High Seas: Ocean Tow Boats

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 both 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 business of tow boating continued, there were good months and bad months, but, on the whole, Bates Marine Services was a very successful company.

Carson's parents had succumbed to the ravages of time and were buried at Christ of the Sea Cemetery.

Several of the tugs were in port and Peter and Joel had the Captains and Chief Engineers for supper. José had prepared a magnificent meal for the group at Keith's and Andrew's home and the young chef basked in the praise heaped upon him.

Little Tomás had assisted his Father, but Tomás had other dreams than being a chef. He had his sights set on the bridge of a Bates Tug Boat!

Everyone ate until they hurt and then retired to the den, where the men tossed around several ideas on how to improve the business. One of the ideas was to install long distance voice radios on each bridge, so that each Captain could have immediate voice contact with the Home Office.

They all thought that was a good idea and that led to the idea of having a printer installed that would print out invoices generated by the computer at the Head Office. That way, the invoice could be left with the customer and not have to wait for the mails. Sometimes, mails to the countries of Central and South America were uncertain at best.

Keith and Andrew started their next day by walking down the pier and greeting the crews of all their tugs in port. That morning there were four tugs in, a bit unusual, but two of them were already making preparations to get underway.

As they were walking back to the office, a distraught Joel Peterson came running to them. He was only half dressed and he looked like he had been tumbled in the laundromat!

He fell into Keith's arms, screaming in near hysteria, "He's gone, he's gone!"

They had an awful feeling, but Andrew asked Joel, "Who is gone?"

Joel sobbed out, "Peter, it's Peter, he is gone!"

Both men raced over to Peter's and Joel's home, which was just two doors down from their own. The front door was hanging open and, when they went in, they found Captain Peter Van dead on the floor of the bathroom!

Peter had been father, uncle and mentor to the both of them and they had been delighted when Peter had found Joel. Now, Joel was sitting on the floor holding Peter's head and sobbing with a broken heart.

Peter had a massive heart attack and, according to the Medical Examiner, had died instantly.

Andrew and Keith and, indeed, the entire company were stunned at Peter's death. The Marconi Operator sent out a solemn message for all Bates Marine Tugs to return to Home Port as soon as possible, Captain Peter Van has died!

There was not a single employee who had not, in some way, been helped by Captain Van and the tugs came streaming into Houston Harbor in a solemn stream, their House Pennants flying at half-mast.

The ANDREW and The KEITH came in with their House Pennant at half-mast, upside-down!

As the ambulance took Peter's body away, Keith and Andrew closed the office and put the telephone on the answering machine with the message, "Bates Marine Services is closed in mourning the death of our President, Captain Peter David Van. Please call again at a later date."

Joel, being a lawyer besides being Peter's partner in life, told Keith and Andrew they must hold a Board of Director's meeting very soon and elect a new company president.

They had sent a car for Terry, they knew it would not be safe for him to drive once he was told of Peter's death. He arrived just after the ambulance had departed and he had to be helped into the house.

They sent the car for Terry's wife and two children and they all sat in the living room trying to keep a strong front, but had little success.

The next few days were a blur to them all, they felt like wooden automatons going through the motions of life.

Peter had asked that he be cremated and his ashes be "spread upon the sea." The funeral was massive, not only were the crews of twenty-six tow boats attending, the staff of Higgin's Academy and Bate's School for Boys attending, so also were all the students.

Bates Marine had bought out Higgins Academy and integrated it with Bate's School for Boys.

Thirteen Cadets from Galveston were released from classes to attend the funeral. Keith and Andrew made it a point to tell each of the Cadets that there would be no interruption to their scholarships and that Bate's Marine Services would continue and the offer of employment when they graduated was still good.

After three days of mourning, all Bate's Marine Services Tow Boats returned to service and Keith and Andrew called for a Board of Directors meeting. The board consisted of Keith, Andrew, Terry and Joel Peterson. They agreed that Terry should remain as General Counsel, and Keith was elected President and Chief Operating Officer of the firm. Andrew was elected Vice President and Chief Engineer and Joel was to be Vice President-Sales.

