Great Land’s Gallant Departure By Vern Bouwman In the Spring of 2013 Music by Kurt Herbener 1 Turn your sound DOWN 

This story is about Great Land’s Last Voyage, only! History can be found at the TOTE website: 2

Remember - Press “S” to pause or restart It was the HULL #, that VP Richard Griffith knew the ship by. That’s how Richard knew all of Tote’s ships! 3

Remember - Press “ P ” to go to Previous Slide 4

5

Press “ S ” to pause or restart 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

Great Land has been photographed in several locations. This taken in While transiting the Mediterranean in 2007, Great Land was seen at Gibraltar. The vehicles aboard are military. 7

The S. S. Great Land has circumnavigated the world in transporting military vehicles. Fort Lewis military vehicles have been transported by trucks and by train to Tote’s Tacoma loading yard. 8

This image simulates the scene in Tacoma on March 13 th, On my computer at home, Marinetraffic.com located the tow tug, ALEXANDRA, as shown at 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

10 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 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.

11 The Last Image 1:13 p.m. March 13, 2013 Turp Watches His Charge move away from the pier. The mooring area was condemned at that same moment. TOTE employees say goodbye!

12 EXITING PUGET SOUND Notice the speed at 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

13 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 9 th 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!”

14 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 23 rd, Alexandra lost Steering They were able to regain some control, and headed for Long Beach.

15 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 26 th to make repairs. On the 28 th, a volunteer on the USS Iowa, Jim Pobog, observed Alexandra making test runs in the channel. At 1845 on the 27 th, 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.

16 Arriving in the Gulf of Panama at 1900 hours on , 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 20 th. I do not know why they stayed here so long. 6 days later, on the 26 th, 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.

17 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 27 th 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.

18 At 1700, Tug Alexandra did depart,and her image was caught in the Miraflores Locks as she departed. They were last observed at midnight, in Gatun Locks.

19 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.

20 “Westward Venture” entering Brownsville Channel in 2011 I hope someone will be able To do the same for “GREAT LAND”