Word: joes
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Hazelwood was one of a select group of around 15 classmates chosen to work for Esso, as Exxon was then called. As a third mate, he earned $24,000, extraordinary pay for a young man starting out in 1968. Hazelwood, who by then preferred to be called Joe, reported for duty on the Esso Florence in Wilmington, N.C. His seafaring instincts made an instant impression. "Joe had what we old-timers refer to as a seaman's eye," recalls Steve Brelsford, a retired Exxon captain and Hazelwood's first boss. "He had that sixth sense about seafaring that enables...
...though fellow seamen insist it did not seem to impair his performance, Hazelwood began to drink heavily on board, in violation of company rules. Moreover, he was not discreet about his growing problem, and invited fellow crew members to join him. "It was almost like Joe was trying to get caught," says a fellow seaman who remains a close friend. "He'd close his door, but everyone knew what went on. He always said that everything was fine, but then why was he drinking? The guy was begging for help, but he kept it all inside...
...unhappy with the talented young skipper, less for his drinking than because of his headstrong, independent manner. Like the old-time captains he modeled himself after, Hazelwood shunned paperwork, company politics and extensive contacts with the M.B.A. executives who were increasingly chipping away at the traditional authority of shipmasters. "Joe didn't have Exxon tattooed under his eyelids," says a high-ranking Exxon engineer. "He'd make his own judgments and act accordingly. That's why those at sea respected him and those on land thought he wasn't a company...
...1980s, however, Hazelwood's drinking problem had become so obvious that seamen on other Exxon ships knew of it. "Ever since I had known of Joe, I heard he had alcohol problems," says James Shiminski, an Exxon chief mate until 1986. "He had a reputation for partying, ashore and on the ship." In 1984, while off duty, Hazelwood was arrested for drunken driving in Huntington, and later convicted. Police say he was leaving a parking lot of a tavern where he had been attending a bachelor party for his brother Joshua, when his van smashed into a car. Hazelwood left...
CREDIT: TIME Diagram by Joe Lertola...