With still heavy hearts, they reopened the main office and resumed business. They had not expected that the folks in other countries would have been aware or even concerned about Peter's death, but they were soon disabused of that notion.

The PEDRO returned from Progresso, Yucatan with six stowaways - four teen boys and two girls. They all said they were frightened that Bates Tow Boats would stop helping them. The increase in stowaways was noted aboard all Bates Tugs for the next several months, until people realized that they were still the same company.

Both Andrew and Keith liked to keep their "hand" in the business and they would frequently sub for a Captain or Chief Engineer as vacation reliefs. Keith had The MANUEL JASPER in Curacao, while Captain John Fellers was attending the birth of his first son. It had been an uneventful voyage, the seas were calm and there were no predicted storms anywhere in the vicinity.

Keith had gone ashore briefly as he knew that his brother, Andrew, loved carved black coral and that was something the area was famous for. He returned to The MANUEL JASPER well ahead of sailing time and, as soon as their barges had been unloaded, he ordered preparations to sail home with the empties.

It had gotten dark and the moon had not yet risen, they were in a sea of darkness and they made ready to depart. They got away just before midnight and Keith left the bridge in the hands of the First Mate.

As he headed for his stateroom, the cook stepped from the galley and pointed to the cleaning gear locker, holding up three fingers.

Keith motioned the cook, Johnnie Lee, to accompany him and they walked quietly over to the lockers and opened the door. It was dark inside the locker, so Keith reached for the light switch and flooded the small room with brilliance.

He saw a row of brooms moving slightly, so he walked over and pushed the brooms aside. There was an older teen boy, holding two smaller boys in his arms. The teen looked up at Keith, fear showing plainly in his eyes.

All three boys were Caucasian and the older boy stammered, "Please, mister, don't send us back. I had to snatch my brothers and get them away from that man. Our mama was gonna sell us all, but I snuck out the window and got away, so she sold Peter and Tommie here to him."

Keith's anger started to rise, but he knelt down and said gently to the teen, "Son, we are not gonna make you go back, that's not the way this company works. Now you three come outta there and let's get you cleaned up. OK?"

The teen replied, "That may be sir, but how can we trust your word, this here boat is a Bates Marine ship."

Keith grinned and replied to the worried boy, "That's true and my name is Captain Keith Bates!"

They put the boys in the guest cabin and Keith headed for his own stateroom and a soft bunk. He had just crawled under the sheets when there was a soft knock on his door, he answered by saying, "Come!"

It was the teen aged boy whom they had extracted out of the broom locker. The boy stammered, "aahh er Sir, kin I talk with ya' for a bit?"

Keith nodded and the boy stepped into the cabin and said, "err, Sir, I knows we done wrong by sneakin' aboard yer ship, but wes got no money an' I jist had ta' get my brothers away from those guys. Theys was gonna make sex slaves outta' them!"

Keith asked, "How old are you, son?"

The boy replied, "I's fifteen, sir."

Keith then asked, "What's your name?"

The boy replied, "I's called Toby sir, Toby Chandler n' my brothers are Bobby n' Donny."

Keith continued, "OK, Toby, will you go to school and maybe even go to college for us and come back to work for Bate's Marine?"

Toby's eyes got wide and he said, "Gosh, yeah, sir, doin' what?"

Keith smiled and replied, "We have to be better than just finding boys and girls hiding in the broom locker. There has to be a better way to handle you guys. If you will go to school and take the right courses, we will make you the Company's Liaison Officer for 'Unconventional Passengers', how about that?"

The boy grinned and said, "That's a mighty big word, sir, but, yeah, I'll do it just so long as ya' keep my little brothers, too!"

Keith smiled and said, "We have never turned away a stowaway kid yet, not gonna start now!"

They got The MANUEL JASPER back home and Toby was enrolled in Higgin's Academy and Bobby and Donny were placed in Bate's School for Boys.

