High Seas: Ocean Tow Boats

When it came time for school to start, they enrolled him at the Higgins Academy. At the end of the first week, Keith was asked to come for a Parent-Teacher conference. Miss Peabody, his teacher, was recommending that Chico be enrolled in the "Gifted Student" program. She said, "Chico is with his classmates in English and Social Studies, but he is very advanced in arithmetic and numeric reasoning, he is so far advanced, I have not the skills to teach him." Keith asked, "How well does he get along with his classmates and out on the play yard?" Miss Peabody laughed, "In a word, he is HELL ON WHEELS! That boy is going to be a terror in soccer and we are going to have to take out baseball insurance!" On the way home, Keith asked Chico, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" He thought Chico might want to be a ball player or some other sport. Chico replied immediately, "Me drive big boat like you, Papa!"

The new tug, The JOHNNIE, was ready for sea trials and Andrew had hired Captain Oliver West to command the new tug. Porter Davis, a graduate of the Texas Maritime Academy several years earlier was selected as the Chief Engineer and Dive Master.

Keith went along for the sea trials as Captain West put the new tug through its paces, they discovered the tug could maintain twenty-five knots and her hydraulic drive could turn her twin screws like an outboard motor. The tug did not require a rudder and she could turn on a dime, making a complete circle without changing position! Her Azipod Drives were the newest development in ship building and made her the most maneuverable tug in the Gulf, as well as the most powerful! There was some question that it was also a world record!

Andrew and Keith were sitting at home with their boys when the telephone rang, it was Peter and he sounded upset. Peter said, "Terry just passed his Bar exam and was admitted to the Bar Association this morning. Coming home from his office, he was shot!" Terry was their brother in all things and, besides being a new lawyer, he had his First Mate's License. He was planning on specializing in Maritime Law.

Keith panicked and asked, "Is, iis issssss is he dead?"

Peter replied, "No, but it was a near thing. The police have arrested some officials of the Longshoremen's Union and are looking for the shooter."

Andrew was on the extension and said, "Papa, we will come immediately!"

Peter replied, "NO! Do not come! I am sending everyone to you and I plan to close up this office for good. It is not safe for any of us here any longer!"

After they had finished speaking with Peter, Andrew and Keith debated what to do. The first thing was to have the radio operator send out a message recalling all their ships. The message read "ALL BATES MARINE SERVICES VESSELS NOT ON TOW OR PRIORITY ASSIGNMENT RETURN TO HOME PORT IMMEDIATELY. ALL VESSELS EMPLOY SECURITY AND SAFETY PROCEDURES. CATEGORY ONE-RED IS HEREBY IMPLEMENTED".

Category ONE-RED would ensure that all of their ships would come into their homeports armed and ready for trouble!

While Andrew was organizing the staff, Keith drove over to Higgins Academy and collected Chai and Chico and brought them both home.

The first tug to arrive was The JOHNNIE, she came surging in from sea trials and The DAVID was right behind her with a string of smaller tugs right behind them.

The rumor mill was running at full speed, The Port of Houston Authority sent Harbor Police to block off all access to Bates Marine Services pier and someone from the Governor's Office up in Austin called to ask if they could be of any assistance.

They all spent an uneasy night and the next day, Carlo Ghiannini, the Business Manager of the Longshoremen's Union in Houston arrived at the gate, asking to meet with Andrew and Keith. The man assured them that the local union was NOT involved and told them they would report any such activity to the police immediately.

By nightfall of the second day, all their tugs except those actually on a tow were tied up at their piers. Captain West and Chief Engineer Davis left a generator running on the JOHNNIE and had the fire-fighting system charged. There were crew members manning the two monitors up on the boom stacks. Fire water at one-hundred and fifty pounds pressure out of a two inch nozzle was an effective weapon!

Peter had charted an airplane from American Airlines and filled it with employees and their families. His Mother, Martha and Carson's parents were on board the aircraft, as was a stretcher with Terry Bates along with a medical attendant.

Keith arranged for several buses to meet the plane at Hobby Field in Houston and they put everybody up at the Grand Marriot, along with twenty Brinks Security Guards.

