PEACE ON EARTH
We come to the end of the year, the end of the century and the end of the 1900’s. It is a great time to be alive. The talk around us is of the millennium, 2000 years since the birth of Christ. But is it? The calendar makers in the past, Julius, Gregory, and others, had to make compensations. There is a question of some four years. Some of the Fathers of the Church and others have indicated that Christ may have been born around the year 4 B.C.
In an article on Washington’s birthday last February the writer noted, “by the 18th century, the British Empire was practically the only part of the Western world that was still using the ancient Julian Calendar, which was about 11 minutes out of sync with the actual solar year. Pope Gregory XIII had fixed the problem in the 16th century, by directing that every one simply skip from Oct. 4, 1582 to Oct. 15 in order to get the sun and the calendar back in harmony.” So at least for some the New Year should begin on December 20th or does it? What too, speaking of facts, about the rest of the world, like two-thirds of it, that don’t use the Gregorian calendar? Do they suffer the same consequences because of “our” millennium? The facts are not what the fear-mongers are selling. They want to profit from the imagination of all of us, who are always ready to believe in the worst. I enjoyed what Father Dick said when asked by a nephew, what preparations he was making for Y2K. He responded, “None, I will just continue to pray and have faith in the Lord!” I can’t think of any better advice than that to handle Y2K fear, or any others.
On the last Sunday in November I had a great experience. A res mirabilis! I have a friend Steve Cropper, who is a ship-pilot. He pilots cruisers, tankers, barges, liners, etc. through the Tampa Bay and into its ports. Sometime ago I lent him a copy of the book “the Perfect Storm”. It is the story of a disaster of a sword fishing boat at sea, off the coast of New Found land. He returned it with a note indicating that one of the ships mentioned in the book he had piloted through the Tampa Bay harbor. He also mentioned he was familiar with the area since he had been a merchant mariner out of the New England area. Upon returning the book, and at other times, he asked my if I would be interested in riding with him one day while he piloted a ship. I gave him an emphatic “yes!” Thus on Sunday around 12:45PM he called to ask if I would like to go with him. He picked me up at 1:15PM and we were off. He told me he thought this would be a good introduction for me since it was a tanker moored at berth in the old port of Tampa, and he was moving it from there to a new berth in the Tampa Port. It meant I could go aboard from a gangplank and not up the side of the ship by boat ladder. The same would apply on exiting at the new berth.
We arrived at the bridge standing four stories up after a zigzag walk up several stairways. We were looking out on a perfect day. It was awesome. The water was smooth as glass. No wind perturbed it. The temperature was near 80 degrees. On the bridge when we arrived were two women. Both I later learned were crewmembers. Steve went across the bridge to the opposite side and outside to the Captain. We were introduced. The ship is an American registered ship. The captain, I learned from his posted license, was born in Portland, Oregon the same year I graduated from High School. Steve went to work immediately on the phones and radios. Soon our small channel now two tugs approaching. He speaks to them via the walkie-talkies, or maybe they are now just plain old cell phones. One immediately went to the rear of the ship and had a line tossed to waiting crewmen. We would be towed out backwards from this narrow channel to the main one. The other tug started to position itself forward to push. Our lines to shore were pulled in and we were, after much puffing by the tugs, beginning to inch backward out of the channel. It was about 2PM.
The ship was called “Anasza”. It is the name of an Indian tribe. I am not sure if it is an American or Mexican Indian. It was 680 feet long (about 2 and 1/3 football fields). Its deck was covered with pipes down through its middle. It contained some hundred thousands gallons of gasoline. It had come from the Shell refining plant about 30 miles north of New Orleans on the Mississippi. This was its regular route, to and from there to Tampa through the Gulf where it delivered the gasoline to tanks located around the port. It had delivered some at this present location and was now moving to the main port of Tampa to deliver the rest. It had a 30-foot draft in the water as a result of the amount of gasoline still in the hold. Steve also pointed out from our vantage point how the ship was really two ships. He showed me where the hull of another ship had been welded to the one on which the Bridge was located. He said it was a common practice these days of huge shipments of oil and gasoline.
One of the marvels for me was watching Steve operate. He stood on the bridge calling out “right 2.0” or the likes. The helmsman repeated it. The first helmsman was a black guy named “Marco”. I commented to him how appropriate a name for a sailor! He laughed and agreed. I commented later to Steve that I thought, from my vast nautical knowledge that he should be saying, “Port” or “Starboard”, for right and left. He advised that in the U.S. the use of “Port and Starboard” had vanished a long time ago. In fact, he felt if you did it today that the helmsman wouldn’t know what you were talking about. So my nautical knowledge is in need of an updating. The old story told by President Kennedy at an Annapolis Graduation will now lose all its meaning. In it he told me an Admiral, who every time he was to appear in public, went to a locked drawer in his desk, took out a sheet of paper, read it, and then returned it to the drawer and locked it. His aide, on the day the Admiral retired, rushed to the drawer, unlocked it, and took out the sheet of paper. It read, “Port-left; Starboard-Right”.
Like all professionals, Steve made it look easy moving this object the size of a huge office building lying on its side. One of the crewmembers happened to mention how easy these Pilots made it look and I certainly agreed. We moved out into the main channel. It is one that takes ships from the Gulf of Mexico into the main port. We were moving under our own power now with just one tug escort. He and Steve chatted about things ahead and Steve pointed out to me how deep our draft was. He said, watch that small protruding sand bar ahead. As we passed the bar became an island of sand since the ship’s draft pulled all the water off of it. I noted how easily he gave commands left or right to the helmsman and the speed to the other crewman, or rather crewwoman, who controlled the speed. I said, “It’s apparent you’ve been down this channel before”. He looked at this notebook and said, “This is the three thousand and ninety third time!” We took about 2 hours to get to the entry of the main port and down we went past the huge Cruise ship called “Sensation”, some 780 feet in length and about 15 stories high. Steve mentioned it just barely gets under the Sunshine Skyway. That is the bridge crossing the water where the Bay and the Gulf meet. The Sunshine Skyway is the highest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere. It stands 19 stories up from the water’s edge to its apex. We inched into a small channel again with the aid of two tugs, one at the rear and another forward on our left front, to the berth, which was beside a large area of gasoline tanks. We left the Anasza at 5PM. My first ride with a pilot was done and I was still full of “mirabilis”, awe, and appreciation for the job so well done.
As we came into the berth I met an older crewmember that came onto the bridge for some reason. He was shorter than I and had even less hair. I found out he was the Second mate. He told me he was 76 years of age! He was born in Belgium, sailed until he was 65 out of Great Britain. Then he was forced by law to retire. So he came to the U.S., took the physical, and was hired here. As with so many lifetime professionals when asked why he didn’t retire, he said, “What else am I going to do?” Ah! Yes, the age-old dilemma nothing to retire ‘to’ so why retire ‘from’ something we are able to do and enjoy.”
I want to wish everyone a Happy and Holy Christmas. May the New Year bring you good health and much happiness! As I always enjoy saying around this time of year, “Se ya next year! God willing!”