Congratulations Coast Guard on One Million Lives Saved!

This is probably one of the best stories I have seen in a long time. All the negative news that we see about the number of people killed in Iraq, the death of Pat Tillman, and the failing conflicts, the military seems to get a lot of negative press these days.

Well, cheer up! The United States Coast Guard is making good news! But, only Maritime Bloggers seem to be covering it. Today I got a message from John Konrad over at gCaptain (http://www.gcaptain.com/) telling me about the landmark story.

Here is the Story from gCaptain
http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/one-million-rescues-by-the-united-states-coast-guard/
---------------------------------------------> Re posted for your convenience

While we were celebrating our numbers and sending you to Robin Storm’s post on recent Coast Guard rescues yesterday the saviors of the sea were reaching their own, much larger, milestone; 1,000,000 Rescues!

In a press release today Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote:
“What began as a revenue enforcement agency with a fleet of ten cutters established by Alexander Hamilton more than 200 years ago has evolved into the world’s premiere multi-mission, maritime and military service. It’s fitting that we celebrate the Coast Guard’s 217th birthday this August 4th as we recognize its brave men and women for saving more than 1 million lives over the course of its long and storied history.”

How were the numbers calculated?
The number of lives saved was calculated by the Coast Guard historian’s office through research of logs and records from the Coast Guard, the Revenue Cutter Service, the US Life-Saving Service, the Lighthouse Service and other agencies that eventually became the modern Coast Guard. In addition to tallying the total number of lives saved, the historian’s office has compiled a list of the top ten rescues in the Coast Guard’s history. The list shows the breadth of the Coast Guard’s efforts to save lives in peril on the seas for over 217 years.
Very Impressive, especially considering these heroes do it knowing “Ya gotta go out but nobody said anything about having to come back!”
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WARNING:: CHINESE PRODUCTS=POISON
FICHER PRICE TOY RECALL-- LEAD PAINTED TOYS
One quick note- I just saw on the news that there is another major recall from China. This time? Well this time it is toys that have been painted with toxic paints.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling 83 types of toys -- including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters -- because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead.

The worldwide recall being announced Thursday involves 967,000 plastic preschool toys made by a Chinese vendor and sold in the United States between May and August. It is the latest in a wave of recalls that has heightened global concern about the safety of Chinese-made products.
Read the whole story here ::::CLICK HERE::::

Our country is open to serious danger just through our own open market. Our supply chain is at risk because of the large number of products we receive from China. If we were to ever have a serious conflict with China, I would not be suprised if they attack us at home through the use of poison in packaged foods and other dangerously defective products.

Critical Times: The Maritime Industry Manning Shortage

Anyone working in the maritime industry knows that there is a manning shortage that seems to be worsening. As someone currently working in the Tug and barge industry, I know there is an unquenchable need from companies to fill all billets, particularly mates. This shortage can be linked to several factors such as an aging current work force that is approaching retirement, the shift from crews made up of haws pipers and academy guys to boats with almost all academy guys for officers, stagnant pay for so many years, over regulation, and personal liability.

To illustrate the age gap, on the vessel which I am currently working on the person that is nearest to my age is 20 years older than me. Three of the eight are do to retire this year. This is not isolated to my boat, but out of all the ships and tugs I have sailed on, my observation has been that there is a missing generation within the industry. Talking to the guys on the boats they for the most part agree with that statement. The industry was slow during the 80s and part of the 90s and guys just got out of it. For a lot of people once you leave the industry you never want to get back into it.

The second contributor is the shift from a hawspiper/Academy mix to a primary Academy make-up for officers. With the shift in regulations and license requirements the Coast Guard has made it very difficult for guys to start on deck as an AB and move up through the ranks. This has resulted in the dependence on the academies to produce officers for the industry. The problem with this is that now the primary sources of officers have the credentials and background and are choosing to shift to a shore side position. In years past employees would shift around in the industry so there was never a real shortage. If a guy was working in New York Harbor he would just shift around in the harbor so the employee was never really going anywhere, they were still in the industry. This is not the issue now, I am finding that my friends and my self are thinking about or have already made the choice to move ashore. I guess what I am trying to say is that the demographics are changing to more college boys, and they have the credentials and the foresight to move to more favorable careers.

