I spent the summer of '08 or '09 in anchorage in Chesapeake Bay babysitting some derelict waste oil/water barges on a tug with reduced manning. No Master on board, only a halfass mate with a license. My mate, the tankerman & dayman didn’t do shit, same for all 4 on the opposite rotation. I took the old tow winch apart, chipped it down to bare metal, primed, painted, lubricated, installed new O-rings & gaskets & put it all back together almost by myself. The barges & outside of the tug looked worse at the end of summer than at the beginning, the ER & winch looked brand new. After that, the office/port captain would send those 7 lazy bastards home to the minute whenever the boat was off contract for 4 days. I always got to stay. I know most office personnel are shady folks but when a crew member complains about being furloughed, regretfully I have the memory of those 7 good-for-nothing’s in the back of my mind. I feel guilty about it.
Vessel tied up at company dock. Captain went home leaving 3/M in charge. Am I making too big a fuss?
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