Working on a tanker was a great way for a student like me to make a few bucks during the summer. No rent to pay, no car to drive, no food to buy. Just those magnificent Lakes.
Every year, I think about this day.
Tanker?
Where were you working?
The Harbor Inn, a bar in Cleveland, had a life ring from the "Fitz", hanging on the wall.
Lew
Where ever they would have me. My jobs were all to relieve guys who had ATO or vacations due, or took sick. That put me on the Lake Shell. Several the Imperial Oil tankers, the London, Collingwood, Sarnia. A stint on The Arctic Trader (Shell Oil) in Frobisher- and Hudson Bays supplying weather stations and small villages...truly an incredible time of my life. I spent some time on The Texaco Brave. Built in 1929, she had a triple
900 and at 250 feet with a draft of 18..it was all she could do to get out into Lake Huron. But it got to go places others couldn't. That engine was a museum quality piece. Quiet, clean, smooth. My bunk had the anchor chain tube running right through it which made for the utmost of rude awakenings. We were coming into Sarnia from a run to Georgian Bay, and normally, when we tied up, it would be with all hands. The method the skipper used, was to reverse the engine enough to almost stop relative to the shore and then drop the hook and let her swing around and then face upstream and sneak up on the dock that way. THIS time, the buggers decided to let me sleep till skip dropped the hook. I had NO idea what happened but got a round of applause when I ran onto the deck in my skivvies. Payback can be a bitch..LOLWith all the 'double hull' laws now, none of these are around any more.
rHi Rob,
A rough life none the less. I remember when she was lost ... I was stationed at the Coast Guard station in Rochester New York. While Lake Ontario is "small", a storm can kick up so fast that it has (and continues) to surprise even seasoned sailors.
Listening to the radio traffic on that video brought back a pile of memories, as did the song.
Salute.
Rick
"Robatoy" wrote
The thing that surprises a lot of the ones with experience at sea but not on the Lakes is the severity of the storms--they figure that a lake can't get up much wave action becuase of the short fetch, but there's some kind of resonance effect that gets the whole lake to sloshing back and forth.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.