their sons.

It all happened so fast, one day they were near death in an old rowboat and the next they were sleeping in the Captain's own bed while he bunked on the deck so they could sleep comfortably.

Three days later, they were Frederico and Samuel William Bayard and were enrolled in the temporary quarters of the Bates Academy for Boys!

Within two months, Judge Parker was resigning his Bench to devote all his time to the Academy.

The MANUEL JASPER was in Port of Spain, Trinidad delivering a pull of ten barges full of building materials for the new Cruise Ship pier and hotel. Roger Templeton had just become the First Assistant Engineer, under Chief Oliver West, and was on duty because the shore power system was not working and they had to supply all their own electric power while they waited for the barges to be emptied.

Roger had just come up on deck to take a look around when there was an awful roar, huge waves came racing across the bay in their direction and buildings surrounding the shoreline were tumbling down.

Roger dove head first down the hatch to his Engine Room and manually held the breakers in on the generator disconnects. Only his own strength prevented an automatic black out!

His oiler was scrambling around on the deck trying to find something to hold onto as the tug was tossed around like a rubber duck in a bathtub!

The tug had hardly settled down when another wave tumbled them about and Captain Shaw screamed down on the bitchbox to get the main engine started! NOW!

Roger put the Oiler on the generator disconnect levers and he went to start the main engines. They had hardly turned over when he heard the fluid couplings fill and the pitch on the propellers went to full astern!

The MANUEL JASPER was shaking and jumping as the Captain tried to get his tug out into the bay.

When they finally got their ship under control, Roger stuck his head out the Engine Room hatch and looked toward the town, there were fires everywhere and the wreckage of once fabulous hotels and resorts covered the streets and parks. It had been a tremendous earthquake and the damage and injuries were going to be awful.

The Chief Engineer, Oliver West was ashore, so that left Roger in charge of the Engine Room. He called up on the bitchbox and reminded Captain Shaw that they had three generators and the reel of electric cable to provide shore power to hospitals and emergency services.

Captain Shaw replied, "Yeah, I'm on the ship to shore right now, you had best start warming up the gennies, it looks like the big hospital at South Quay needs power. I am told it is the only hospital still standing. The Governor is asking us to provide emergency power to the hospital. Are all three generators OK?"

Roger replied, "Yes sir, all three generators are on-line now, let's get over to the South Quay and help these people!"

Captain Shaw was working the helm himself, two of his three deckhands had been injured and it was just him and the Third Mate, Jerry Fall, to run the bridge.

The Captain was thanking the Almighty that he had bridge control of the engines and propeller pitch, he eased the MANUEL around the mudflats and pulled up to the Hyatt Hotel Pier.

Roger had a thousand feet of three hundred amp HD cable on a huge reel on the fantail. He and the lone deckhand began running the cable out to the pier, where it was tied to an old pickup truck and dragged to the transformers and switchboard serving the hospital.

When they got the cables connected, Roger tested them for rotation and found they had them right the very first time. He went into the hospital and told them to open all their breakers and he would energize the main switchboard at four hundred and forty volts, bypassing the utility transformer.

He went back to the MANUEL and got the hand held radios from the bridge and gave one to his oiler, telling him to watch the ammeter on the board, they could give the hospital two hundred and fifty amps. He stood by the hospital switchboard, watching the ammeter there as he had the hospital electrician start energizing their emergency circuits, one by one until they reached the maximum of two-hundred and fifty amps.

He called the Oiler to slow the governor on the generators to fifty cycles and let him know when the generators were fully loaded. They were able to power up the emergency room and two surgery suites before the load limit was reached.

He looked down the hall of the hospital and saw it full of patients lying on gurneys, waiting for the doctors to help them.

The Chief Engineer, Oliver West, and the Second Assistant Engineer, Glen Cook never returned to the ship and they presumed they were buried somewhere under the rubble.

The MANUEL JASPER provided emergency power to the hospital for five weeks before the main island power station could be repaired and brought on line.

Every night Roger returned to the MANUEL JASPER, Captain Shaw kept collecting children, mostly boys, who were hungry and needed someone to hold them and tell them everything was going to be alright.

Many of the children were from tourist families and, try as he could, Roger was never able to find any of their parents.

The local authorities took the local children, except for one little wide eyed boy, who the Third Mate, Jerry Fall, had made friends with. Jerry hid the boy in the broom closet until after the local officials had departed. He figured if they were going to leave the foreign children behind, he could have little Paulo too.

They were kept by the Trinidad Authorities for six weeks before they were released. They had twelve boys of various nationalities and one little Trinidadian boy who was hanging onto Jerry Fall like a leech!

Once they were out in International Waters, Captain Shaw sent a message to the Home Office, using their company code saying that they had thirteen baggage parcels to deliver.

Keith and Andrew had been monitoring the situation on a steady basis, they never left the radio room, except to eat and grab a little sleep. The three radio operators were now hollow eyed and drooping, they had been running the radio day and night staying in touch with the MANUEL JASPER.

The MANUEL JASPER was running short of food and fuel, Roger had advised Captain Shaw to keep the speed down, otherwise the fuel tanks were going to go dry.

Their ordeal was almost over as the Captain eased the MANUEL JASPER alongside the Bates Pier and rang down "FINISHED WITH ENGINES"

Later, Roger told the Captain their fuel was down to just gallons!

Roger had become friends with a boy from Spain, Alfonso. He had learned that the boy's parents and little sister had been killed when the Marriot Hotel had collapsed and he had no other family back in Spain. Alfonso spoke excellent English and was fourteen years old.

He came to Roger and pleaded with him to take care of him and not let him be sent to an orphanage.

Roger knelt down by the boy and said, "Al, not any of you children are gonna go to an orphanage, that just isn't the way the Bates work. But, do you really wanna be my son?"

Alfonso stared at the American man, who had become his friend, and stammered, "You would do that for me?"

Roger shook his head in a yes and he was suddenly wrapped in a crying teen boy. There was no way he could even stand, Alfonso had him in a hammerlock!

It was a match hammered out in Heaven, Roger's wife, Julie fell in love with Alfonso at first sight and he with her. In six months' time, nobody would have been able to tell that Al Templeton was not an American native born teenaged boy.

The other children made it to BATES ACADEMY FOR BOYS and eventually they all went to Higgins Academy. Most of them went on to Galveston and the Merchant Marine Academy.

The Government of Trinidad put up a bronze monument to the MANUEL JASPER and her crew, thanking them for their heroic efforts to save the Trinidad People.

TBC