Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What's the most "Nautical" moment you've ever had?

Great stuff, Jefe.

From an islander? Bloody hell, mate...

Can't resist the opportunity to (re)post this, some of our newer arrivals may not have seen it.

The American Export Lines fast passenger freighter "Excalibur", driving through the Winter North Atlantic.

May Dad was her First Mate / Exec, and ran her through both Brit, Italian, and German Blockades to put her in past Gib, and into the Med,....BEFORE we entered WW2.

I LOVE this picture,.....talk about a well put together ocean greyhound....

Gotta get on these ancient 35 MM slides I took with my bro's old Zeis camera,....and somehow scan and transpose some more pics.
The CREW on that freighter were quite a group, the deck hands direct descendants of Teach and Bloody Morgan, the Bosun a "Stateless Person" The German Engineers all "I was not a Nazis", except for the 2nd engineer, who would tell me of his time with Doenitz's wolf packs, and cry in his cups for his lost Kameraden. The FOURTH time we caught one super tenacious stowaway from Colombia, and got him (again) out of the lifeboat, and put him to doing some chipping, he went morose, and hung himself in the crew's toilet. ....Belizian 2nd cook found him in there,....an event which later led to an AWFUL prank played on his orney azz.

Saw a few coups and one flat out shooting war type Latin American Revolution offa' that ship, too. we were deeply laden with mining explosives as they mortared the harbor



GTC

Yeah, but it is really big.

That is a GREAT picture...worthy of a postcard or poster.

Feel free to post some more...please.

Not sure if it qualifies as "nautical" but every night I ate and slept in the ship Schotov offshore in the Caspian was pure hell.

Our "Stateless Person" Bosun, Old Jose Montegudo had gotten into some sorta' SERIOUS trouble during the Spanish Revolution, and was apparently on the outs with the Franco regime.

For many years before I met him as a pup (10 years) his only home had been the Company's ships. He'd been with them since they started up, and pre-dated my Dad, in that respect. I can SEE his weathered face in my minds eye, a stub of a cigarette smouldering below laughter crinkled grey eyes. That cigarette was ALWAYS there, except at the dining table, and he had nicotine stains on his grinning lips. He was never clean shaven while aboard, but never had a beard. Nobody knew how old he was, ....and in knowing him for 7 years, I percieved no visible change in his carriage or sure footed mobility. I reckon "Ageless" would apply. His HANDS were something I can see, and reflect on when I figure mine are starting to look rough, ....the old boy spliced 1 1/4" Springline cable eyes well, and BARE HANDED. he and my Dad developed a very interesting "Mutual Respect" situation, and it would take a real Jack London to wring that one out.
When we hit the right port, Jose would go through a pretty astounding transformation, and smooth cheeked and decked out in spotless denim and crisply starched white shirt would throw a sporty wave over his shoulder as he headed down the gangway.
At 16 I found him in a really NICE whorehouse in Puerto Limon with an astonishingly pretty young thing bouncing on his lap, and generally having a fine time.
I never went to any great lengths to find what the final outcome of his return to Spain was. He knew my family, and was a guest in our home (once) Knew both my older bros who worked on the older ships under his amused tutelage.
.....I'd rather just think of him sitting in a sidewalk cafe watching the fishing fleet rolling in, enjoying a beer and a smoke,....pretty much unchanged from the last time I saw him, 52 years ago.

GTC

i am on a double top drive semi-sumbmersable oil rig going from the gulf of mexico to the black sea

get off the fuggin thing june 5th and the other crew comes and takes it to a palermo ship yard to dismantle our derrick and skates and take down our knuckle boom crane
then we come back and take it to istanbul to cross under bridge and reassemble
then other crew comes back to set up for drill ops in the black sea by oct1









fugg da ocean............................................












but da pay is excellent and the time off is good............
28 on 28 off once we get into drilling cycles

wishing you smooth seas and a safe voyage,
...I'd nonetheless point out that you don't "fugg" the sea.

She fuggs you when and how she chooses, and those plying her bosom are but random dust,

Safe home.

GTC

You're a sneaky, greasy SOB, Mr. C., and fling prose that both humbles and brings smiles. Not to mention a shaking head. Somewhere, a publisher is missing out.

BRAVO, orale y arigato gozaimasu tambien!

The publisher passed out from trying to keep up.

Tales well told from the 7 Seas.

Definitely remember the name, believe he was one of the more senior MTs. Being a nuke I didn't know the missile guys as well tho I think I had pretty good overlap with him. I was there from Dec. '80 to May '84, Blue crew after the shipyard.

Typhoon Pamela in 1976. I was on USS Davidson FF-1045 a Garcia class FF and we were in Guam for a short upkeep period. None of use could believe they sent us there instead of Subic,fuggers. In any case, we had to get underway because of the approaching storm. Captain ordered zebra set, no one was allowed topside and I swear we spent as much time underwater as on the surface. Easily 20-30 foot swells if not larger.

Entering the well deck on a LCM-6 can be right exciting in rough seas.

Crossing the Columbia River bar on a YTB (Yard Tug)will also make you pay very close attention to what your doing.

I drove a crane 5 miles out onto the Beaufort sea with drive plates covering soft spots. My pilot truck asked me not to get closer than a quarter mile to him. After my journey of walking on water, I touched the north star.....north star island that is.... does that count?

He was my LPO on the Bolivar 92-94, good guy.

I've fished 'lumpy' with Chris and Dan.



<hint>

"Most Nautical" - they took this cowboy skiing.
Seemed to me they were high-speed trolling, however.
Longest week I ever had that afternoon!

Mark

When I bought a cottage on an island on the CT coast I discovered the tides and their currents. The place came with a Sunfish besides the outboard boat to get there.

It was the Sunfish and discovering sailing that led me to larger boats and sailing them on the coast.