Our brother in law, Tim, is a tugboat engineer, and he’s currently living his own live/work dream. He spends half of his time in the engine hull of Tugboat Margot, running cargo up and down East Coast waterways. The other half of the time, he manages his company, NYS Marine Highway Transportation Company, from where he lives in nearby Troy, New York.
We got a tour of Tim’s latest addition to the fleet – Tug Margot – while we were visiting him and Jim’s sister Barb.
A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with an architectural degree, Tim has never been one to chase down a paycheck and work for the Man. He’s always lived the free agent lifestyle; whether it was running his building renovation and construction firm in Troy, or his latest gig, the tugboat business.
Tim is also an amazing gourmet cook, and he manages to make some excellent grub on the ship. Jim and I could learn a few lessons from him about cooking in tight quarters.
Even though Jim and I lived on the California coast, tugboats were a rarity in Eureka. It was great to have the opportunity to tour a real tugboat and see what life is like on a ship.
Isn’t that what we are all really working towards. The ability to live the dream without a 9 to 5 ball and chain. It is good to see others living the way i would like to live. I am well on my way but it will take some time.
John.
You? Navy? Huh?
Hope you got some decent post-service bennies out of it!
HA!.. ex-Navy man here.. I’m quite familiar with tugs. I was stationed on a Knox class Frigate that did two overseas deployments during the almost four years of my hitch, and we had this salty old Senior Chief on board named Sal Castillo. I was forward lookout for Sea Detail, meaning that I was always up on top of the signal bridge whenever we’d pull in or out of a port, and Chief Castillo would be down there supervising the line handlers who’d get us tied up or untied.
Whenever we entered a foreign port, WHEREVER it was.. old Chief Castillo would know the tug Captain. As the tug would come up alongside and toss a line over to us, Castillo would say, “Hey there, Frank!” (or Javier or Jed or Ted or Sammy or Juan or Marcus or Ying.. take your pick). After 28 years in the Navy with most of it spent overseas, he knew EVERYONE.
dramamine anyone??