This comes to the last two points, which are probably the biggest isssues, the pay and the quality of life. First I will talk about the pay. It is a well-known fact that the pay has been stagnant for such a long time that, every year you stay in the industry you are making less than the prior year. Every time I look in the paper and I see that a principle of a middle school makes more than a captain of an ATB carrying millions of gallons/ dollars of product and equipment, the college educated workforce realizes this as well. Not to mention that the Captain is a moving target for a lawsuit and prosecution by false courts contrived by the Coast Guard-- there are no accidents, only negligence in this industry. Why would you want to stay in an industry that is so vilified when you know that if there is any mishap that you are pretty much screwed? What job in the country has as much liability as the maritime business? That is something we starting out in the industry hear over and over again, “You are only good as your last job”

The industry as a whole is facing a huge problem and it is going to take everyone in all sectors of the industry to come together and let the government know what a vital role they play in the nation. It is critical that we lift regulations and red tape to attract people to come into the industry and end the constant fear of jail time, civil penalties, and losing your license to work. A rise in pay would help attract new people and bring back some people that may have left shipping for greener pastures.

Security Farce: Holes in Maritime Security

The following was mailed to me from a friend who recently had to deal with the Coast Guard in port:

I recently had the Coast guard come aboard and do a surprise security inspection. I got scolded for not checking their ID and checking their bags, and we did not have all vessel access points locked up like fort Knox. We just happened to be at a fairly nice area with a lot of recreational craft around and I asked the Coast Guard personnel, pointing to a small sailboat fifty feet from the vessel “what that was?” He said “A sail boat” So I asked him, “what is up with that?” Why are you busting my balls for not checking your ID when the dock checks your ID, is fenced in, has security barriers, security cameras, and security guards. Do you think that me checking your ID is going to make a bit of difference? Why would someone go though all the trouble to do us harm when anyone with three brain cells could figure out that you would just have to be on that sailboat to get close? Not to mention that all attacks on vessels in recent history have been water born attacks, the USS Cole, that French tanker in the Middle East. He just looked at me with a blank look on his face, and soon left.

I guess I just get fired up when they put all these security measures in place that limits our freedom. I am not even allowed to walk down the dock and get a newspaper in my own country, and then I am asked to play this game of checking IDs and the sort, when I can see clearly that they have all security on one side of the dock and nothing on the other side. All at the expense of us Mariners.

My take on all this security insanity:

The Coast Guard is not looking at all aspects of maritime security- and the most irritating part is that they are overlooking the obvious. There is absolutely no security in the marinas and small vessels are not being policed. It is really apparent when you are navigating out of large cities like San Francisco, or when pulling out of the mouth of the Columbia. Trying to get past buoy #10 on the Columbia River is a nightmare, small vessels darting directly under your bow. All you can do is pray that you do not run them over. The Coast Guard does not see this as a problem? What is going to happen when the terrorists catch on to this? They will go rent a small boat, load it up with explosives, and drive it straight into the first tanker they find.

I have a feeling it will take a maritime disaster of this magnitude to wake the Coast Guard 'Officer Elite' up to the reality of maritime security. There are too many Coast Guard desk-jockeys deciding what is best for the Merchant Marine community. If they spent more time conning a vessel and less time writing flawed policy- perhaps our security situation would be a little better.

Pasha Bulker Transformer

Pasha Bulker Transformer? Thats one way to get her off the beach!
Transformer Mania is setting in folks- this is a pretty awesome example of creative fan art. I was really surprised to see the ship get up and run away!
Take a Look!

Anyone Find Anything Better or Funnier Than This? Let me know if you do!

Also, I have been meaning to post this video, although I am sure that most people have already seen it on YouTube- this was an accident from quite a while ago- and I didn't even remember hearing about it. I must've been out to sea when this went down or something (or just spaced out as usual). This video is NOT funny.

Preserving the Jones Act - Call Your Representatives

This is a theme I have heard before as a solution to our current labor shortage- the government should provide temporary foreign worker 'visas' for the maritime industry. This has always been something the industry bigwigs have kicked around when labor was running low. Why pay American workers more when you can pay 3rd world workers less right? I have seen many many articles on this topic. This is precisely why we have the protections of the Jones Act.


Well, George Bush is pushing the immigration bill- the one that will allow 12million illegals stay and work and draw welfare- and he is pushing really hard since it was rejected earlier this month. This bill is going to dilute the American workforce with low wage earners. Increasing supply of labor and decreasing demand, a flood of aliens that no longer has to work under the table or worry about INS will seek better jobs. Many companies are salivating at that prospect.


