Great Land’s

Gallant Departure

By Vern Bouwman

In the Spring of 2013

Music by Kurt Herbener

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Turn your sound DOWN

This story is about Great Land’s Last Voyage, only!

History can be found at the TOTE website: http://www.totemocean.com/tote-ships2

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It was the HULL #, that VP Richard Griffith knew the ship by. That’s how Richard knew all of Tote’s ships!

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ALASKA means “the Great Land” in Aleut Language.

Tote’s Ro-Ro ships, “Great Land”, “Westward Venture” and “Northern Lights”, were retired from the Tacoma-Alaska service in 2002.

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Great Land has beenphotographed in several locations.This taken in 1991.

While transiting the Mediterranean in 2007,Great Land was seen at Gibraltar . The vehicles

aboard are military.

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The S. S. Great Land has circumnavigated the world in transporting military vehicles.

Fort Lewis military vehicleshave been transported by

trucks and by train toTote’s Tacoma loading yard.

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This image simulates the scene in Tacoma on March 13th, 2013.

On my computer at home, Marinetraffic.com located the tow tug, ALEXANDRA, as shown at 0500.

My wife and I arrived at about 0720 at a point just beyond the ships bow.

Three pairs of geese occupied the shore line, shielded by the ship.

Turpin Christianson,Tote’s port

manager,Greeted me at the observation point.

I asked why that tanker truck was

going up the ramp?

The tug Alexandra had taken on more fuel that the Port Of Tacoma allows.

Tug “ALEXANDRA’s” captain, knew his tug needed all the fuel it could STORE. Towing such a large ship down the coast of Washington with 50 knot winds, is quite an endeavor.9

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The Anchor Harness was made up by the tug crew on the day before!

The Tow Mark is what the tug wants to see while the ship is1,000’s of feet behind.

The loading ramp was removed at 0910.

The mooring line crews [4 guys ea.] arrived in a caravan of pickups.

The removal of the mooring lines was delayed because the generator on board the ship would not start.

It was interesting to see that at in this day and age, so many persons were required to remove a single light weigh line. To take up slack, a pickup was even tied to the line. On my ship, in 1955, only two persons were required .One to remove a rat guard and One to unwrap the heavy 4 inch hawser.

ALEXANDRA connected to the towing harness at 1156 hrs.

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The Last Image

1:13 p.m. March 13, 2013

TurpWatchesHis Charge move away from the pier.

The mooring area was condemned at that same moment.

TOTE employees say goodbye!

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EXITINGPUGET SOUND

Notice the speedat 1500 hrs. when the tow entered the ocean waves.

It is in these waves created by the high spring winds that the tug captain and his crew knew they were to encounter. They are not the first to endure them.

STORY: One of my former Mates trained on a tug and towed the NEW JERSEY from Long Beach to Bremerton WA. He came back and they had him tow MIDWAY up; even heavier and much more SAIL AREA [A dead ship becomes a sail in high winds]. There were days he lost ground. Finally got her delivered safely. No good deed goes unpunished though, so his next assignment was to tow RANGER up. He put his foot down on that one and it turned into a two boat job. Pat Moloney

The Pilot left the ship at Port Angeles

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Working on the worlds seas can be a wonderful way to live. The seas are usually quiet and colorful where your life is shared with passing sea creatures and the twinkling stars above!But! You have to believe there is someone watching over you.Merchant mariners hold the 9th most dangerous

jobs in the nation. There are a reported 23 fatalities per 100,000 workers, often from drowning. These accidents have many causes, including collisions between barges as they are lashed together and the simple difficulties of working on treacherous waters

When working on a tugboat, the most dangerous place is the deck. Since a tug boat is essentially a floating factory, in addition to the standard dangers of tripping, falling and injuries associated to the various machines, a worker could slip into the water and drown. from: dodsonhooks.com

As tug Alexandra was passing 100 miles off San Francisco, Mate Kevin sent this image to his friend back home with the comment, “These 50 knot winds suck!”

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The voyage along the Pacific coast was not without trying encounters. They were in high winds all the way past San Francisco.

Those high winds placed a powerful requirement for the tugs equipment.

Watching marinetraffic.com, I was able to see a troubling pattern appear on the screen.

At 0730, on March 23rd,

Alexandra lost Steering

They were able to regain some control, and headed for Long Beach.

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At 0845, Great Land was moored to the support tug Tim Quigg, which held her in place [give or take a few yards] 6 miles off the coast of Santa Catalina Island, for 51 hours.

Tug Alexandra made port at Terminal Island, by American Marine ,at 1005 on the 26th to make repairs.

On the 28th, a volunteer on the USS Iowa, Jim Pobog, observed Alexandra making test runs

in the channel.

At 1845 on the 27th, repairs complete, the tug proceeded to San Pedro for fuel.

At 1030 hours, Alexandra passed Angeles Gate, ready

to resume the voyage.

Passengers passing on the Catalina Express must have wondered what ship that was over there.

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Arriving in the Gulf of Panama at 1900 hours on 4-19-2013, tug Alexandra maneuvered her tow in a circle until daylight, while taking in the line.

They then moved to the north of Tagoba Island where they moored at 1130 hrs. on the 20th.

I do not know why they stayed here so long.

6 days later, on the 26th, they headed in for Balboa.

In the image left, a Pilot boat is pointed out.This is a normal location for the pilots to board canal bound ships.

WHEN there is a tow of a dead ship on the canal, there are usually two pilots. One on the tug and one on the dead ship.

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The photo right, with GREAT LAND moored at Rodman test station, was taken by Captain Andrew, a canal pilot.

I was surprised on the morning of the 27th to see several tugs arranged around Rodman. I decided to follow them.

See the 4 tugs below! S. S. Great Land Cleared the Miraflores Locks at 1000 hours

without tug Alexandra.

The Panamanian tug V.B. California,

picked up Great Land after it

cleared Pedro Miguel locks and

quickly whipped her up to Gatun.

This tug is big – 331 tons, while Alexandra is rated197 tons.

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At 1700, Tug Alexandra did

depart ,and her image was caught in the Miraflores Locksas she departed.

They were last observed

at midnight, in Gatun

Locks.

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The weather was good for the last 13 days of the journey!

The Serrana Bank; it is one of the few atolls in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s mostly an underwater reef , 50 km long & 13 km wide and has six cays or islets, the most prominent of which is Southwest Cay.

There is a shallow area they had to make sure they missed!

The voyage was helped along by the Caribbean Current, which is a help to move all ships heading NW. the current transports significant amounts of water through the Caribbean Sea and into the Gulf of Mexico, via the Yucatan Current.

Kurt’s mom is the wife of my high school science teacher.

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“Westward Venture” entering Brownsville Channel in 2011

I hope someone will be ableTo do the same for

“GREAT LAND”