Richie's Reflections

Richie Jr, Capt Richie, and Petie

O4:30 am the alarm clock is ringing in my head. It’s time to get up for another day and the life aboard the Starstream’s magical mystery tour. I scrub the crust out of my eyes from the 15 hour day that I did the day before. I can still smell the bait and fish scents in my pores, no matter how hard I scrubbed my hands, it still remains. I get dressed and walk into the kitchen, and Mom is up before everyone. She always made us a great lunch every day and was cooking breakfast for the Captain before he got up. I always loved her sexy night gowns and slippers. Mom was a mariners saint…I give her a kiss, and head down to the docks. “Have a good day son” she says, as I drag my ass out the door once again. Fishing life is not easy, but you love it because it boils in your salt infested blood.

Down on the corner of the old Woodcleft canal, the chaos begins, trying to “fill the boat up “with customers for the Captain and fighting off the competition who would stoop to anything to steal Dad’s customers. At times, it was a nightmare. Fist fights were on the boil many a morning. I learned to park cars within centimeters of each other, because the Captain wanted the lot full. All well and good following orders, except , the people could not get the hell out of their cars and climbed out the windows. Time to load the bait, chum, beer, soda, ice and tackle aboard getting ready to set sail. The blood pressure and adrenaline has peaked, especially if the Cap lost some customers. AT 0630 it was time to cast off the lines and head out for a new days adventure.

Who needs a rental rod, hooks, weights, toilet paper, barf bags, fresh bait, a reel trashed in a tangle like the nest of an eagle……… Mate, Mate, I need the gaff…., my lines are tangled…, I can’t get this fish off,…. I am pissed out of my mind,…… fallen down, and can’t get up. There is a fist fight on the stern…., I guy pulls a knife…, I deck his ass. The blue fish bit me and blood is pouring out like a bloody mary… There is a hook in my hand, my nose, my ass….. I guy has a heart attack, we have to get him off…... A woman locks herself in the head dying from seasickness says she is pregnant, we have to go home…… Some dude over flows the toilet and customers are inside the cabin sitting on the wooden deck of the old Starstream sick as dogs…… I watch the flow of water and turds rolling aft down the deck and the seasick customers scramble like rats like it was the Terminex man with poison…... This dude runs out of cabin with so much excitement to catch another fish, jumps over the bottom doorway lip and cracks his head on the overhead….. He had a knot on his forehead that you could have played horseshoes on and was the first human unicorn……. I smell dope in the cabin, oh yea, its Ramone again getting stoned…….Looked like a Cheech and Chong movie…. I help this beautiful woman hook a big fish and the butt of her pole knocks her breast out of her bikini top……priceless….. I had to have a chicken breast sandwich after that….. Shucking clams,….. cutting bait…., grinding chum…., cleaning up puke…,tying endless nights of wire leaders and hooks….. fill the reels….take out tangles….scrub the boat….the heads… fillet hundreds of fish….. salt infested cuts…. sun burned….whipped to the knees…muscles aching…..time for another cold beer at the end the day….feed the seagulls, they have to eat too…. all for the love of the game.

My nick names in high school were “Popeye” and the “Master Baiter”. Yea, I was the first born son into this game and working for your father 7 days a week , 15 hours a day was not easy. Dad was a hard driver, however, I guess he had to be. Stevie was the smart one, he worked the night sail with Captain Chris when he started out. My Dad is very head strong, and I became even worse. We had a love hate relationship, but respected each other for the hard work we endured together. I respected some of his quotes and follow them to this day. “If your right and you know you’re right, stick to your guns”. If you are wrong and know it, admit you are wrong.” “Be honest and don’t lie”. If there is one thing that my father gave me was his natural ability to “ Handle, manage and run boats” I am not sure if he knows this, but I really wanted to take over the family business. Deep down I believe that he knew, but saw the hand writing on the wall for the future of the industry. He wanted us to go to college. I gave it a try for 2 years, but college was not the life for me.