I think that the Labor Unions to include the MM&P and every other AFL-CIO member union are doing their membership a diservice by promoting this sort of initiative because it is going to lower the bar for their membership. Suddenly shipping companies will be able to hire cheap immigrant labor when they are given the proposed 'Z visas'. Guess what jobs will be on the chopping block? The ones that Americans aren't willing to do- like going to sea? Ordinary seamen and AB's will be first- then we will see the licensed crew positions taken over as well. It may happen slowly- but it is going to happen if this bill goes through. I heard that the house GOP has introduced a new 'tough' bill today- but I will believe it when I see it (which I haven't).


My advice to anyone who wants to keep American jobs safe-- Go read the bill- it is huge and 70% sounds okay- but 30% is garbage that we can't allow. Like letting illegal aliens that have commited crimes stay in the country and obtain the Z-visas. This is just one of many problems that must be solved. At this point it would be best to oppose this bill outright to keep your birthright safe- and ensure a future for your children.

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The USS Stennis was home to a meeting of the maritime officials and business leaders to explain the role of the Combined Task Force and how it is essential that they work together with the maritime communities to keep trade free and open to all merchant vessels from all nations.
Read more...

Stennis Hosts Maritime Law SymposiumMilitary.com - USAAboard USS John C. Stennis -- Combined Task Force (CTF) 152 hosted a maritime law symposium aboard USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) for business leaders while ...See all stories on this topic

Capt. Wade Update and Rose Festival Photos

I have been neglecting my blog for a few days so I wanted to post a few things really quick- things that I have been meaning to put up. First is an update on Capt. Larry Wade from the Maine Maritime Training vessel- I looked up his get well site http://www.caringbridge.org/ and he is now up and about and posting on the website himself! That is most excellent. It turns out that it was not a stroke! I think that that is a serious blessing. I have known a few people whose parents suffered a stroke and it is very awful- often causing long term damage.

I imagine Captain Wade is counting his blessings! About 10,000 of them so far, which for a website that has been up for just a few days is amazing!

Get well soon Cap!

Next, I wanted to post on the Portland Rose Festival. It has been over for a while but I never posted my pictures like I said I would so, here are a few.


















Stern Wheeler, Aft end of the Henry Blake....




The Coasties on Patrol...

The wildest boat in town- A sweet viking ship ride

I won't even bother posting the Canadian Navy. They would feel so emasculated compared to our buoy tender the Henry Blake. I almost felt bad for them docking next to our Navy ships.

A Far Departure from Captain Jack Sparrow- The Reality of Pirates.

We all know about pirates of old- the swarthy guy with eye patch, the parrot, and wooden leg. These privateers may have been brigands and cutthroats, but they were known for having a code of honor and strong sense of democracy. The Hollywood pirates like Johnny Depp- prancing around and waving off danger. The movies show pirates in a way that is almost glamorous.



The modern world pirates are none of this. A perfect example would be off the coast of Somalia. These are thugs of the lowest order, mostly money hungry gangs and often connected to larger organized crime. These pirates have been known to kill crews for sport and often take hostages that are beaten severely until they can negotiate a price for their release. There was an excellent article in the Guardian about these Somali pirate gangs and the increase of attacks in the region. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2100605,00.html



Take a look at the story. It is a good read.

Navy switching to paperless navigation?

THROW AWAY THE CHARTS?

There was an article I was reading on MarineLink.com about the Navy switching to all electronic charts. The CNO (Chief of Naval Operations) has decided to go without charts and all navigation will now be done with ECDIS-N (Electronic Chart Display Information System- Navy) made by Northrop Grumman. Three USN vessels are now being certified to run free of paper charts.

The story here http://www.marinelink.com/Story/ShowStory.aspx?StoryID=207490 is a small one, but in the grand scheme of things- this is a major event. In some ways this is good because we have advanced to the point where electronics are reliable enough to do this. It is going to open up a huge can of worms however when one of these vessels goes of course and runs ground.

Computers are changing the way that we are working on land, air, and sea. The maritime industry has always been greatly opposed to change and one of the last to implement any modernization. Steeped in tradition and plagued by thick tomes (called CFRs) that tell us what we are allowed to do- when will this change hit the merchant fleet? What is going to happen when we do? What will the reaction be if an accident occurs?

