Tell us oh great master of the high seas, what in your opinion make one a mariner? I think most guys are happy to pull their hitch and go home with the least amount of interaction with Joe boss and the office as possible. Some of those offshore guys dont know how good they have it.
I think I can just make a blanket reply for all of us nonmariners down here. FUCK YOU, YOU OLD MISERABLE ASSHOLE! Ok now I can finish my breakfast.
Dude WTH? What liberties are being infringed upon? Where is it you want to go? You wanna drive an hour to Houma to watch a movie while you’re off watch? You wanna be able to go to the Riverwalk in NO for a shopping trip? What rights am I surrendering? There’s no where to go nor do I feel like going anywhere anyways? Im at work I’m not on vacation I get done working I go to bed and relax. I don’t realize I was pissing on our founding fathers by giving up my rights as an American citizen by calling my wife and going to bed.
I consider it my mission to rouse the rabble here and with your reply I consider it mission accomplished!
you many be mariners but you are a GoM version which with distance I am seeing is a much lesser version…just part of Joe B’s vast empire.
these are real mariners! work like a ox at sea and play like a banshee in port…men who could not spell JSA!
It’s always been almost entirely about the oilfield. It was built by oilfield Mariners like Anchorman and Captain Lee Et al. You didn’t seem to mind talking about offshore when Noble was footing the bill.
This crap isn’t unique to the Gulf so slow your roll there. It’s just as bad all along the East Coast with one or two exceptions. You can’t even get off to grab some newspapers. The USCG says they can’t do anything since it’s shore ward of the dock and the office won’t fight them since they’re the customers.
Yea its a shame. Being an american mariner can be frustrating sometimes. We had a pilot a couple years ago who brought us up the bay and he wasn’t allowed to go through the gate and out the terminal after we docked because he didn’t have a TWIC card yet. He had been piloting those waters and going through that terminal for 40 years. It was a sad moment to witness. So stupid.
They could tell you were a yank!!!
[QUOTE=coldduck;146045]It’s always been almost entirely about the oilfield. It was built by oilfield Mariners like Anchorman and Captain Lee Et al. You didn’t seem to mind talking about offshore when Noble was footing the bill.[/QUOTE]
Lee and Anchorman were late to the game. It was built by a bunch of guys who could not read or write well but could find their way to a rig they could see from the pass.They progressed as time went by of course. For those who aren’t familiar with how the offshore industry in the USA came to pass, there is a great history of the development of this industry written by the old MMS with interviews of the guys that did it while they were still alive, most are dead now. It is still on the internet somewhere.
I was talking about this forum.
[QUOTE=coldduck;146070]I was talking about this forum.[/QUOTE]
Excuse me, I misunderstood. However, I believe the gCaptain originators had a lot to do with this website, I will agree Lee and Anchorman had a lot to do with making their own voices known. I at times wondered if they were retired as they seemed to have so much time on their hands. 
Rise of the cajun mariner, it’s a pretty good book on the beginnings of the offshore industry in the GoM and how the old captains transformed an industry. A lot about Otto Candies and Nolty Theriot, a little about Edison Chouest. They were pioneers.
[QUOTE=tengineer1;146069]Lee and Anchorman were late to the game. It was built by a bunch of guys who could not read or write well but could find their way to a rig they could see from the pass.They progressed as time went by of course. For those who aren’t familiar with how the offshore industry in the USA came to pass, there is a great history of the development of this industry written by the old MMS with interviews of the guys that did it while they were still alive, most are dead now. It is still on the internet somewhere.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=c.captain;146024]You know what? You people should read what you write! It is simply incredible to hear mariners talk about such utter nonsense.
I am so GODDAMNED glad to be done with all the unbelievable BULLSHIT nonsense that exists in the Gulf and on top of that I hate it that this forum is almost entirely about the FUCKING offshore!
You miserable SOBs aren’t mariners…you’re just part of a huge machine run by Joe FUCKING Boss![/QUOTE]
I am with you on this one. I almost made a comment about oil ports not being good places to go ashore, since both Hooker’s Point in Tampa, Port Everglades and even Corpus being pretty good. But I guess oil ports mean Port Fourchon, Venice, Pelican Island. . . . .I guess this forum HAS gone to the offshore industry since that is where the USMM has gone. I don’t like it any better than you, but I don’t have to live it anymore. I guess if I was still sailing, I would still be in the notch or on the hawser. . . .
