Deckhand
The icy wind whipped across the deck as the tug moved down the river. The rain was coming down in sheets, and Martin, the tug’s deckhand, was already drenched although he had only been outside for about a minute. As the deckhand, it was his job to send the tug rope up to the much larger ship that the tug would then guide into the dock. The connecting of the tug rope was the most precarious part of a tugboat’s operations. Tug ropes had been known to snap at full tension, causing serious injury to the unlucky deckhand standing nearby.
There was no snapping of the rope this time though. Instead, the captain, using the controls on the bridge, turned the large mechanical spool to draw the line taut while Martin ensured it didn’t snag on anything. Once the captain had finished with the line, he signaled Martin. Martin then joined the captain on the bridge. A tugboat, if you’ve never seen one, looks somewhat like a pyramid on top of an oval. At the bottom of the boat is the engine room, with massive machinery packed into a very small space.
On the next level, above the water line, are the crew living quarters. Finally, situated above the crew living quarters is the bridge. The bridge is small and only has enough room for the captain’s command station. The captain of a tugboat is also the helmsman, and he or she maneuvers the tugboat to assist large ships of all kinds into or out of the port. Tugboats can be thought of as the bulldogs of a harbor’s operations. They are small and bulky, but incredibly strong and sturdy. Just one tugboat can push or pull a ship twenty times its size.
Martin’s work was done for the time being. It was up to the captain now to pilot the tugboat, and help bring the massive cargo ship into port, working in concert with the two other tugboats that were called out for this particular job. Martin stared out the window at the giant pink cargo ship. He still wasn’t sure whether he wanted to pursue a career as a merchant marine on a large open-sea vessel, or vie for a position as a tugboat captain. He’d been a deckhand for five years, and in just two more, he could attempt the tugboat captain test.
There was a certain romanticism to being out on the sea, sailing around the world. He didn’t really impress anybody at bars when he told them he worked on a tugboat. The work was quite repetitive, and to some extent, felt like being a prisoner for two weeks a time. He had gotten lucky this time around, as he liked the captain and the engineer that he was sharing his two week shift with. This wasn’t always the case. You didn’t get to choose with whom you got placed with. You just had to make do if you didn’t get along.
Today was the last day on this rotation. Tomorrow early in the morning, they’d transfer the ship off to another crew and go their separate ways. He was excited. Two weeks on also meant two weeks off, and man oh man was he ready for his two weeks off. He’d spend the first two days doing absolutely nothing, and after that, he had no idea. He wouldn’t come down to the harbor that’s for sure. In fact, he didn’t want to see any body of water at all on his two weeks off if he could help it.
The behemoth of a cargo ship had now been gently pushed and pulled into position at its dock. The captain called for Martin to go out on deck and release and stow the tug line. Back out into the freezing sheets of rain he went. He signaled up to the deckhands on the cargo ship to release the line on their side, which they did. He then turned around and signaled the captain to begin drawing the line in. Once this was done, Martin gave the final signals to the deckhands on the cargo ship, and once again, joined the captain on the bridge.
It was now mid-afternoon, and they didn’t have another job until evening, so Martin went down into the crew living quarters to prepare dinner. Cooking was another one of his duties as a tugboat deckhand. So was cleaning. Tonight he was making a simple meal, pea soup and sausages. He had already deep-cleaned the ship in preparation for the shift change tomorrow, and didn’t want to cook something that would dirty up the kitchen. As he turned on the stove, he looked out the porthole at the river. He really hoped they didn’t get a last-minute job before shift change tomorrow morning. He was ready for a break.