The new breed of electronics for vessels are outstanding and I am all for technological advancement. But I would hold onto your charts and keep plotting fixes and running DRs for now. I don't think the Coast Guard will be to lenient on officers that feel compelled to stand watch and leave the charts in the drawer during the accident investigations.

Post Intelligencer on Maritime Pollution

Here is an article from the Seattle P.I. (Post Intelligencer- Where the heck did they come up with that name?) as recently come up with a report on the maritime industry and points the finger at them for being a major polluter.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/315832_clean16.html Article Link Here

They even posted this nifty chart in their paper showing wonderful things like "particulate matter" and "Green house gasses".

What they really fail to do is tell the impact that fixing this problem is going to cost us as a society. Not to mention how it will impact the workers- because the CEOs aren't going to feel it- it is going to put a halt on any wage increases we may have been hoping for in order to put new "hybridized" engines and such into all of our ships. But I can guarantee you that they won't impose this ridiculous garbage on the foriegners.

And this is where I take issue- the 'environmental industry' is taking first place in the media these days but they don't put food on anyone's table. They keep the liberal environmentalists nests feathered while trying to hurt so-called 'big business'.

They don't understand that some of these regulations that they want to impose across the board on emissions will effect the small business owners as well- because many of the tug and barge outfits on the rivers and harbors of the west coast are small businesses. Some parts of the maritime industry have already begun to dwindle in the Pacific Northwest because of an unfriendly business climate.

I don't want to come off as anti-environment because that is just stupid. I am actually very green in my personal life, but when you want to change an industry that is essential to the nations economy you cannot expect change to come easily or without a fight. You won't see me supporting any legislation for changing the industry- not until I know it won't damage our nations infrastructure and supply chain-- and I don't want it to harm the workforce.

I get nervous when I see these 'studies' because I can see what is coming our way, so prepare yourself for a fight because this is where we are headed. Perhaps we should launch a study on Al Gore's mansion and his private jet emissions and see what his carbon footprint is.

Veterans with a sense of humor

I wanted to share a funny picture I got in an email. This is a picture of a WWII veteran - Supposedly at one of Hilary Clinton's speaking engagements.
It would not suprise me if the caption with the picture was true- although I think this man's bullshit protector would be useful around just about any politician these days.

Politically- the Merchant Marine has allies and enemies from both parties. Much of it depends on how much revenue their states see from the seafaring trade. The current debate of House Bill HR23 and Senate Bill 1272 will require us to suffer a great deal of bullshit from many people who do not understand what the Merchant Marine does.

Write to your state representatives to get support for our WWII Merchant Marine Vets.

Polluting the High Seas- another example to learn from

It seems we as a community still have some things to learn. Such as that horrible lesson that we were taught when the Valdez grounded on Bligh reef. Most people who are sailing are well aware of the consequences we face in today's world. Pollution is a hot topic- one that can get Mariners put behind bars.

Now I am about as far from a crazy leftwing environmentalist as you can get- but I do respect the environment and I do care what happens to our world- I personally would not pollute the water on purpose... but I was taught to be that way- so maybe it is a generational thing. Maybe the oldtimers think they can do it and that they might save a buck or two and land a bigger bonus from the home office. Maybe.

I really doubt that though.

In this new case, two Cheif Engineers pleaded guilty to polluting the ocean using 'magic pipes' to bypass the oily water separator and the storage tanks- dumping massive amounts of oil and bilge waste into the water. New reports say that the bypass pipes had been discovered by the Coast Guard during a routine inspection.

PGM (Pacific Gulf Marine) pleaded guilty to charges related to its role in deliberately discharging hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil-contaminated bilge waste from four of its giant car-carrier ships used to transport vehicles, including the Tanabata and Fidelio. The shipping company was sentenced on Jan. 24, 2007, to pay $1 million criminal fines and $500,000 in community service, and serve three years of probation under the terms of an environmental compliance plan which will be audited by a court-appointed monitor.

In the old days, companies put pressure on the crew to 'get rid of it' when it came to the costly disposal of waste. I don't know if Pacific Gulf Marine would encourage that type of behavior even if it would save them money in the long haul. I seriously doubt they would. I really don't know why the Engineers went to so much trouble, illegally dumping and faking log entries unless there was some reward for doing so. However, with the stiff penalities one would think that it would be strongly discouraged behavior. I hope that this serves as another reminder to mariners out there who have thought about trying to save the company a few bucks.

