- Dec 18, 2010
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Got home yesterday after spending three weeks on two different tugs.
First two weeks - working in a fleet, which means we stored and moved barges. If a refinery did not have room for the barge we stored it until the refinery had dock space. We would pull a barge out of storage, then deliver it to a larger tug. The larger tug would then deliver the barge to the customer. Some of the barges we handed off to larger tugs were going as far away as Mississippi.
Third week - working on a push tug. We move a single bottle barge filled with isobutane between two different refineries. The bottle barge had 3 pressure vessels on it that held a total of something like 16,000 gallons.
Will not list company name.
Will not list boat names.
I will say I worked between Houston and Corpus Christi - 2 weeks in Houston, one week in Coupus.
The hardest part of the job was being away from home. The third and fourth day were the hardest. The captain yelled at me over the radio for doing something wrong. A few minutes later I had a small emotional breakdown. I cried a little, but regained my composure.
There are some women tugboat captains in the Corpus area, but they are few and far between. During the three weeks I did not see a single woman.
The best part of the job is the skies and water at night.
First two weeks - working in a fleet, which means we stored and moved barges. If a refinery did not have room for the barge we stored it until the refinery had dock space. We would pull a barge out of storage, then deliver it to a larger tug. The larger tug would then deliver the barge to the customer. Some of the barges we handed off to larger tugs were going as far away as Mississippi.
Third week - working on a push tug. We move a single bottle barge filled with isobutane between two different refineries. The bottle barge had 3 pressure vessels on it that held a total of something like 16,000 gallons.
Will not list company name.
Will not list boat names.
I will say I worked between Houston and Corpus Christi - 2 weeks in Houston, one week in Coupus.
The hardest part of the job was being away from home. The third and fourth day were the hardest. The captain yelled at me over the radio for doing something wrong. A few minutes later I had a small emotional breakdown. I cried a little, but regained my composure.
There are some women tugboat captains in the Corpus area, but they are few and far between. During the three weeks I did not see a single woman.
The best part of the job is the skies and water at night.
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