{"id":3731,"date":"2016-06-03T23:51:43","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T23:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rickcoraccio.com\/boat\/?p=3731"},"modified":"2016-06-04T01:51:41","modified_gmt":"2016-06-04T01:51:41","slug":"just-another-day-for-captain-skerry-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rickcoraccio.com\/boat\/?p=3731","title":{"rendered":"Just Another Day for Captain Skerry. Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSCN8439\"<\/a>A guy won’t get too many opportunities to accompany a tugboat captain as he moves a Virginia class nuclear submarine.
\n“Ya oughta come along Rick. Should be quite a show,”\u00a0 Captain Skerry\u00a0said in a Facebook message. I couldn’t get my fat little fingers to the keyboard fast enough to reply “Hell ya!”
\nI first met John Skerry in\u00a0the spring of 2010. He had a Trojan F-32 for sale, so\u00a0the XO and I (and\u00a0our dog Ginger Lee<\/em>) headed off to the town of North Kingstown in\u00a0Rhode Island to check it\u00a0out.\u00a0The boat\u00a0had been refitted with Lehman 120 diesels, an intriguing and unusual\u00a0set-up. Trawler motors in\u00a0an old sport fisher? I think I was more intrigued by the fact that his name, Skerry<\/a>, is also a name for a sailing dinghy. Long story short, we bought the boat, named it Ginger Lee<\/em>, and lost contact with John until the summer of 2015 when he found us moored in Wickford Harbor<\/a>. We’ve been friends ever\u00a0since.
\nI had arranged to meet John at 8:00\u00a0AM\u00a0at\u00a0a Park and Ride<\/em> in Rhode Island.\u00a0About an hour and a half\u00a0drive.
\nIt’s 6:30 on a coolish, slightly foggy morning. The sky shows streaky glimpses of blue as I leave my driveway in Wareham. “It’s gonna burn off,” I say to myself, and I\u00a0am right. By the time I reach my destination, it’s a full-blown sunny day. I hop into John’s F-150 and we drive to New London, Connecticut. On the salty shores of the historic Thames\u00a0River,\u00a0I’m transported into a world that few people ever get to experience up close, the world of working mariners.\u00a0Captain Skerry’s world.<\/p>\n

\"Captain<\/a>

Captain Skerry takes in the view\u00a0from his tug Patricia Ann.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The Thames Shipyard is a hundred acres of working waterfront that includes not only tugboats and\u00a0dry-docks, but both car and passenger ferries. It’s the beginning of Memorial Day\u00a0weekend and the parking lot is filling up with ferry passengers and cars. John cuts a long line of idling cars and gets waved through.
\n“Is it crazy yet?” he asks the young attendant.
\n“Gettin’ there,” is the expected answer.
\nFirst, we tour the relatively new fast ferry. Impressive for sure.<\/p>\n

\"Fast<\/a>

Fast Ferry.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Fast<\/a>

Fast ferry bridge.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Engine<\/a>

Engine room control panel.<\/p><\/div>\n

But not nearly as impressive as the deluxe tour of\u00a0(in my opinion)\u00a0the star of the fleet the Cape Henlopen<\/a>. This massive car ferry\u00a0was built in the Forties and was actually on the beaches of Normandy\u00a0delivering tanks during WWII. The fact that it’s still in daily operation today is a testament to the talented employees of this ship yard. Everything is maintained, repaired, and refurbished on site.<\/p>\n

\"Captain<\/a>

Captain Skerry’s workplace.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Cape Henlopen car deck.<\/p><\/div>\n

In the middle of the car deck, John opens a door marked DO NOT ENTER and\u00a0I\u00a0eagerly follow him down a long, steep, metal stairway into the bowels of this historic ship. It is wicked loud. I mean heart-stopping loud. I was in a rock band for forty years, so I know loud. The heat radiating from\u00a0a massive diesel engine is\u00a0alarming, and\u00a0it’s not\u00a0even running. John shouts in my ear and I can barely hear him. Apparently all the noise is\u00a0coming from\u00a0a pair of\u00a0room-size 250 kilowatt generators.\u00a0That’s a huge amount of power.\u00a0To put it in perspective, I have a 3 kilowatt emergency generator that runs my whole house, heating system and everything.<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/a>

Big engine<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Big<\/a>

Big Generator.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSCN8378\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"hydraulics\"<\/a>

Water system detail.<\/p><\/div>\n

We follow a prop shaft to the aft of the boat. John points out an interesting feature: this huge ship can be steered manually. If the hydraulics fail,\u00a0a person could crank\u00a0a gizmo and steer.<\/p>\n

\"Shaft\"<\/a>

Shaft<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The shaft brake. It’s like a disc brake on a car but much bigger.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Rudder<\/a>

Rudder mechanism. Note the direction pointer at the top so it can be manually steered. This thing is as big as a truck.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Manual<\/a>

Manual steering actuators. You wrap a chain to connect those two orange things and crank that arm in the foreground. It looks like it’s been used before.<\/p><\/div>\n

We climb out of the engine room and head up to see the wheel house.\u00a0After the sauna-like engine room, the cool ocean air\u00a0whacks me like a Gatorade shower.
\nCaptain Skerry has been haunting this shipyard for so long it’s hard for him\u00a0to move anywhere without stopping to say hi to someone. “This is my friend Rick. He’s the guy who bought my boat,” is my introduction, repeated many times. And everybody knows exactly what he’s talking about.\u00a0Our old F-32 is apparently well-known around here.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Wheelhouse.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"1940's<\/a>

1940’s com phone. Still in use.<\/p><\/div>\n

We eventually make our way over to the tugboat side of the yard. Things couldn’t be more different. There’s no hustle and bustle; no public to deal with.\u00a0The docks are strewn with all manner of stuff: welding equipment, 55 gallon drums, cables, lines, and spares. And then there are\u00a0the awesome tugboats themselves. Who the heck doesn’t like tugboats?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Working<\/a>

Working docks. Tug John Paul.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

We hop aboard Captain Skerry’s 105 foot tug Patricia Ann<\/em>. \"DSCN8370\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Rubber<\/a>

Rubber all around.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Fortified<\/a>

Fortified bow.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Stern<\/a>

Stern bitt (the big black thing they tie lines to and that looks like tt) They plan to replace it with a power winch. (next photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Old<\/a>

Old Navy power winch.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Old<\/a>

Old school wheel house.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"I<\/a>

I love this engine room. I could live here.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2400<\/a>

2400 ponies.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Fully<\/a>

Fully stocked galley.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Bunks.<\/a>

Bunks. I\u00a0COULD live here!<\/p><\/div>\n

After touring the tugboat Patricia Ann<\/em>, all I can say is: I want one.<\/p>\n

\"Captain<\/a>

Captain Skerry and tugboat Patricia Ann<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A guy won’t get too many opportunities to accompany a tugboat captain as he moves a Virginia class nuclear submarine. “Ya oughta come along Rick. Should be quite a show,”\u00a0 Captain Skerry\u00a0said in a Facebook message. I couldn’t get my … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2TWzP-Yb","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rickcoraccio.com\/boat\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rickcoraccio.com\/boat\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rickcoraccio.com\/boat\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rickcoraccio.com\/boat\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rickcoraccio.com\/boat\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3731"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.rickcoraccio.com\/boat\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3873,"href":"http:\/\/www.rickcoraccio.com\/boat\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3731\/revisions\/3873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rickcoraccio.com\/boat\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rickcoraccio.com\/boat\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rickcoraccio.com\/boat\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}