Have You Got What it Takes to be a Towboat Captain?
The life of a Captain at TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale is far from boring. On any given day, a Captain may be involved in a variety of operations requiring a diverse skill set. Let’s look at what an actual day might be like.
The day may start with a routine BoatU.S. Member tow of a 15’ Boston Whaler from its point of breakdown back the boat ramp. 1 hour and 45 minutes down, time to coil up the towing line, stow the bridle and fenders and go out on patrol in Port Everglades. Just after passing under 17th Street headed for the port a call comes in that a 40’ sailboat has run aground at the triangle near the entrance of the New River and the tide is ebbing. A quick 180 degree course change and you are northbound on the ICW bound for the Triangle. Initial contact with the Dispatcher and the customer indicates that this is a non-member and there will be an out of pocket expense for this service. You rely on your training to prepare for the ungrounding while someone in the office explains to the vessel owner what the total cost is likely to be. You get word that the owner has accepted service and you begin the ungrounding operation. After passing the vessel a line and patiently applying gentle pressure over about a 15-minute period the boat slides off the shoal. Once you discuss the benefits of BoatU.S. membership with the owner of the boat, he agrees to purchase an Unlimited Gold membership. You helped him understand that this will be a covered incident if it happens in the future instead of costing over $1000.00. Time to complete some paperwork and straighten up your boat again. Wow, almost 4 hours down and two jobs have been completed. Your Dispatcher recently received heads up that containment boom needs to be deployed around a ship at Berth 25 in Port Everglades. Back to the dock to tie up the tow boat!
Once secure at the dock, you move to the boom boat and ask one of the mates to join you and get underway to boom the ship. You arrive on scene with a cruise ship that is over 900’ long. Containment boom is secured to the sea wall and stretched out around the ship as a precaution in the event of a spill while the ship is fueling at the berth. As the last 100 feet of boom is being deployed, a mayday call comes in over VHF 16 which is constantly being monitored while underway in any of the company boats. Wow... Never a dull moment! The other end of the boom is quickly tied off to the seawall and you start making way back to the dock while plans are being laid out by the supervisory staff over the radio for response to the mayday call.
An 80’ yacht reports significant flooding in the engine room 10 miles Southeast of Hillsboro Inlet. The Rigid hull inflatable tow boat that was on patrol near Hillsboro Inlet was underway immediately to the scene and one of the company’s 31’ twin diesel boats is about to get underway from the South office with additional dewatering pumps loaded on board. Arrangements are made for you to transfer onto the 31’ tow boat in the turning basin and for your mate to bring the boom boat back to the dock. 6 hours into your day and it is time for you to become part of the salvage team and save an 80’ yacht from sinking! Sea conditions are 3-5’ and deteriorating as you clear the jetty’s at Port Everglades and punch the coordinates of the casualty into the GPS. You note that the vessel will be drifting North in the Gulfstream and compensate appropriately. You and the other captain on board make a plan while in route. You will be delivered to the cockpit of the casualty upon arrival on scene. Pumps will be passed over from the tow boat once you are on board. All of which will take patience, strength and skill to perform as the sea conditions continue to worsen. The plan is for your partner to get the casualty in tow as soon as you and the pumps are safely aboard the sinking boat. (That’s right... safely aboard a “sinking boat”) You don’t know what time it is and you don’t care anymore! As you approach the casualty she is sitting low in the water. Your plan is executed flawlessly. You are on board and the casualty is in tow and headed up sea to eliminate the violent rolling caused by laying dead ship in a beam sea. Your counterpart who responded from Hillsboro has already tied his boat up behind the casualty and is also on board. He gives you the thumbs up that the captain of the casualty has accepted service and it is time to go to work. While he begins energizing pumps, you enter the engine room to seek the source of flooding. As you make your way aft in knee deep water no flooding source is immediately evident. You assist with placing pumps one by one. Three electric pumps and one 3” gas pump are now running and it appears that the water level in the engine room is receding. You make your way out of the engine room and locate the lazarette hatch to check that space. Water in this space is calf high with a small geyser spouting where the rudder used to be. You found it! The rudder has fallen out leaving a sizable hole in the bottom of the boat. You quickly find a towel to stuff in the hole and keep pressure on it with your hand until a more permanent patch can be installed. With flooding stopped, the water level continues to go down. It also appears that the water never reached the main engine dipsticks so you and the others may have managed to save the costliest part of the boat. The team on board communicates with the towboat and asks him to head toward Port Everglades as the water level in the bilge is down below the deck plates. Pumps are deployed in other bilge spaces to finish dewatering while towing continues. A more permanent patch is applied to the rudder port and is checked frequently. Once inside Port Everglades, the long tow up the river with two boats commences. One tug on the bow and one on the stern of the casualty is used to maintain complete control. Amazingly, despite the pace of the day, you aren’t tired and you are looking forward to the challenge of towing this boat up the narrow river in the dark with lots of boat traffic and strong currents. As you slide the boat into the haul out well at the local yard, you look at your watch quickly and smile knowing that you only have about an hour until your boat will be tied up and you will be heading home. You think to yourself near the end of what will be a 12-hour day... It seems like just an hour ago that I helped get that 15’ Boston Whaler on the trailer at the boat ramp!
At that moment it is official. You are a tow boat Captain! Sound like you? Send your resume to careers@towboatusftlauderdale.com