It isn't worth jail time.

British Sailors Captured and No Action Taken

England was once THE greatest military power in the world, and they certainly have the capabilities to fight a large scale conflict. However, watching the news and seeing the capture of British sailors by the Iranians and the lack of response from the English government, you really have to wonder what has happened to this country. The leaders in the British Isles have done nothing, planned nothing- when they could destroy half of Iran with the push of a few buttons. Has the socialist phony Tony Blair totally lost his balls? How can he even call himself a man? The president of Iran should have a tactical nuke dropped on his home at night- yet Blair does nothing. This will only embolden the nutcases in the Middle East.

Now Iran is negotiating the release of their prisoners being held in the U.K. for the British sailors. Will they negotiate with the terrorist lunatics?

What does this have to do with the Merchant Marine you might think? Well, historically the strength of a nation’s Navy is generally a measure of that nation’s power. Navies were created to safeguard our interests abroad. This includes merchant fleets and it affects us greatly. If the Brits are neglecting their Navy personnel what will happen when the Iranians capture merchant vessels?

We have another Hitler emerging and no one wants to say it. Everyone is being politically correct so that we don’t offend the Muslims. Our reaction should be stronger- the west should lash out and show these jackals what we can do. This goes for England and the U.S. because America must defend its allies as well.

So when your merchant vessel is captured- thank your government for strengthening the resolve of our bitter enemies- the evil rotten dictators in the desert. So write your parliament (or congressmen) and tell them to stand up to these schoolyard bullies. I say nuke them and be done with it. Between the U.S. and U.K. we should be able to get rid of this threat- U.N. rules be damned.

International shipping school: Estonia

When I was looking at my site statistics today I saw that American visitors were ranked #1, but the interesting thing to me was that Estonia ranked #2. It made me think back to when I was a cadet and we went to Estonia and visited their maritime academy. I was very impressed with it and the cadets there. I would say that they were actually right up there with my school, Maine and the simulator they had at the time was better than ours. I was very impressed by their strong language skills which is something that we tend to lack in the U.S. It is good to know that some of our foreign counterparts are excellent merchant mariners as well, especially when there are so few American ships in the ocean these days.

So for all the Estonian visitors to my site I wanted to say hello and 'Aitah' (I think that is Thank You) for a great stay at your beautiful country and being so welcoming when we visited your maritime school.

Electronics (You'll want) at sea

I was thinking about this today because I have become a real fan of small portable electronics- and for obvious reasons. When you have been shipping for a long time you figure out what you really need and what you will actually use. When you are traveling all over the world and have to pack everything into a certain amount of luggage (in my case the smaller the better) it gets difficult to haul around a lot of electronics with you all over the place. So I have some favorite things that I thought I would share with everyone.

If you have a lot of shore time and you don't have much to do, get yourself a portable GPS and try Geocaching. I had never heard of it before until I got a handheld GPS and started surfing the web. If you join a Geocaching group you can sign up for treasure hunts- not that you will get a pot of gold at the end, but they are fun little diversion. So the next time you plan on being somewhere tropical, pick up your GPS and go hunting for buried treasure.

When I first got out of the academy I was still a video game junkie. Old school sailors (40-over) can probably skip this part. But for those of you that can't live without games- you should try some of the new portable gaming devices. I have a Nintendo DS. Love it. I don't play a lot of the traditional games anymore- but some stuff like Big Brain Academy is great for killing time. It is full of brain teasers and stuff. When you have a lot of time and nowhere to go this is awesome. You could try the PSP (PlayStation Portable) too if you don't mind spending more money.

My absolute favorite thing for the ship is my Palm Pilot Tx. It is small, sleek, powerful enough to do what I want and even comes with WiFi and expansion slots. I was taking graduate school classes while on the ship because I could get all my email messages and do my class work with the wireless keyboard and documents-to-go the program that acts like microsoft office. The Palm Tx also gives you the ability to watch movies, listen to music MP3s, and store anything you want on SD cards. Excellent. I have never tried other brands of pocket computers, but this is really an awesome way to bring all of your work and important documents with you. There are many different types- so do your homework to find out what will suit your needs. If you need a small computing device and don't want an expensive laptop- try this out and you might find your suitcase a little lighter on your next trip to Guam, the Gulf, or wherever you have to drag your stuff to... Happy Sailing