They were at an impasse, the newspapers in San Francisco were denying that Terry Bates had been shot and were screaming bloody murder that Bates Marine Services had closed up shop without proper notice!

The Houston newspapers interviewed Peter and carried the headline, "BATES MARINE SERVICES TO RELOCATE HEADQUARTERS IN HOUSTON!" A smaller line carried news about the JOHNNIE, "LARGEST TUG IN THE GULF HOMEPORTS AT HOUSTON MARINE TERMINAL".

Since it was a maritime matter, the Feds got involved and they settled for once and all time that Terry Bates had indeed been shot and the shooter, a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Longshoremen's Council, had been arrested and charged with attempted murder.

Things began to quiet down a bit and the Bates Marine Tugs went back to work. The JOHNNIE was in great demand as it was the season that the weather on the Gulf was most calm and it was the ideal time to move drill towers.

The other large tugs, The DAVID and The MANUEL JASPER were kept on the move servicing PEMEX and the oil companies drilling in the American zone of the Gulf.

The few smaller tugs that were not assisting their larger sisters, were employed working the busy harbor, Houston was fast becoming a major port of the United States. With the West Coast Ports in labor gridlock, must of the Asia freight traffic was now using Texas Gulf ports and transiting the Panama Canal.

Terry's recovery was slow, the bullet had nicked his aorta and the surgeons had to perform emergency surgery on him, practically in the hospital lobby, just to save his life!

As soon as he was able to move around, he applied to the Texas Bar for admission and he was soon a practicing attorney in Texas. He had specialized in Maritime Law and Peter's new partner, Hank Peterson, was very interested in having young Terry Bates on their staff. Hank's father, Joel, offered Terry a junior partnership and a salary the young lawyer couldn't pass up. He soon became the lawyer to "go to" for maritime legal matters in Houston. He was the only maritime attorney in the area who had actual shipboard experience and held a Master's License.

Peter labored at getting the new corporate headquarters up and running and he moved into his new home near to where Andrew and Keith had purchased a new home. Within a few weeks, Hank Peterson had moved in and both Keith and Andrew were happy for them both.

It proved to be a good move, business picked up even more and, with all their tugs in a central location to the huge amount of shipping and commercial needs for tugs, they were doing a "land office business"!

In fact, they needed the three new tugs they had recently purchased. They named them The HANK, The CHICO and The JOEL, much to everybody's amusement.

Their business was reaching into Central and South America, the Bahamas and the southeast coast of the United States. The demand for the large tugs was so great both Andrew and Keith were spending most of their time at sea.

They knew they needed to be home for their sons and their business, so they began searching for Captains for The DAVID and The MANUEL JASPER. They were not having much luck until they decided to pay a call at the Maritime Academy up at Galveston. They came away with a list of four names and they were impressed with all of them.

That took care of the two large tugs immediately and also two of the three new tugs they had purchased and were currently being refurbished. They were so desperate for ships, the welder's slag had hardly cooled when they placed The PEDRO in service. (named for Chico's deceased father)

The DONALD and The JAMES soon followed and were pressed into service almost as soon as their fuel tanks had been filled.

Chai and Chico were being homeschooled for the semester, they hoped the situation would cool off after summer vacation.

Chico had his social studies book out; he was studying about the Mississippi River. He called to Keith, who was going over some contracts on the dining room table, "Papa, look at this funny tug boat." Keith walked over and told Chico that it was called a Pusher Boat and was used on rivers like the Mississippi River.

Chico asked, "Do we have any pusher boats?"

Keith replied, "No, we don't."

That set Keith to thinking, "Why don't we, it would be a good business to be in."

When Andrew got home, Keith grabbed him and they went into the den. A quick telephone call to Peter brought him over to the house and none of them could think of any reason why they had not explored the idea.

Chico's question brought about The ODIN, a large pusher boat that had been claimed for non-payment by the bank. The ship had been built in Sweden in 1957 and had been registered with the ABS in 1960, before being placed in service on the Mississippi River.

Her owners had used her for collateral to purchase another ship and had been unable to make the payments. The ship was tied up at Tangiers, Louisiana and had been out of service for sixteen months.

