....So we chase this empty, brand new, 13 million dollar **** barge for 4 days. It is Febuary in the North Atlantic. 10 to 20 foot seas and the barge is headed for Cuba.
The barge being empty, is riding high in the water and catching the wind. Un powered, unmanned and doing 12 knots and bound for Cuba! (lol)
The barge is 10 times the size of the tug. So while the barge is sailing along prestienly, the tug is doing the hoky-poky and rising and falling 10 to 20 feet.
So naturally, we ram it and I climb up the "Pigeon holes" (sort of a recessed ladder built into the side of the barge)
There is an emergency hawser so this is almost a done deal. The hatch is frozen so I use a deck winch to peal it open. Was kinda fun. It was about the size of a small garage and I got to rip it apart.
I tie a messenger line to the end of the hawser and throw it to the guy on deck, on the tug. Done deal.
LOL, nope. They faked out the emergency hawser upside down. It became a knot about the size of a step van.
So after 5 hrs of truly hard labor, I untie the biggest knot known to man and bend (tie) it to a messenger line and toss the
"monkey's fist" to the guy on deck, on the tug.
But,, (lol, I know) I, as a professional Mariner, tied it poorly and as the tug pulled away in the falling darkness, the lines came apart and fell uselessly in the water. I could barely see the lights of the tug but could hear, over the sound of the engine and waves, The good Capt. Mott cursing me, my mother and any one who has ever known me. snork. ..........