Tugboat Skippers Have Big Responsibility

WORKING ON THE SEA offers adventure and travel, but captain and crew work long and dangerous shifts.

When Jeff Slesinger was much younger, he taught sailing and yearned to be a tugboat captain.

"The attraction for me was that tugboating demanded a higher level of skills and seamanship," he said.

And, perhaps, a greater chance for adventure.

Now, after 18 years as a tugboat skipper for Western Towboat in Seattle, Slesinger says the challenges are real - and satisfying.

But with the satisfaction comes awesome responsibilities.

A tugboat captain is in command of a crew, usually including a mate, an engineer and a deckhand. He is responsible for their safety, for a towing vessel that may be worth several million dollars and for barges under tow that may carry toxic chemicals and fuels or other valuable cargo.

The skipper of a tugboat must contend with the weather and sea conditions and needs to know countless rules and regulations imposed by the Coast Guard and others. He or she must be able to maneuver in close quarters a towing vessel and a tow as long as a football field and weighing hundreds of tons.

If a barge goes aground or spills its cargo, the skipper is responsible. He could lose his Coast Guard license, and without that, he would get no work.

"You've got to know what you are doing, or something bad can happen," Slesinger said.

The pay is good. A tugboat captain may earn up to $400 a day -

but it may be a 12-hour day in a seven-day stretch. Depending on how much they work, captains can earn up to $70,000 a year.

Slesinger gave up teaching sailing and began working on fishing boats to accumulate the sea time needed to take Coast Guard licensing examinations. Finally, with a mate's license, he found a job on a tug.

Rick Shrewsbury, vice president of Ballard-based Western Towboat, said everyone hired works first as a cook or deckhand on a tug to learn company policies and procedures. Even new hires with captain's papers start work on deck.

Deckhands, who start at about $150 a day, will work five or six years to accumulate time and experience needed for licensing examinations for jobs as mates and captains.

Western operates harbor tugs in the Seattle area, and several times each week, a Western tug leaves for Southeast Alaska, towing a barge loaded with goods. The round trip takes about 10 days, and the crews work six hours and are off six hours while under way. The captain and mate share responsibility for running the tug.

Often, crews doing long-haul towing will work 60 to 90 days then take several months off.

Quality people can find jobs, Shrewsbury said.

"But it's a little hard to find people who want to be away from home that long," Shrewsbury said. "It's hard on married life."

Jim Whitney does his towboating close to home.

A skipper for Olympic Tug & Barge in Seattle, he does most of his work on Puget Sound, with occasional trips to Portland and up the Columbia River.

Whitney, captain of the 70-foot Lucy Franco, and his crew often refuel freighters at anchor or at piers in Seattle or Tacoma. The task involves maneuvering a 240-foot-long barge, sometimes carrying a million gallons of fuel oil, alongside the freighter, regardless of weather or sea conditions.

"There can be a lot of white knuckles," Whitney said.

Whitney has been going to sea for about 24 years, since he was in high school. He started alongside his stepfather, who worked aboard Navy and research vessels.

Later, Whitney ran work boats and for several years worked as master, or captain, aboard Western Pioneer freighters running from Seattle to Alaska. He also worked on crews on salvage tugs out of San Francisco.

"I've always liked being on boats," he said. "I've tried land jobs and working inside, and I didn't like it. There is not a better job in the world."

Whitney works seven days around the clock and then is off for seven. On board, he sleeps in a small, windowless room steps away from the pilot house. He eats with his crew in a utilitarian galley with a television on the wall. When the tug is in its berth, the crew will paint and clean and maintain the boat's engines, generators and towing gear.

Whitney holds Coast Guard licenses as mate (to 1,600 tons) and as a master (to 200 tons). He had to pass tough examinations and prove his experience to earn those licenses.

Little formal training is available. For most, on-the-job training is what counts.

License holders will have to take Coast Guard radar courses, for example, and may take classes on topics such as safety training and personnel management, said George Clark, personnel manager for Olympic.

The Coast Guard judges license applicants on their experience and on exam results. They are not tested under working conditions at sea. But the Coast Guard is considering making new license applicants prove their proficiency at sea or with a simulator, Clark said.

Bob Lane is a Seattle free-lance writer.