Peter, Keith and Andrew climbed all over the ship and could find nothing wrong with her. They called in a Marine Surveyor from Klienschmit and Sons and they gave the ship a clean bill of health.

With those reports, they headed to Republic Bank and arranged a loan to purchase the vessel.

They rounded up a crew, Andrew would be the commissioning Captain and Keith would serve as Chief Engineer. They bussed their crew over to New Orleans and took possession of their prize. The ship had been maintained while at the pier and, as soon as the fueling barge had paid a visit, Keith pulled the starting levers on the diesel engines and they both started right up.

He checked everything out before he gave Andrew on the bridge the high-sign that he was ready to go. They backed away from the pier and headed the ninety miles downriver to the Gulf. The ship performed faultlessly as they headed west to Houston.

The ship had originally been named the ODIN and her new name on the Registry was The JONEL. As soon as they got The JONEL home, she went into dry dock to have her hull inspected and the whole ship repainted. They gutted the Spartan crew's quarters and brought them up to company standards.

In three months, the JONEL looked like a new ship, fresh from the builder's blocks. They decided to base the new ship at Crescent Ship Services in St. Rose, Louisiana, just up river from New Orleans. They rented pier space and began the effort of selecting a crew for her.

Captain Charlie Owens was selected as Skipper of the JONEL, he had many years' experience on the river and he assisted in selecting the remainder of the crew, all Riverboat men. The day the JONEL arrived from Houston, she was booked solid for the next three months.

The reputation that Bates Marine Services had built up in the Gulf would soon have the crew of the JONEL praying for low water, so they could have a few days off! Her size kept her from going upriver beyond Brownville, but she spent the high water period on the river hauling empty grain barges upriver and loaded barges back downriver.

When the water got low, St. Louis was about as far upriver the JONEL could navigate.

The crew hated it when they were pushing coal barges, the coal dust would cover the ship and themselves.

Peter was well pleased with the first season receipts from the JONEL, she was more than paying her own way!

Peter and Hank decided to go away for a week or so, so Peter left Keith in charge. It was nothing new, either Keith or Andrew ran the business from Houston ever since they had moved there. The winter months were slow, there was some activity of the river and the JONEL was pretty busy, but winter storms kept the barge traffic on the Gulf to an "as needed" basis.

They had one six barge tow to Belem in Brazil. It would be a hard pull, the barges were heavily laden and would have high sail area containers on them. Keith decided that, because of the weight of the pull and impending bad weather, that he would assign the Belem pull to The DAVID. She was fresh out of upkeep and her bottom had been recently cleaned.

The crew was happy for the chance to get out of the cold for a while and work in some warm water. They assembled the pull at the Port of Houston and departed for South America on February 12th.

They hit a winter storm as soon as they hit Galveston Bay and they fought it all the way through the Gulf, getting no relief until they reached the Caribbean. There, they enjoyed a decent voyage all the way into Belez, where the port was closed down for some religious holiday.

They were finally able to drop their barges and head to the fueling pier, they had expended an above normal amount of fuel fighting the storm as they crossed the Gulf and they were scheduled for a ten barge return pull.

The JOEL was sent out to the Cayman Islands on a routine pull of six barges of fuel that was to supply the generating station of Grand Cayman Island. It was a one way pull, with just empties coming back.

The JOEL was a little small for the job, but she was the only tug Keith had free at the moment. Since the storm had passed, he figured the JOEL could slip in to the Fort Street Pier and leave the barges. The empties were already assembled and the JOEL could dash back to Houston before another storm hit.

They didn't make it, as they passed Yucatan on their way north, a violent storm hit and Jimmie Clark, the Skipper wasn't sure but what he needed a periscope! Huge waves were breaking over the wheelhouse and he prayed nothing would happen to the barges because there was no way he was going to send any of his crew out on deck for any reason!

The storm didn't let go of them until after they had crossed Claypile Bank and were headed towards Galveston Island and home. They had been so busy fighting the storm, they had not had time to do anything else.

They had no idea they were bringing home a treasure.

