Word: deckhand
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...year is 1979. Billy Forrester, Bob's eldest son, 25, has gone to work "on the boats." He is married, has a child, and is a member of the Inland Boatmen's Union, just like his father. He works as a deckhand, making $11 an hour with full medical, dental and pension benefits. During his last full year in that work, he cleared $27,000 and saved $8,000, nearly enough for a down payment on a small house. The problem is that his company, United Towing, has just gone the way of dozens of other harbor companies...
...ensuing chaos, the ship's carpenter and a deckhand were seen floating face down in the water, both presumably dead. Captain Armin Elsaesser III frantically called out for a head count. Then he abruptly swam away, apparently in an attempt to find a missing crew member. He was not seen again...
...meager rations of sea biscuits and gulps of water twice a day. "The days were barely tolerable," said Flanagan. "The nights were hell." The survivors used up their only three emergency flares and sighted six ships without being able to attract attention. Finally, on the fifth harrowing night, with Deckhand Leslie McNish using a flashlight to blink the international distress signal SOS, the shipwrecked survivors flagged down a Norwegian tanker 335 miles north of Puerto Rico and lived to tell of the Pride's sorrowful fall...
...glassy-eyed boatmen are more drowsy than cold. The crew of the Cooperative Vanguard hand-lettered a sign that sums up " their plight: WELCOME - BOREDOM CITY - POP. 16. Says Doug ("Pee-wee") Flannery, 24, a deckhand on the White Knight: "You just watch the second hand go around." To keep busy, the crew of the Hawkeye has adopted four mallard hens; the men aboard the Ann Blessey cast for carp using hot dogs and cheddar cheese. One deckhand reportedly persuaded the pilot of the White Knight to steer a ragged course around the ice floes in pursuit of real...
...Blessey. To pass the frozen hours. Wills and his two-man crew enjoy a friendly game of poker, with a nickel limit on raises. Over on the White Dawn, gambling is not allowed. Nevertheless, the crew has worn out three decks of cards playing no-stakes spades. Deckhand Tommy Kelly, 36, from rural Sugar Tree, Tenn., feels safer that way. Says he: "If I ever lost $200, my ole lady would be waiting at the door with a shotgun...