Letters From The Gulf, Parts 10 & 11: Waiting Out Tropical Storm Alex

Letters From The Gulf, Parts 10 & 11: Waiting Out Tropical Storm Alex

by Dan Horton

Dan Horton, a friend and former colleague, works on tugboats out of the New York Harbor for a living. Two weeks ago, he flew down to Louisiana to take a job on a barge unloading crude oil from the skimmer boats that clean the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. Crew are only allowed to send and receive one email a day; his girlfriend, Lori, passes along his daily email to friends and family. With their permission, we’re passing them along to you. -Dave Bry

Subject: Daily Dan: Squalls and Falls

Date: Monday, June 28th


Lori,


Whatever I hear about my schedule I will pass it on immediately, though everything is bound to 
change and change again. The last captain thought that we didn’t need an 
extra man and told the office as much but this captain feels otherwise and 
is going to talk with the HR about it.
 There were some squalls today, pouring rain. It was just a grey wall 
coming at us. For the first time I was glad I’d over-packed and had all my 
rain gear with me. I used the “dry duck” pants that I bought (and never 
used) for checking out the waterfalls in Yosemite. They were pretty good. I 
was surprised, I didn’t expect them to hold up to a full-on downpour. The 
only problem was that the legs were too long and the cuff of my right leg 
was under the heel of my boot. Hit a patch of hydraulic fluid that had 
gotten on deck and I went from walking fast to sitting in a puddle before I 
knew what hit me. The only thing I hurt was my pride. Ripped some holes in 
my dry ducks. Believe it or not, but the chronic pain in my lower right back 
actually has eased up since the bump. Must have landed on a pressure point.


Played a little guitar in the galley tonight with the first mate. The 
cadet listened in but refused to get her penny whistle.
 We have some rocking and rolling going on right now. (It’s more 
pronounced up here in the upper wheelhouse, of course.) The small boats went 
in this afternoon when the squalls hit.
 It’s been good water for the last five days or so. They want us to stay 
about five miles off “the field”-the busy area near the site of the fallen 
rig. (I’ve heard it referred to as “the Source” as well as “Ground Zero.”) 
Anyway, we haven’t been in the nasty stuff as of late, and that’s a plus for 
me. We do our part taking the crude oil/seawater mix from larger skimmer 
boats, they spend their time mucking though the oil patches and bring us 
what they have managed to get into their holding tanks.



Mom: Thanks for writing me. Did you feel like the yards ale was a success? 
Sounded like just post-sale blues from what you were writing, so I couldn’t 
tell. Bummed that I missed the chance to participate, but my schedule is 
now officially haywire. However, I really don’t want to miss that dig in 
Greenhill!
 How are the hooking classes going?
 What made Thomas Hardy tick? I still shudder when I think of reading 
Jude the Obscure in AP English. Wonder if it would be different if I went 
back to it now.
 There’s a good selection of both highbrow and low in the ship’s bookshelves. I just picked up some Theodore Dreiser short stories and am 
thinking of reading Catch-22 again (it’s been 16 years.) Also some James 
Lee Burke as well as the entire Harry Potter collection. We shall see. 
Seems like my fiction gland is acting up again.
 I miss you all. Look forward to my emails every day.

Love,

Dan

Subject: Daily Dan: Up the Mississippi Without a Paddle

Date: Tuesday, June 29th

Lori,


The uncertainty of where I will end up next, and when, would really get 
to me if I let it. It’s so different from being tied up in Greenpoint, with 
my car right outside the terminal and your house just 45 minutes away. I 
just keep reminding myself to be grateful to be working and to take it as it 
comes.
 Maine sounds great but again, I have just about no control over my 
schedule right now and have to take whatever work comes my way. I don’t 
think that it will be this way for more than a couple of months, but until I 
get a regular boat again, I’ll probably be a fill-in where ever they need an 
AB Tankerman.
 From what I can make out on the chart and computer, we are in an 
anchorage on the Mississippi, a ways below New Orleans. Just sitting here on 
the hook. The cleanup boats were ordered off site because of the tropical 
storm (Alex, right? Named for Chilton, you think?). The gulf kicks up quick 
and the waves come at closer intervals than along the east coast, so 8-to-10 
footers can be a really rough ride. I seriously doubt it’s possible to 
get any skimming done with any kind of weather at all going on.
 There was some very nasty black stuff churning up behind the barge as 
we steamed into Southwest Pass. I’m not going to jump to any conclusions (maybe that’s always there, I wouldn’t know), but it looked like bad news 
for local waters, whatever it was. (But of course, I’m in the oil business, 
aren’t I? I guess I’m connected to that bad news somehow.
 Then again, aren’t we all? Last time I checked, my buddy Matt’s organic farm 
was still using diesel tractors.) We were working about five miles off the site. I was able to take 
shots with my point and shoot. But it’s zoom isn’t really that great, so the pix 
I have don’t look very interesting. Some other guys onboard got some shots 
off from closer. I might be able to get a hold of some of those.


Love,

Dan