Right from the "git-go" Toby was a star student. He was like a boy with a mission. Two years later, he was graduating from Higgins as the top student in his class, and his two brothers were entering Higgin's and were the top two graduates of Bate's School for Boys, after battling each other for first place over the preceding two years!

Toby entered Texas A & M, School of Business Administration, while his two brothers continued to battle each other over the number one slot at Higgin's Academy.

After Toby had been in Galveston for a couple of months, he came home for a visit and asked Keith and Andrew if he could speak with them.

Of course, the two brothers agreed and they sat down in the den to listen to what Toby had to say. Toby began, "There is no way we can go around the ports inviting runaways on board our tugs, but, suppose we put a seaman near to the gangway to watch for them? Once they put their foot on our gangway, they are in our territory. We get us a young looking seaman and post him nearby, as soon as they set foot on the gangway, the seaman hustles them into the guest stateroom and talks with them. Tells them there is no need to hide behind the brooms like we did, that we will take care of them and make sure they are safe."

He continued, "We will have to tell the seaman what to say and how to say it so he doesn't scare the kids away, but it sure would beat finding a half starved kid in with the brooms and mops!"

Andrew added, "Or a dead kid who starved to death before we found him!"

Keith agreed with his brother and they got Terry involved about the legal aspects and then they told Toby that they would look for a couple of candidates for the job and then HE was gonna train them!"

Toby grinned and said, "I was gonna ask to do that anyway!"

It took several months to locate some "baby-faced" seamen, but they eventually found six young men who were willing to do the job.

Toby was on spring break when he began working with the six young men. They went over different scenarios and what they should say, even the six seamen had ideas that Toby incorporated into the program.

The first tug to try the new program was The PEDRO. Captain Justin Peter Van was eager to try, he had been one of the boys that Captain Peter Van had rescued years earlier off the California Coast and he felt deeply about the project. He was sure, had he stayed on Catalina Island, he would have been long dead by now!

The volunteer seaman was Jorge de Piña and, although he was twenty-eight, he looked sixteen and even better, he spoke Spanish like the native he was, as well as perfect English.

The Pedro was scheduled for a run pulling barges loaded with petroleum products, diesel fuel, gasoline and lubricating oils to Belize City in Belize.

They would be pulling twelve barges and would have to wait for them while the barges were emptied, then pull the empties home. Belize was pretty much English speaking, but, if there were going to be any other language spoken there, it would be Spanish.

Jorge was the ideal test for the program as he spoke perfect English and Spanish!

They sailed the next day, swinging by the Petroleum Depot to pick up their barges. Toby stood on the pier, watching the PEDRO sail, wishing he was on it. Andrew came out and stood beside him, "Ya wanted to go too, didn't ya'?"

Toby grinned and replied, "Yeah, I did, Boss, but I'll get my turn someday."

Andrew didn't say anything, but he promised himself that Toby WOULD get to go, just as soon as he graduated.

The plan worked perfectly and on The PEDRO they bypassed the broom closet permanently!

Jorge de Piña was so excited about the program, the next time he saw Captain Andrew Bates, he asked him if he could go to school like Mr. Toby Chandler and get to work for the kids' safety.

The next time The PEDRO was in, Andrew sat down with Jorge and helped him fill out his application for Texas A & M!

With Andrew Bates' recommendation on the application, Jorge was accepted for the next entering class!

It would be several years, but, at last, Toby graduated and he spent the summer after graduation on board The MANUEL JASPER, guiding children as they escaped whatever horror that had them on the run.

He almost cried when Keith told him that he was needed at the home office, there were twenty-five other tugs with young looking seamen guiding the stowaways and he needed to be guiding the guides!

He managed, almost single handed, in keeping Bates' School for Boys and the Higgins Academy full of students!

The business was growing and Keith and Andrew decided they should have an office in New Orleans to handle the river traffic and they really needed one on the west coast, but they absolutely refused to even consider California, so they settled on Honolulu.

