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Article summary by Gary Polson RBBI
This article describes a ride down the river on ship. It discusses the difficulties along the path the Bright Field and many other ships take.
Two men, one an expert on the river, and the other an expert on the ship meet on the Mississippi River. Their job is to maneuver the ship from St. James Parish to New Orleans,through 70 miles of narrow bends, roiling currents, fast eddies, shifting winds, little boats, and barges. Usually this journey runs smoothly hundreds of journeys a week, round-the-clock, year-round. Hauling grain, chemicals, produce and petroleum along the Mississippi River makes little news until a disaster like the Bright Field strikes.
The paper makes a ride with Capt. Bobby Solar. Shortly before 5am Thursday he climbs onto the bridge of the Nord Jahre Target, a Norwegian tanker with a crew of 28, all but one from India. It is a crude oil tanker, 882 feet long, 145 feet wide, 142,000 dwt. It is one of the biggest ships on the river and is 150 feet longer and 80,000 tons heavier than the Bright Field.. The ship had been docked at the St.James Koch refinery for the last 2 days unloading 700,000 barrels of crude oil for Equatorial Guinea on the West coast of Africa. Now it is to head down river to the gulf, pickup a load of crude on the east coast of Mexico and deliver it to a refinery on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
Patil is the crews captain. He and his crew spend 4 months at sea at a time.
"For Solar, it's a seven hour shift, his 182nd trip of the year, the 4,839th since winning his pilot's commission in 1974."
The two captains have a very business like meeting reviewing the ships paperwork, dimensions, safety features, and wheelhouse. Maritime law puts Solar here. Patil is internationally licensed to guide the tanker of the open ocean. Once inside the territorial waters of the U.S. he must yield navigational control to a federally commissioned pilot. There are more than 200 of them on the Mississippi. The purpose is to put the vessel in the hands of someone who knows the local waters, currents, conditions, and other idiosyncrasies.
They lock into the Mississippi River communication channels and announce their position (nearing College Point) as they move down the river. Technical right of way rules don't mean much to a 142,000 ton ship. It cannot be stopped once its gets going. The paper translates the radio transmission as, "If you are anywhere near College Point you better get out of the way."
Solar points our the variables involved in handling the ship: the river bottom, the eddy, and the wind. "It's almost like driving on ice." When I turn she's going to slide. The Army Corps of Engineers maintains a channel 500 feet wide all the way downstream for the big ships to travel in. They police themselves, there is no equivalent to an air traffic control, just constant radio messages.
Solar now 57 has three sons that are river pilots. He wears a crisp white uniform, black tie, captain's cap and captain's stripes. The uniform is optional and rare among other captains. Many wear jeans, baseball caps, and windbreakers. He finds it brings more respect and professionalism to his job. He enjoys eating whatever the foreign crews are eating and getting to meet people from all over the world.
Along the route to New Orleans they pass 3 ships moored and grounded because they lost power or steering coming up or down the channel. Solar said he could not count the number of times he has lost power or steering. At nearly every spot on the river he has a story of losing power there. "Its a feeling you never get used to . Everything gets quiet. The vibrating stops and you wonder: How am I going to get our of this?"
"We call it stand-up time. you get out of the chair and get up by the window and give it a little body English." "Mostly things turn out all right. Tugs save the day, maybe the anchor drags the ship to a hault. Often the ship hits the mud, then the bank, knocking over a few trees maybe, but no shopping malls."
Solar pointed out potential problems when he spotted a Turkish Freighter, Gengiz-K with no flag to indicate an association pilot on-board and no accompanying tugs, and with slack dock lines. Deckhands were along the rail trying to tie her down. He recognizes that a large wake could bust her loose and cuts the Target's engines. Shortly later he sees a fleet of barges 10 across and 5 deep, 800 tons each holding 1400 tons of cargo each held by a single anchor line. He once again cuts his speed to reduce his wake.
As they pass the Riverwalk the crew members all gaze at the site of the recent Bright Field crash. Meanwhile, Solar is focusing on Algiers Point. This turn is so bad the Coast Guard has placed a control tower and traffic signal over the river on the Governor Nicholls Wharf. Seeing the massive Nord Jahre Target bearing down on them the tower operators hold all traffic to the south so the Target's stern can swing out and wide so broad that she keeps all comers at bay. Then she straightens out and kills her engines. Solar's job is done. Along the east bank at the Chalmette battlefield, a little schooner meets up with the drifting Target and Capt. Eric Short of the Crescent Pilots Association climbs aboard . It is the changing of the guard. The river pilots association runs the river from Arabi north to Baton Rouge and Crescent runs it from her south to the mouth of the river.
Solar greets the new captain, introduces him to his Indian counterpart, says goodbye to Patil, boards the little schooner and heads for shore.
The article has 4 photos. Three of them are wheelhouse photos and one shows the tanker going under the Crescent City Connection bridge.
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