Once Upon a River

“Don’t worry, ole’ boy,” Hughes said. “I’ll holler long and loud. Everybody needs help sooner or later.”

That made me feel better, especially after Williams told me that they had spent three days aground on their last trip.

I found out later that it was my good fortune that Captains Williams and Hughes had happened by instead of a hundred others that would have ignored my plight.

For the next three days, it was smooth sailing. The crew was talking to me

again, and I was feeling better about the whole thing -- maybe even patting myself

on the back.  I wish I could say that was the last problem I encountered. It was— 

until we entered the Atchafalaya River at Angola, La —by the time we reached Morgan City, La., I had hit the bank twice and had broken up tow.

At Morgan City, we entered the Intracoastal Waterway and changed

captains. Pizanni went on vacation and Jim Hackett took over. Hackett was on watch as we approached Intracoastal City around 7:30 p.m.

There are several outlets from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Gulf of Mexico, and the outgoing tide creates a suction toward the Gulf.

As we were passing an outlet, the tide’s suction caught our tow and broke the bow barge loose. To our amazement It took off through the outlet and disappeared. It was a fascinating sight, just like an invisible hand had snatched  it away!

We tied off the remaining barge and went looking for the other one. We wound around like a snake for about three miles and finally found the barge, hard aground. We pulled on it for an hour or two, but couldn’t pull it loose. There was nothing else we could do until the tide came back in, so we went back to Intra-coastal City, tied the boat off  for the night and hit the sack — hoping for a miracle!

Early the next morning, we went to check on the barge we had tied off the night before. To our amazement it was gone, too. Now what do we do?

We were wondering if some boat had come by and taken the barge when Hackett decided to go out through the outlet and see about the grounded barge. What a sight we saw when we approached it. There, end to end, were both barges! During the night, the tide had pulled the other barge through the outlet and had lined them up perfectly.

We waited three days for the tide to come back and re-float the barges and finally arrived in Port Arthur two days later to spot the barges for discharging. The dock man informed us there would be an eighteen-hour delay while they finished unloading a ship. That sounded good, because a night on the town was in order after what the whole crew had been through. 

All but the captain and two other crew members took a taxi into town. We had a great time, and of course  I caught a ton  of ribbing from the crew. They were not ready

To let me off the hook regarding the grounding and banging the boat around. But at least they were talking to me again!

If I thought I was over my last hurdle, though, I had another think coming. We finally finished discharging our cargo and were headed back, shoving the empty barges. We should have expected it — the wind started blowing at about 40 miles an hour! That’s just what a new pilot needs. I already had two strikes against me, and now the third strike was on the way! It dawned on me soon enough that the Jean Frances wasn’t much boat when it came to driving empty barges  in  40-mile winds.

 I was on watch, piloting around the bend at Intracoastal City — where we had already encountered  enough problems — when here came the tug Lone Star , pulling three loaded barges on a steel cable attached to a long line  called a hawser.

I called him on the radio and asked for two whistles — meaning that I wanted him to meet us on our starboard side, so if I landed I would land on the bank instead of him. The wind was ferocious and  he insisted in meeting on one whistle; he wanted to pass on our port side. One whistle is all they know in the Intracoastal Waterway.

I tried to come around for one whistle, but the wind was too strong and hitting me broad-side and the Jean Frances was sliding like greased lightening. Too late I realized that the wind had me. I had the rudders hard over, but the wee Jean Frances wasn’t comg around!

Yeah, you guessed it, I clobbered him good. I knocked a hole in the bow barge big enough to drive the Jean Frances through without touching on either side!

Third strike, and I was out. Oh, well