Episode 4: The Captain
Captain Wolf talks about the challenges and rewards of a lifetime working on Aleutian tender vessels, transporting cargo between Seattle and Western Alaska.
Runtime 4:37
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only a novice would wonder why the interview takes place on the bridge, the aft winch house or wherever it is. hahahahha
I’m pretty sure it’s a good outfit to work for and would probably fit myself to a ‘T’, except i’m sorta old and busy. I did pass up a opportunity on one of their ships once and jumped on chevron or somewhere.
after all these movies they probably get so many candidates they regret making all those movies? that coastal transit can be maddening certain times of year but I do fit the alaska ports: dutch, kodiak, salmon bay, akak, all those places that drive city people nuts.
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The Coastal Trader’s deck crew are busy in the mast-house, repairing the mooring lines.
Our usual mooring lines are eight-strand plaited rope, 2" or 2.24" diameter. The smaller yellow rope spliced around its eye is the tagline to which the heaving line is attached. It also aids in manhandling the eye over a bitt or piling.
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This week’s episode takes us back to how Coastal Transportation got its start: servicing vessels at anchor in remote parts of Alaska.
Runtime 5:26.
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This week’s episode shows cargo operations in one of the most remote parts of America: the Alaskan Peninsula. No roads connect the towns of Chignik, Sand Point, King Cove and Cold Bay. No trees around here. Just tundra and volcanoes. Stormy weather and eruptions play havoc with airplane service. Ocean transport is the vital link to the outside world.
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Reminds me of sailing to islands in the South Pacific and East Indonesia in the late 1960s/early 1970s, with even less infrastructure but at least with better temperature.
PS> Hot and humid but no A/C.
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That’s a relative statement. I’ve worked in areas where the ink in your pen would freeze from the time it took to remove it from your inside, inside, breast pocket to the paper that needed to be signed & still think that is better than working near the equator with no wind or cloud cover. I’m sure the temperatures in the areas where Coastal Transportation service are idea for those that choose to work there.
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Depends on what you are used to, or what you prefer.
Although born in Norway, personally I prefer warm climate.
After spending a winter as Coxswain on Tjeld (Nasty) class MTBs, (with open bridge) in Northern Norway in 1965-66, I decided that freezing my a*se off was not for me.
Yes in the tropics it could get too much heat at times, especially on old North Sea vessels, but still better than freezing.
PS> Now I’m back in Norway, but still prefer the tropics.
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Took me back more than a few years seeing a ship using Union Purchase after all these years along with the all the cargo gear registers that we had where every shackle had a number . I’m with Ombugge on this but the tropics had its dangers, some we didn’t appreciate being shirtless, hatless and covered in coconut oil.
I remember on the M/V Slidre in 1969:
After completing 32-year SS by class (DNV) in Newcastle, incl. overhauling the winches. When we commenced loading cargo for PNG and Solomon Islands, the two winches serving #2 hold didn’t function.
As Ch.Off. I directed the crew to rig blocks and tackle so we could use the two winches for # 1 on the same mast, to serve the #2 derricks.
The stevedore foreman look at the arrangement and called a Union inspector, who asked me (with a broad grin); “show me certificate for every block, shackle and sling used in this rigging”.
Since we had just updated the cargo gear register I was able to do so. (no more grin)
“I want a force diagram to show that that it is within SWL of every item” (angry voice)
I had prepared one as part of planning for the rigging and presented it to him.
After studying it for a while he just shock his head and said; “OK approved. On these small island ships you sure have to know your sh*t”.
PS> A stubby of “Castle XXXX” for each of the deck crews that evening. (At least two from the Ch.Off.)
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I don’t know what’s it’s like at Coastal now but when I worked that trade there were no cargo gear registers, numbers on the shackles and it was all non-union… and it wasn’t tropical weather.
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Correct. None of the DOI requirements. We have our own alternate cargo-gear inspection records system. And gear gets tested every two years.
This little Danish ship, Jette Bue, 299 GT, arrived in Sydney in 1968 to start a charter with a timber company on New Britain.
She was equipped with 3x what was know as “Swinging Derrick”, or “Derrick Crane”, rated at 5 m.t SWL each.
The “wharfies” didn’t understand the concept, since when 2 x 5 m.t SWL derricks are used in Union Purchase the combined SWL is reduced to 2.5 m.t. They insisted that the same had to apply to these single derricks.
Union inspector was called in, but they were just as baffled by this new (to them) concept. (U.P rules applied on single derrick = common sense)
The charterers wanted to cancel the charter, as they bundled the sawn timber in 4 t. lifts. Eventually, it became a “diplomatic” case, with Aussie and Danish Maritime Authorities involved.
PS> Jette Bue operated between Sydney and New Britain for 2 years.
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BTW:
Union purchase= Brit-speak
Yard-and-Stay = what we call it.
Odd thinking, because when the load is first being lifted it is normal for one runner wire to take all the strain, making it a single boom system for those few moments. The gear is strongest when the load is distributed between both booms.
Yard-and- stay is foreign to most American mariners. But it’s not extinct. I see newbuild foreign trampers in Dutch Harbor with yard-and -stay gear.
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Aussie thinking in the 1960/70s.
Japanese reefer ships maybe?:
South Korean made. FOC operated.
Union purchase rigs are very good for working cargo in an open roadstead where the ship is moving around. Loading pineapple off Atiu Island with the ship drifting off I found driving the forklift in the hold a bit disconcerting.
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Yes South Korean built and FOC registered, but owned and operated by whom?
VERY few FOC ship’s beneficiary owners, operators and/or managers are domiciled in the country who’s flag they fly. (Neither is the actual administrator of the registry)
Typical example of a refrigerated ships that MAY be seen in Dutch Harbour:
Source: BOYANG ALASKA photo, Refrigerated Cargo Ship - Taken on Dec 7, 2022 - VesselFinder
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Nice ship.
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Sounds like the management of MSC should watch these videos.
Kind of diverting from the hardware part of the discussion, what are the crew turnover rates at Coastal? Large, small ? Just general interest… Not looking for a berth.