HARBOR PILOTS AND TOWBOAT MEN

[Music] ships come here from all parts of the world to unload and pick up passengers and cargo a harbor is a busy place and the pilots tugboat captains and foreign ships make port everglades florida a colorful mixture of activities and people we'll find out what a harbor is all about today as discovery visits harbor pilots and tow boat men [Music] discovery 70 the award-winning program for young people with bill owen and virginia gibson hi and welcome to discovery we're in port everglades florida our deepest atlantic port south of norfolk virginia it witnesses the passage of an amazing number of ships right now there are nine large passenger ships and seven tankers and freighters in port if every birth were filled there could be as many as 30 vessels in port for every docking there's a sailing and the average ship may stay here anywhere from 12 hours to three days so there's constant activity in port that's right jenny the harbor channel is filled particularly on weekends with charter fishermen sailboats and small crash there's a lot to keep track of and birthing a massive vessel isn't as simple as parking the family car the arrivals and departures are scheduled and recorded weeks or at least days ahead in the harbour masters office once the captain of the awaited vessel wires the harbormaster that he's offshore and ready for docking the harbor begins preparations whatever glades harbor masters are in this case the ship is the michelangelo a transatlantic ocean liner from genoa italy because of her immense size the michelangelo will require a large birth and the assistance of all of the three tugs that service the port side according to procedure she'll be met by one of the harbor pilot boats at a sea buoy just outside the harbor where the harbor pilot will board the ship and take over her command until she's been docked hello captain fagan uh camp we got a confirmation on the michelangelo 11 a.m sea buoy time right we'll go uh birth number 16 starboard side two okay sure oh yes notify them all thank you [Applause] this is captain william fagan he's one of a two-man pilot team that works in alternating 24-hour shifts with another pilot team okay well let's go the michelangelo's do outside 11. it will be his responsibility to guide the michelangelo through the harbor channel and dock her the difficulty or ease with which this can be done will depend largely on his instructions to the three tugs while navigating the ship to its designated birth he must maintain constant radio contact with the tugs captain fagan's many years of experience make this little more than a matter of routine for him [Applause] each ship comes into port everglades under different conditions weather and visibility vary from day to day the tide may be coming in or out or a ship may be docking at night all of these changeable factors will dictate the approach a harbor pilot must use to complete each docking this clear and calm day should make bringing in the michelangelo a relatively uncomplicated task that should take less than two hours to complete after the michelangelo has picked up passengers captain fagan will guide her back out to the seaboy where he will disembark and either return to the pilot house by pilot boat or wait in the pilot boat to meet another incoming ship at the buoy while he's on route to meet a ship the harbor masters office is busily alerting the tugs and dock linemen and preparing them to synchronize their activities okay don birth number three captain erd hope will skipper one of the three tugs assigned to the michelangelo the captain's background with the navy and as a tackle with the new york football giants have given him the training and toughness that have served him for more than 20 years as a tugboat captain there are officially three tugs working port everglades each one has two crews of four men each including a captain the tugs four-man crew lives aboard the boat during its 24 hours on duty a captain two deckhands and a man in the engine room [Music] james we need seven linemen out here at uh birth number 16 uh make it 10 45 a.m michelangelo the harbor master's third and final phone call goes to the port's headline handler he will in turn assemble the necessary number of men to work the docking from the birth like the other four harbor pilots of port everglades captain william fagan has his master's papers and has captain ships in the merchant marine when the pilot boat heads for the dredged channel leading to the open sea the michelangelo is still more than 40 minutes away from the seaboy the point of contact for which both of the vessels are aiming walter sweat is the boatman he's been a yacht captain and so is his father he knows the waters around port everglades intimately the channel for which he's heading is dredged to a depth of nearly 40 feet deep enough to accommodate all but the very biggest ships at sea the tugs don't have to go all the way out to meet the larger ships they can come alongside just before they are needed when the ship has left the sea lane and is in port everglades own channel everything is ready here [Music] the number of tugs used is generally judged by the size of the ship and of course the larger the ship the more tugs as a rule two tugs are used there are occasions when we use a third tug where we place them depends upon the draft of the ship the birth it's going into the current conditions at the time to properly handle the ship and do a good job it's absolutely essential that you know what the currents are doing [Music] once the pilot boat reaches the seaboy it alerts the michelangelo that captain fagan is ready to come on board and assume command of the ship whatever glee foreign as captain fagan boards the michelangelo and is escorted to the bridge the pilot boat will return to the pilot house to stand by for further duties [Music] the first thing we do is of course proceed to the bridge and we asked the captain generally what his draft is and whether he's got a nur in his compass so that we know what to expect when we're starting to head in the channel there are three things that you watch for the headway or the sternway that you have under the ship how she is being affected by the wind and how she is being affected by the current the tugs ordinarily come alongside just as we get inside the jetty and they run alongside and put up their lines and make fast in the position that we have requested them to and they stay alongside maneuver and do whatever we request until the ship is securely tied to the dock [Music] when the pilot communicates with the tugboat captain the tug captain acknowledges he has understood the instructions with one of several different kinds of blasts on the tug whistle the number of blasts indicates how hard the tug will push or pull the ship since the tugs each have four forward speeds one blast means the tug is using one quarter of its power while four blasts would mean that it is going to use all its power during the towing operation the tugboat captain stays off the radio to keep it free for more important use by the pilot the skip of the tug and spawn go to the tug until he comes alongside the ship make up two lines or a one-lined headline then you are no longer responsible for the ship because you're only assisting the pilot sees the overall picture and so you have to be sure you're doing just exactly what he says while the tugs and the pilot are working together like a drill team there's another part of the operation at dockside this pickup truck is a familiar sight around port everglades it's the harbor masters truck that's on hand every time a vessel docks the harbour master