My passion for the sea ruled over any emotion that a man could ever dream of. Out of all the family members that helped Dad run his business, there is no one that loved it more than me. I was the only son that followed in my Father’s footsteps as a professional mariner. While the fishing industry declined, I set my course to work on tugs in New York harbor. Dad always wanted me to be better, and I set my goals to do that. The reason that my passion is greater than most for the sea is because I have sacrificed many, many, years of my life being away from home. The maritime business is my passion, and the ocean has been my best and worse friend as in any relationship in your life. I would not trade this life for anything else in the world. With love , there is sacrifice, and I loved the water and was always willing to leave home and my family to go back. Not everyone is cut out for this business, it is tough, sometimes lonely, but the thrill of adventure and crew relationships over ruled the down side.

My father-in-law- Captain Clyde Pollard, was a tug Captain who invited me to sail with him while I was dating his daughter Jean (whom I later married). I was in awe of his profession and how good he was at the helm towing large oil barges like they were a skiff. I was hooked….. What is really fascinating about this story is that Clyde, when on his time off, fished aboard the Starstream and knew me the first time we had met. What are the odds that your father and father-in-law are both professional Captains? God had a plan for me. I have always felt that the Lord has blessed me with one Angel on my shoulder, and one Angel for a wife.

My career after fishing started in 1979 when I finally scored a job with ExxonMobil in New Jersey as a tug boat deckhand at the age of 19. This was a pretty tight business to get into back then. As a “green horn” deckhand, if the “Old Man” saw that you can steer a boat, they were quick to teach you the towing trade. Captain Don Fiordland had me steering sixty thousand barrels of gasoline on two barges heading up to Albany New York one night on the 4,000 horsepower tug the “’ Exxon Granite State”. I will never forget this as long as I live. After observing me for several hours he said, “Son, you need to get a Captain’s license, you’re a natural.” So I did…. By age 22, I obtained my Master of Towing vessels and also a First Class Pilot License of any gross tons. Captain Don’s confidence in me at age 21 gave me in inspiration to do what I was “born to do”. I accomplished this on my own by studying aboard the tugs and at home. I learned my wheel house skills from some of the best tug and barge handlers “in the world”. The natural boat handling ability passed down from my father made me a fast learner. I honed my skills to be the best and the utmost perfectionist as my father did the fishing industry. When you are moving millions of dollars worth of petroleum products from port to port, you had to be on top of your game because there were severe consequences if you failed. I was one of the youngest skippers in the East Coast Fleet working for the biggest oil company in the world.

I have seen more than most mariners in my experiences working on draggers, oil barges, fishing boats, ferries, tugs, salvage tugs, fire fighting tugs, ship assist work, and motor tankers. I have sailed coastwise to Maine in the winter, beating ice off the hull and deck house so we did not sink the vessel. I have sailed from the state of Washington around the US to New York, been to the Navy Base in Cuba, Panama, Mile s along the Mississippi River and various ports on the East and West Coasts. What a grand life it has been so far….

After Exxon sold most of their Marine Fleet assets over the last decade, I transferred to several Marine Shore side positions which were high stress jobs. I worked 8 years in Baton Rouge as Marine Operations Supervisor for the ExxonMobil Mississippi River fleet, which consisted of 10 towing vessels and 90 oil barges.

Presently I am the Marine Operations Supervisor in Esso Angola, West Africa, based on the mouth of the Congo River. I have been doing this for the past 3 years and away from home a month at a time. This job has been the most challenging , and also my most rewarding job in my 33 year career as a marine professional. The fleet that I manage consists of 18 vessels that conduct various deep water production drilling and exploration operations. The largest subsea and anchor handling vessel that we operate is over 23,000 horsepower working in up to 1200 meters of water. There is so much that I could write about this, however, all I can say is that without the courses charted in my past, I would never have made it to where I am today. That course began when I started working for Captain Rich Senior back when I was age 11. I cannot believe it has been 42 years ago since my boating life started.

Dad, we did it, and you know the shoes that I have to fill in the job I have today, so thanks for the memories, and talents I have been blessed with. The Starstream life will remain forever in my dreams, salted memories, and my deep passion for the sea will die with me when he calls.

To my wife Jean and my children Crystal and Rich….. Thanks for loving me when I was not there, when the sea called me back, you always understood.

I could have never made it to where I am today without all of your encouragement and love.

Fair Tides and Calm Seas

Captain Rich Kessinger Jr.

January 20, 2011

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