Tales of the Beam Trawler, Theresa R

1977

Two Weeks and Two Major Gales, September is certainly here!
Sometimes it seems half a lifetime has passed since last June.

This is Dave you see in the two pictures below.



During the early days of our previous trip out to Nantucket Shoals, while towing for our quota of 10,000 pounds of Yellow Tail Flounder we parted the sweep or the bottom of the nets open mouth during a Strong Gale.
The damage was so great it took the four of us, all of 16 hours to repair the flat, or flounder net as it is known.
Had it not been for a federal program I entered last Summer through CETA? or CERTA, at The University of Rhode Island’s Kingston Campus for Marine Studies where I learned how to splice 7 strand wire rope using 2 pipe wrenches, a marlin spike, and a 3 lb. hammer, we would have been homeward bound with empty pockets a week ago.



When the Skipper/Owner, Bob motioned down for me to come up to the wheelhouse earlier this morning, yesterday now, his words to me were, “another 12-18 hour Sou’west Gale is forecast, winds of 55-60 knots”.
Gale I thought. Sixty Knots is Storm, not Gale.
The Skipper continued, “I’ve decided to leave the gear on deck and lay-too for this short Gale O Wind so as not to bust up our net again, maybe having to steam home with another broker”. (a broker means no pay and bigger bills next trip)
“Amen to that” I answered, “that old thing has for sure seen better days”.
I was also thinking, this 86 Year Old Eastern Rig or Beam Trawler sure takes on a lot of water when her frame gets flexed by even LESS weather and you just want to lay-too?
This I kept to myself and answered, “Your’e the boss”.

All this ran through my mind again as I stood there just inside the doghouse that led up from the Foc’sle.
I peered out through the dark into the roaring gale that was now battering us as we lay broadside to it.
I was timing the rolls, watching the rails closely as they took turns dunking under every now and then on the down roll.
I was trying to gauge when to begin my dash across deck to the Wheelhouse back aft.
The wind was whistling now and when She leaned into it, the rigging and stays would sing out with a loud vibrating moan, Wvvooooooooo.
Something, somewhere, had worked loose, there was a loud bang coming from the Starboard Gallows.

Seeing my chance as she rolled to Port, I slammed the Doghouse Door and took off, rounding the forward hatch then jumping over the three checkerboards that sectioned off the deck, I bolted aft and passing the Starboard side of the Winch I leapt up the four steps to the Wheelhouse Door and held on as the boat rolled hard again, this time back to Starboard. The violent rolling made me feel as though the boat actually wanted to toss me over the side, to get rid of me.
Angry, black, bubble covered water surged over the rail and boiled all around below me trying to find a way, any way, to get anywhere but where it was on that wildly rolling deck. I remember a thought that flashed through my head as I looked down, “are we in trouble?”

After catching my breath I stumbled into the Wheelhouse, and there was bug eyed Dave, just sitting there hanging on to the Captains Chair and looking as miserable as anyone could out here.
Grabbing a hand hold I pulled a can of Hawaiian Punch out of my jeans pocket and an apple from my shirt pocket and when I took a bite of it his cheeks turned green.
I had things to tell him but most of it could wait, Dave was freaked.
Dave didn’t yet seem to be a natural but he worked hard and as far as I knew, he not gotten seasick, not yet anyway.
With a chuckle I reminded him to lay on his stomach in the rack because that was the position you could get out of the bunk the quickest and easiest.

You see, the head room in the bunks was so little that if you wanted to turn from your belly to your back you had to get out, turn yourself around then climb back in to do so.
The look of utter misery that spread across his face, I can still see it clearly to this day.
I had to ask him twice when he last pumped the bilges, and with a squeaky answer of 15 minutes ago he was out the door.
Poor Dave didn’t make it to the Foc’sle without going for a tumble and little swim on deck.
At least I’d turned the deck lights on for him, he’d either not seen me coming or didn’t think to do it when I made my dash across deck.
I watched him disappear into the Doghouse and I killed the deck lights. The entire Wheelhouse was bathed in red light for night vision. Those bright deck lights killed night vision.

I tossed what was left of my apple out the open door and after throwing the three toggles that engaged the bilge pumps I settled in on the Captains Chair.
A noise, quick, odd, different, caught my attention. Again, this time a short Brrrng. I started looking around and saw the clutch oil pressure was rising rapidly and just as I went to get up, BRRRNNNNGGGGG! Loud, constant, a yellow light flashing.
I bolted from the chair and stumbled through the Skippers Bunk Room towards the switchback ladders that led to the Engine Room.
Bob shouted something as I passed but I ignored him. When I got to the bottom of that first short ladder and rounded the corner where I could see below into the engine room I felt my stomach twist, my heart was pounding. The engine room looked half under water.
Turning around I screamed above for the Skipper and he near free fell from his bunk room into my arms.
We both charged down to the upper or first landing in the engine room which was still above water, barely.

What I failed to mention earlier when talking about the bilge pumps is that all three are mounted down low, just above the floorboards and all three engage by electric clutch.
All three were under water and useless.
No Way had Dave pumped her out less than 30 minutes earlier. Did he fall asleep or was the water really rising that fast now? If so, we were in trouble, big trouble!
When the Master Bilge is pumping the Engine Room out, it pours from a pipe out of a box on deck near the Port Side of the Winch and you can see it from the left most window of the Wheelhouse.
When I threw the toggles to power up the pumps, I had not the time to even look before the alarm went off, not that it would have mattered.
Turned out that if not for floating floorboards slamming a heat exchanger we may not have gotten any alarm at all. I hadn’t heard the “High Water Alarm” which had a noise all it’s own.

At the rear of the upper landing the Skipper began digging around in a big locker/bin to the right of the Rudder Post. Bob turned and hollered, “We have to get the 3 inch hose off that main bilge pump”. In his hands he now held a complete pump with a pulley wheel on the drive shaft.
When I looked down for the main bilge pump I could not see it, it was at least a foot under oily black water.

Little did I know that night, that I would face a similar situation years later on a much bigger, brand new and top of the line heavy weather boat. (they say things come in threes, ain’t that great. )

The Skipper, now over near the work bench, was wild eyed as he jammed a socket wrench in my hand yelling, “Get that hose off” while he began………….Hey, wait, hold on!

The Tales of the Theresa R, begin mid to late June, it’s now late September?

FULL STOP…….
We must start over!

TO BE CONTINUED !!!!!







.

a reply to: PiratesCut

Fantastic, as always!

a reply to: PiratesCut

I'm sitting on the edge of my seat holding my breath!

a reply to: PiratesCut

Don’t leave us hanging!

True accounts of heroism far exceed any fiction that can be concocted.

I’ve got too many true stories of pure adrenaline to recount of my own.

Ironically, my happy place is as captain on a boat. I’ve owned multiple.

We shall await part two.

a reply to: PiratesCut

Changed my mind.

THE END

a reply to: nugget1



I’d be honored to send you what I write Nugget.
Truly!
Did you keep my email address?
If you did, let me know through that.

Cheers!

I wish you and yours the very best!!!!

da pirate 😎 I’m Out

Should have stayed gone the first time.
Too much hate here!

a reply to: PiratesCut

I’d be honored to send you what I write Nugget.
Truly!
Did you keep my email address?
If you did, let me know through that.

Message sent! Thank you!