The two brothers were meeting themselves on airplanes as they were setting up the two new offices and the added business required eight new tugs and two additional pusher boats on the Mississippi River.

The pusher boats were more difficult than the tugs, so they ended up having them built in Pascagoula, Mississippi. They purchased two large ocean tugs from competitors who were going out of business and the remainder they had built to their own specifications.

The war in the middle-east caused a spike in shipments, not only in the Western Hemisphere but also in the Middle East. They ended up stationing two large tugs at Rota, Spain and one in Cairo.

Both Brothers were as nervous as a cat at a dog fight and they spent hours on the telephone with their local managers.

The large tug, JOHANSEN was stationed in Cairo and was so nearly the cause of a catastrophe, both Keith and Andrew agreed to close up the office and forego any further business in the area.

Two small boys had come aboard seeking shelter and escape. A dozen Muslim Militia showed up and started pointing rocket launchers at The JOHANSEN. Had not a British Destroyer shown up, most likely they would have lost the JOHANSEN and all the crew killed.

Captain Bart Jones got the tug underway before the militia could get back and demand the children. He got out in the Mediterranean Sea before he sent a message to the Home Office, he was told to return to Houston immediately WITH his "baggage"!

Thereafter, they refused all business in the area and recalled their tugs. They kept the office in Rota although they would not even consider doing business anywhere in the Arab World or with any Arab owned business!

Their people were more important than dollars!

There was, however, plenty of business in the Far East and they transferred The JOHANSEN and The ANDREW, along with three smaller tugs to work out of Manila.

Keith was worried that Captain Jones was going to kiss him on the spot when he told the Captain that he was NOT going back to the Middle East! The two boys he brought back with him, Selim and Hassan were well educated boys, both spoke English, but they refused to give anyone their family name.

Eventually, Keith and Andrew gave up and had Terry shove the papers through giving the two boys the Bates' name. Both boys were sharp and they sailed through Higgin's Academy and were accepted at Texas A & M, where they both majored in Physics.

They would eventually receive their Doctorate Degrees and become highly respected scientists. Their true love, however, was Houston and Bates' Marine Services and they would come "home" on the slightest excuse.

As the next generation began to take control, Andrew and Keith found time to slip away and play Tug Boat Captain and let others chomp on the Rolaids! Their business was world-wide, except for their refusal to serve any customer in the middle-east.

The American Government attempted to do a little "arm twisting", but they owned all their ships outright, with no liens against them. Not even the pleas by their friends in the Armed Services could get them to change their minds.

The American Army tried withholding cargo from them, so they transferred the tugs they had set aside to haul Army cargo, to Sydney and, by the time the Army had tried other carriers, the freight stack up at the Army Marine Transportation Terminal in Oakland was depriving all American Military installations throughout the Pacific Area of food, weapons and materials.

The Army even ended up paying a surcharge to run the tugs empty from Sydney to Oakland to pick up the barges.

On their eightieth birthday, Andrew and Keith were given a surprise birthday party, hosted by their children. More than five hundred people attended the event and both brothers were sure they would have blisters on their hands from shaking hands. Man after man walked up to them to thank them for what they had done for him, many of them cried and called them both Papa!

They all identified themselves with a sticker on their lapel, "I'M A BATES BOY" or a few said, "I'M A BATES GIRL"

Most of them had remained in the United States and became citizens. Many of them worked on Bates' ships and made sure the tradition of saving children was carried on into the next generation.

The brothers lived until just before their ninetieth birthdays and they died as they had lived, quietly and together. They died within one day of each other and the entire tugboat industry in the Gulf of Mexico went into mourning.

Their policy of saving the children was kept and even today, it is not unusual for a Bates' Marine Services ship to arrive with two or more "baggages" to be delivered.

Look for the next seagoing adventure, THE BRANDON SAGA. In this next story, a family escapes from the collapse of the American Government and begins their shipping business in Central America. They will face hardships and danger along the way as they provide shipping service to people who had thought all such service was gone forever. Along the way, they will drag civilization back to North America, where it can begin again.

The Author