2010 I got hired as an OS with Seacor and worked on the Tim McCall crew boat (now owned by a mom n pop company and called the Poppa P still here in Fourchon. My starting day rate was $167, the sweet part was that they hired me fresh and pages for all my classes to get me going. I had 11 days of classes at Falck Alford in Houma and paid for my hotel (my wife even came to stay with me!) And gave me $100 a day just to go to classes that they paid for, I got lucky I think, maybe it was that one of my buddies was good friends with a coordinator haha.
My buddy recently started down here on a Seacor liftboat as a cook making $265 a day to cook. He has been a deckhand for almost a year at a small crew boat company prior to getting hired
In principle threads like this are prime to be just chock full of good stories and memories, but in practice they’re actually just a good way to let your identity outside the forum slip. I would love to share my first boat job, I had the time of my life and made irreplaceable memories, but it was also unique enough that it would probably give my identity away in a heart-beat to anyone on here who, outside the forum, is even vaguely familiar with my career or who I am.
There’s no real point to this post, I’ll be honest I’ve had a few drinks, I just wanted to point out that threads like this are not always a good idea for everyone. That’s all, now back about your business my friends…
I think at this point I’m hiding in plain sight. I get point blank asked every few months from some random person. There were a lot of cadets last summer who jammed me up also. I guess those guys ghost on the forum more than we realize.
[QUOTE=Texaco;146185]Straight into the Navy out of HS in '84 for six. First ship was Aug '90, the Coastal Eagle Point, the T2, ex Esso Baltimore built in ‘62. Ball bustin’, bell to bell, 8 am till dusk. Sailed as an Ordinary, though I had time for AB. Damn glad I did. Had an old (68 y/o) Portuguese bos’n, Jose, who taught me most of what I know today in being an AB. Ran black oil in the wings and asphalt down the middle. That deck was so damn hot in the summer. Early '91 found me in the GOM for a short bit. Only time I ever got seasick was on a JE Graham standby utility. Did a trip on a Tidewater boat out of Morgan City and Cameron, and we couldn’t leave the boat. Did another trip on the Bengal Seal with Seal Craft or Fleet, can’t remember. In Fourchon, we would tie up as close as we could by the convenience store that catered to rec fishermen so we could walk less than a block(shouting distance) from the boat for A 40oz, the captains gift. We couldn’t go further away from the boat and someone had to stay onboard for the radio. Then, got smart and joined a deep sea union.[/QUOTE]
Deep sea union?? Please enchant us…yes I’m serious!
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[QUOTE=Fraqrat;153742]I think at this point I’m hiding in plain sight. I get point blank asked every few months from some random person. There were a lot of cadets last summer who jammed me up also. I guess those guys ghost on the forum more than we realize.[/QUOTE]
I hate seeing the # of “guests” thing at the bottom of the page. I wish everybody had to create an account to read this stuff if not also have work experience in the industry
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;153742]I think at this point I’m hiding in plain sight. I get point blank asked every few months from some random person. There were a lot of cadets last summer who jammed me up also. I guess those guys ghost on the forum more than we realize.[/QUOTE]
I get asked, periodically. I’ve toned it down for exactly that reason.
I just shrug and say, “Catherder? Who dat?”
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[QUOTE=OBXmariner;153755]I can’t wait to grow up and be a celebrity on gCaptain.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I’m no celebrity, and people already knew who I was because of my photography and blogs, but I do appreciate the A+ for the profile picture. That movie should be required training for working on boats.
[QUOTE=Traitor Yankee;153768]Yeah I’m no celebrity, and people already knew who I was because of my photography and blogs, but I do appreciate the A+ for the profile picture. That movie should be required training for working on boats.[/QUOTE]
Movie?! Waaaaait, what movie? Tell me so I can watch it to night and hopefully pass out. Do you know who capt day is on ship spotting.com? He has been down here in fourchon forever it seems like
[QUOTE=Traitor Yankee;153768]Yeah I’m no celebrity, and people already knew who I was because of my photography and blogs, but I do appreciate the A+ for the profile picture. That movie should be required training for working on boats.[/QUOTE]
Concur,
Has been my training video/manual for the last 20 years Capt… Tie 'er loose, if it’s gonna happen it’s gonna happen out there…
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1978 Galaxy Marine, standby 115’ standby vessel, “IDLEWILD”, Patterson, LA, $30/day working 14/7. The good old days
Shrimpin boats 85 summer goofin off, then joined the Navy in 88 got out in 92 USS Wabash I don’t know what I got paid, drank it all. Joined the Army 2 years then assorted land jobs then in 2012 got smart and went back to sailin. Started at Hornbeck - Michgan Service, Huron Service then off to ASC December 2012 been on the Amercian Courage ever since now I’m the ships Bosun. I wish I had gone straight to sailin after I got out of the Navy. I remember seeing the MSC guys and being envyous of them…cause they were making huge bank…lol.
[QUOTE=PaddyWest2012;153732]In principle threads like this are prime to be just chock full of good stories and memories, but in practice they’re actually just a good way to let your identity outside the forum slip. I would love to share my first boat job, I had the time of my life and made irreplaceable memories, but it was also unique enough that it would probably give my identity away in a heart-beat to anyone on here who, outside the forum, is even vaguely familiar with my career or who I am.
There’s no real point to this post, I’ll be honest I’ve had a few drinks, I just wanted to point out that threads like this are not always a good idea for everyone. That’s all, now back about your business my friends…[/QUOTE]
Depends on how long it’s been since your first hitch. For me, not that long ago so I best keep mum.
AB with Chester Blackburn and Roder Miami. Small RO-RO’s serving the Caribbean. Ships registered in Cayman Islands. Paid $7.17 per day ($215 per month) .80 cents/hr overtime. Captain Hoegseth found it too much work to figure overtime at 80 cents an hour, so he upped us all to $1.00 per hour. No wife, no house, no car, no nothing. It was the best time I’ve had with or without my pants on.
[QUOTE=Traitor Yankee;153768]Yeah I’m no celebrity, and people already knew who I was because of my photography and blogs, but I do appreciate the A+ for the profile picture. That movie should be required training for working on boats.[/QUOTE]
Hehehe, yeah, I am probably better known from my work with a camera, but most times what I shoot has nothing to do with this business. My racing photos have been published in several magazines, including Road and Track. That said, not enough dough to quit my day job. I just shoot pictures for the groupies. . . . . and the fame. . . .
I was O/S on the USNS Bob Hope in 2001… I can’t remember how much I made but it was more than my brother who had just graduated from Penn State with a dual major… My chief mate paid me OT to learn trig and terrestrial nav to get ready for Texas Maritime… It’s pissed off Whitey the Bosun (SIU old timer)
It was a wooden hulled Brazillian vessel. The crew matresses had dinosaurs on them and I was told they came from an old orphanage in Brazil. Stone ballast. One head and it was in the captains quarters so only to be used when he was not in his room.