So fucking sorry to make a living. Even if it does not meet the high standards that you seem to have. FUCK YOU. Go run a POS 200’ freighter with a 25 man crew bringing rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong. You’re not not going to make me feel like less than a professional mariner, just because I don’t have an unlimited license, coming out of Alaska. Come try to drive my Z-drive boat better than me in Fourchon, offshore, anywhere in the fucking world you bloviating blow hard. Manage the vessel better than me. I dare you. Run a crew, without having them all walk off or file for harassment. And keep it fucking Bristol fashion at the same time. I hear a lot of squeaking, but not seeing a lot of cheese, SKIPPER. You might not like it, but the reality is, the oilfield has clients and the hated JOE BOSS. I usually give you a pass, like the crazy uncle who shows up for thanksgiving going on and on about the new world order and chemtrails. No more. You won’t make me, or any of the hard working seaman I have the privilege of working with feel ashamed about the work we do. We’re every bit the mariner you are, and fuck you for implying otherwise.
[QUOTE=captrob;146227]So fucking sorry to make a living. Even if it does not meet the high standards that you seem to have. FUCK YOU. Go run a POS 200’ freighter with a 25 man crew bringing rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong. You’re not not going to make me feel like less than a professional mariner, just because I don’t have an unlimited license, coming out of Alaska. Come try to drive my Z-drive boat better than me in Fourchon, offshore, anywhere in the fucking world you bloviating blow hard. Manage the vessel better than me. I dare you. Run a crew, without having them all walk off or file for harassment. And keep it fucking Bristol fashion at the same time. I hear a lot of squeaking, but not seeing a lot of cheese, SKIPPER. You might not like it, but the reality is, the oilfield has clients and the hated JOE BOSS. I usually give you a pass, like the crazy uncle who shows up for thanksgiving going on and on about the new world order and chemtrails. No more. You won’t make me, or any of the hard working seaman I have the privilege of working with feel ashamed about the work we do. We’re every bit the mariner you are, and fuck you for implying otherwise.[/QUOTE]
Great rant! Thing is they have too much rubber dog shit in Hong Kong.
Anyway general statements are almost always bullshit. I couldn’t make a true blanket statement about the C/Engs I sailed with or my ABs or the Captains I’ve known or mates etc etc but I can make a sweeping statement about mariners in a particular sector or area? It’s obviously nonsense.
You tell em CaptRob
Wow, pretty heated sailor talk just to bitch about not going ashore.
If the company you work for does not allow you to get off the boat you stay on the boat.
If you work for yourself you can go ashore.
If you work for a smaller company that [U]needs you more than you need them[/U]…you go ashore.
What you do ashore is your own business until you make it someone else’s business.
Had some good times ashore and made some real brothers over the years goin ashore.
Didn’t give a shit if the office knew and might even see the boat owner buyin beers.
I started sailing in the mid 90’s after 4 years in the Nav.
Wasn’t really “back in da day”.
But it was my day and still is.
I got a family now and don’t go to the bar when I am home so I am not really in the habit of drinking anymore but even if I was I would return to the vessel sober and ready to stand watch if I thought someone might want to “breathalyzer” me.
If I couldn’t make it back sober if a rat was around then I would get a room until I was sober.
Guess it all depends on the 5 W’s. Every situation is different.
I agree you either have a hell of a walk or an expensive cab ride to get away from the dives in the oil patch.
We never had trouble findin a nice place to eat and drink on the Lakes.
Most of the fellas I like to go ashore with liked to spend some of that green stuff after bein cooped up so long.
We only went ashore in crappy wx when we couldn’t sail.
We didn’t sandbag to go ashore and we got back and ready to sail when there was a break in the wx.
If you give a rat no food then he finds someone else to infest.
I think it is also important whether you can be trusted to get off the boat to run some errands or for a nice steak dinner but still being on call and ready to go back to work on a moments notice.
If your Port Captain doesn’t understand when you been on the boat so long you need a hair cut, cold beer, and a steak dinner then he probably is really a “Captain”.
I would go by myself if I had to. No one to drag me down with them due to their bad behavior and not mine.
Learned to separate myself from the heard long ago.
Hell I even got on with a company who no longer exists and shall remain unnamed (just in case) that ran the carib. We had a regular “cantina” we all went to for food and uh…companionship…yea that’s it…
The boat had no food for eating, no water for drinking besides what you brought, no water for showering, and it was filled with locals…a few of whom I don’t think were employees.
The “main office” was out of the loop but as soon as you arrived when you got dirty, hungry, tired, lonely, etc. you did what everyone else was doing.
It was fun for awhile but I would have rather stayed on a nice new tug with all the modern conveniences like sat tv and air conditioning.
I think I am venturing into sea story territory and “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!” is coming on…
I gotta jet.
peace