is responsible for making sure that everything goes well at dockside the right number of line handlers must be waiting as the tugs ease the ship into her birth the line handlers secure her only after the pilot has determined that she is safely birthed will he release the tugs for their next assignment [Music] one long blast followed by two short ones means all done it's the tug captain's acknowledgment that he has been released by the pilot but passenger ships are just part of the story there are also tankers and freighters motorized vessels and barges and once in a while something really out of the ordinary like a ship called trumpet fish we'll find out more about that in just a minute when a large liner comes into port everglades she requires the assistance of all three harbor tugs however the average ship that calls here needs only two tugs and a few need just one or perhaps none at all depending on the ship's weight and number of propellers every day ships come here carrying vast amounts of cargo and bill about 1500 ships a year call it port everglades they come from seven continents and at any given time the port's 27 births may contain lumber ships from norway oil tankers from aruba freighters from japan and liners from france or england or italy the ships of 50 nations make a temporary home here every year whether their cruise ships making their way back and forth from the caribbean on a regular schedule are unscheduled ships stopping off for needed repairs every ship which comes into the port must have an agent to handle a seemingly endless number of large and small details the agent may be the ship owning company itself or it may be a private firm which contracts with the ship owners to look after things while the vessel is in port if a crewman needs medical attention or the ship's purser needs money changed that's the agent's department just as it's his duty to see that food stores are provided and that water is taken on [Music] board [Music] [Applause] [Music] from the air in this particular day the harbor appears to be unusually quiet many ships on the preceding day have discharged their cargo or have acquired new freight and have departed during the night to various ports around the world days such as this one are rare at port everglades but work continues behind the scenes to prepare for the heavy traffic that's anticipated during the fourth coming weeks the harbor facilities can fill up as quickly as they can be empty and periods of apparent quiet are evaluated as nothing less than the calm before the storm and it isn't long before the harbor receives its first guest being the comparatively small vessel that it is by port everglades standards this submarine won't require a tug escort to birth it for captain fagan docking his submarine is quite different from bringing in the michelangelo without the assistance of tugs she must dock under her own power if the water were rough her instability might make it impossible to dock her fortunately today that is not the case while she's in port the submarine will be in good company her neighbor is the legendary queen elizabeth one of the most luxurious ocean liners to have ever traveled the atlantic because of her extreme size the harbor channel at port everglades had to be deepened to bring her through in the modern world of rapid air transportation ships of this size have become too expensive and impractical to operate as anything but tourist attractions the queen elizabeth now serves those who desire a window to the past to see what it must have been like to travel leisurely and luxuriously her final home will be atlantis 21 a resort complex being built in hollywood a mile south of here but for the moment she rests here in port everglades taking up births 26 and 27. bringing the elizabeth in here a little over a year ago required six tugs into three and a half hours it was probably the hardest task ever faced by the harbor pilots and the tugboat men we'll visit one of those tugboat captains at his unusual home and we'll do that in just a minute captain ud hope spends most of his time on the water so he seldom goes to sea he works a 24-hour shift aboard one or another of port everglades tugs his home life is also free of grass and sidewalks he lives on a houseboat which he and his family built over pontoons there are six children in his family but only four of them live at home just now the two oldest girls are married at home are 11 year old anna edward 14 oscar 17 and skip who is 19. until work on the houseboat has been entirely completed the hopes pay constant attention to its maintenance we started to build a houseboat a little over two years ago and we thoroughly enjoyed building it the boys learned a lot about wood construction my wife learned about wood construction and fiberglassing i learned more about my children and my wife what they could do a matter of fact i found out that they very much underestimated them our houseboat we built very much the biggest one that any families ever built and the whole family boat and we got a lot closer building it and so now we're enjoying it a lot more too when eddie hope isn't at school or at home he can often be found helping his father on the tugs captain hope took an interest in the sea at an early age he believes that with the right exposure eddie will be able to appreciate and learn from experiences in the harbor that will benefit him during his entire lifetime a little bit more left just easy don't come around too fast okay reach over and stop the boat eddie he doesn't quite know what he wants to do yet himself one moment at his age he wants to be a tugboat man another moment he wants to build airplanes so i believe though the kids when they grow up i once make up the mind something they like that's what they should pursue and do they'll enjoy life besides job although both captain fagan and captain hope earn their livelihoods at sea captain fagan chooses to relax on land his home is a convenient five minutes from the pilot house after having going to see for so long and then coming ashore there probably were times when i felt very closed in by the house the immediate neighborhood and cars and whatnot but i've adjusted myself and become accustomed to being ashore so i don't feel it any longer if anybody asked me about going to see whether i thought it would be advisable i definitely would give them a yes answer you can make a good living you have a good chance for an advancement and of course there's always the spirit of adventure in the visit to different ports and foreign lands scheduling and synchronizing the activity of port everglades is a complex operation that requires elaborate planning the men who move the port must be prepared to often sacrifice their personal comfort to meet the most extreme demands but to men like captain fagan and captain hope working port everglades combines the best of both possible worlds a life at home on land and the life on the sea we'll be back in just a minute we hope you enjoyed meeting the harbor pilots and tow boat men here in port everglades florida if you'd like to find out more about ships and the men who sail them and harbors and the men who work them then ask your librarian for any of these books ocean challenge by robert cars great american harbors also by robert cars and this book ships of commerce by cb colby be sure to be with us next week for another exciting adventure as discovery continues to discover the world bye bye bye the discovery production units domestic transportation and promotional consideration provided by united airlines [Music] me [Music] this has been a jules power production in association with abc news