The JOEL dumped off the empty fuel barges at Mitchell Bay and they headed straight for home. As they were tying up at Bates Pier, the Bos'un, Peter Towle, came up to the bridge with a very frightened teen boy.

The only place he could have come from was Grand Cayman and that proved to be the case. The boy had not eaten the entire way from Georgetown and, when Jimmie handed him a sandwich, he had to get his fingers out of the way fast!

He asked the boy what he thought he was doing and the boy replied, "Cap'n sor, I hadda get away, they was usin' me bad."

Jimmie asked, "Using you?"

The boy answered, Yessir, Cap'n, They was gonna make me a rent boy an..."

Jimmie interrupted the boy as he shouted, "NOT ON MY WATCH, NO DAMNED WAY!"

He got all the boy's particulars, finding out that the boy's name was Jimmie Hamilton and he was fifteen years old.

He told the boy, "Let me contact my boss, Cap'n Keith will know how to handle this. You just hang tight right here an' I'll gettim' down here."

Jimmie got on the ship to shore and asked that Keith come down to the JOEL right away.

The Radio Operator at Bates Marine Services called Keith at their home and said, "Mr. Keith, the JOEL just radioed as they were docking at Pier 2, the Captain sounded pretty upset and he asked that you come down to the ship right away, sir."

Keith had no idea what the problem was, but he knew that Jimmie would be busy docking, so he just walked down to the pier and waited for the gangway to be swung out.

Jimmie Clark was waiting for Keith as he came on board, "Cap'n Bates, wes got us a slight problem, a youngster slipped by us and got aboard back at Georgetown an' I ain't willing to send him back. Ya gotta hear his story, sir."

Keith didn't even bat an eye, he had heard this same story so many times now, he could just about guess what the boy's story was going to be. He sighed and said, "Let's go up to your cabin and have a chat with this boy."

Jimmie Hamilton told them that his parents were divorced and his Mother got custody. She had sold him to a man in Georgetown and used the money to return to England.

His Father was a professor at the University of Texas in Austin and was an American. Keith said, "Son, I think we can help you, my brother is an attorney here in Houston and Austin is just up the road from here. Why don't we get you up to our house so you can get a hot shower. I'll bet one of our sons has some clothes that will fit you and then we'll call your Dad. OK?"

Jimmie couldn't stop crying, he had tried so hard to be a "man" and he felt that he was shaming himself. Keith held the boy and said quietly to him, "Cry it out, son. Everybody needs a little help sometimes and I guess today is your turn."

Jimmie said between his sob, "BbbbBut youuuu don't understand sir, my Dad will hate me, Iii I'm gay."

Keith smiled as told him, "Jimmie, that is only what you are not WHO you are. Tell you what, you get cleaned up and we will both call your Dad, OK?"

Jimmie agreed and Keith took the boy home and got him started through the shower. While Jimmie was in the shower, Keith got together with Chai and Chico and they found some clothes that matched the size that Jimmie had been wearing.

His old clothing was so rank smelling, Chai picked them up with the fire place tongs and tossed them in the trash. He said to Keith, "Papa, he can have my clothes for his own, I know what he is going through, don't let clothes get in the way of helping him."

Chai and Jimmie were about the same age and they both had a similar slim teen build.

When Jimmie came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist, Chai handed him the clothes and then turned around so Jimmie could get dressed. When Jimmie had dressed, Chai turned back around, both boys had bright red faces and were staring at each other. Keith noticed and thought, "Oh, Oh, maybe we are going to have a new boarder?"

When Jimmie had gotten dressed, Keith asked him what his Father's name was and Jimmie replied, "Sir, I am a Junior, my Dad's name is Professor James Hamilton and he teaches Chemistry at the Uni."

Jimmie sat on the couch while Keith called the University up in Austin, it took a while to get through to the right department and even longer to get Professor Hamilton on the phone.

When the man had learned what had happened he told Keith, "My God, no wonder Edith refuses my telephone calls! Jimmie is an AMERICAN and I have copies of all his papers and his passport here with me. I will come down immediately, give me a couple of hours to get there!"

He asked, "May I speak with my son, please?"

Keith handed the telephone to Jimmie and the boy spoke with his Dad, "Dad, it was awful, Mama never wanted me and when she found out I was gay, eerees, oh crap....."

Keith could hear the man bellowing at the other end of the line, "SON, I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHETHER YOU ARE STRAIGHT, GAY, PINK OR YELLOW! YOU ARE MY SON AND I LOVE YOU. I AM COMING DOWN THERE TO GET YOU RIGHT NOW!"

Jimmie sat on the couch beside Chai while Keith gave Professor Hamilton directions on how to get to their house and told the man not to rush that Jimmie was perfectly welcome to stay as long as he needed to.

After Keith had hung up, he noticed that Chai was holding Jimmie tightly and the boy seemed to be dozing with his head on Chai's shoulder.

Keith heard Andrew come in the door downstairs, so he went down to meet his mate and tell him what was going on upstairs. The two men peeked in the door and saw the two boys in a tight embrace and both were crying.

They walked quietly into the room and knelt beside the two boys, Andrew said, "It is nothing to cry about, you both have just discovered each other. Give it some time, you know that we will support you if you want to be together."

Keith added, "Jimmie, you heard what your Dad had to say, I heard it all the way across the room. I don't think either of you have anything to worry about."

They had both boys wipe their faces and then they ordered that universal boy food, Delivery Pizza! Both Keith and Andrew were careful to keep their fingers back while the boys were getting their pizza. They ate two large pizzas while Keith and Andrew shared a small pizza!

Andrew told Chai to take Jimmie upstairs and let him lay down for a while. Chai didn't come back so Keith and Andrew went upstairs and peeked into Chai's room, both boys were sound asleep, holding each other tightly.

About 9 pm, they heard a screeching of tires and a car came around the corner and stopped. The car door slammed and there was an immediate knocking on their front door.

When Keith opened the door, an older version of Jimmie was standing there with a bundle of papers in his hands. Keith invited Professor Hamilton in and the man said, "Sir, just call me Jim. Where is my boy?"

Keith laughed, "Ok, Jim, just so long as you drop that "sir." The boys are upstairs sleeping."

Jim replied, "The boys?" Andrew chuckled, "Yeah, he and our son, Chai, have taken a shine to each other."

Jim Hamilton sat down on couch, "I guess the apple does not fall very far from the tree. That is why my wife and I split up, I am gay also." Jim looked up and Andrew and Keith were holding hands, he grinned and said, "Ah so, I see."

Jim laid out the papers he brought and Keith gave Terry a call, asking him to come over and give them some legal advice. Terry came through the front door minutes later, still walking a little slow from his injuries, with Peter and Joel Peterson in tow. They all looked through the papers that Jim had brought with him and saw nothing wrong.

Terry asked, "What is the problem?"

Keith brought them up to date on all that had happened and the two attorneys could find nothing that would preclude Jim Hamilton taking custody of his son. The original court order from the Good Meadow Judicial Court in Good Meadow, Manchester did not order any custody of James Hamilton, Jr. And, since Edith Nancy Hamilton had abandoned her son in Grand Cayman and he was found on an American Registered ship at sea, he was in American Territory when he was discovered.

Joel Peterson said, "Just to make sure, let's get Judge Parker to sign a Custody Order tomorrow morning that will make sure your wife never gets her hands on Jimmie again."

Jim said, "Fine, I don't have any classes until Monday, Jimmie and I will get a hotel room and..."

Andrew laughed, "Jim, unless you want two boys sleeping with you, I suggest you stay here tonight. We have lots of room and you would need a chisel to split those two boys apart right now."

The next day, Judge Nathaniel Parker issued a court order that Mr. James Hamilton of Austin, Texas was awarded custody of his son James Hamilton, Jr., a minor child. The boys spent the rest of the weekend glued together at the hips.

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!

To make matters even worse, all three were good athletes and they led the school soccer team to win the Division Championship! They were edged out of State Championship by an upper division team whose members were all high school seniors!

It is nearing the time of the "oil crisis" and drilling in the Gulf is already picking up, the tug crews are lucky to get a day at home every two or three weeks!