Balls Deep (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Tugs - full transcript
Thomas tries not to lose his fingers working as a deckhand on a NYC tugboat.
[ Waves crashing ]
[ Wind whistles ]
**
[ Horn honks ]
There's perhaps
no boat more classically
boaty than the tugboat.
What 5-year-old alive
hasn't dreamt
of either piloting a tugboat
or being a tugboat?
But most people's experience
of tugboats is kind of like
Ed Norton's in "25th Hour."
It's just a,
you know, pleasant thing
you see passing on the water
that makes you think, "Huh,
wouldn't that be the life?"
But would it,
in fact, be the life?
The Catherine Miller is one
of the 100-plus tugs
in New York harbor
pushing, pulling,
and towing the various barges
and container ships
that bring in the products
that make New York City a place
where 8 million people can live.
The Catherine is moored down
in Staten Island,
where Wu-Tang is from,
and run by the two-man team
of Captain John Cadamuro
and Mike "Mikey" Karlick.
Hello!
Since I don't have a captain's
license for Tugboat U,
I'll be joining Mikey
as a deckhand,
learning the ropes,
both figurative and literal,
of life on these plucky
little boats.
Tugboats.
[ Horn blaring ]
I'm not sure.
Something with ropes.
You got some serious
learning to do.
Straighten that filter out.
Straighten that filter
out because if you give me
coffee with grinds in it,
I'm gonna dog you all day,
you give me grinds.
I don't like
weak coffee, either.
Ten cups only.
Ten cups.
Taking entirely too long.
I want my coffee this morning,
not this afternoon.
How many deckhands do
you guys usually have on a boat?
It depends how many can survive.
Close enough now, let's go.
- We want coffee today.
- Does the captain want some?
Call up and ask him if he wants.
You want coffee, Captain?
MAN: 1400, fueling operations
alongside the Queen Mary, too.
All right, here's where you got.
Stand right here.
- Okay.
- Look straight, what do you see?
- The crane.
- Yeah.
What do you see on the water
in front of you?
- Nothing.
- That's right.
We have our barge,
which is 160 feet.
We have our crane boom
hanging 60 feet over the bow.
- Okay.
- Then we have our boat,
we'll call 65 feet.
So, you're steering
a 200-foot vessel,
and you can't see where you are.
Nope.
So, how do we suppose
that's gonna work out?
I would assume
I would use things,
like, devices.
- No?
- Nope.
You wait for your deckhand
to tell you where you are.
That's what you're
doing up there.
You're the eyes
and ears of the captain.
Say, "Mikey,
what do you see?"
What do you see out there?
That's a good sign, right?
Stay there for right now.
He's the --
he's the deckhand in training.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[ Laughter ]
So, Mike's basically
the dictionary definition
of, like, an old Jersey salt.
I'm kind of curious how long
he's been working on tugs
in the harbor.
Wind it up.
* There is a flash packet
and a packet of fame *
Now use the handle.
* And a dreadnought's her name
JOHN: Thomas, bring it home,
you can do it.
All the way, make it real
tight, part of the rock.
* All away to the westward
* In the dreadnought we'll go
* Derry down, down,
down derry down *
Oh!
Walk it.
No slack.
Whip it, give it direction,
give it direction.
There we go.
So now we're gonna get
the buckley
and put it in place of the scow.
Roger that.
Bakin', Mikey.
Shakin' and bakin',
lock it down.
So far, the bulk of tug work
seems to be barge rearrangement.
Move several barges
out of the way this morning.
- Let's go.
- To move another barge
into one of their places,
move the other barges back.
- Cool.
- Basically, like, kind
of a play on aquatic "Tetris."
JOHN: Still need five port.
Five port, five port.
Give me five port, come on.
Five port.
Then there's like
a lariat component, too.
The two basic skill sets
of a tugboat deckhand.
Good at "Tetris" and can lasso
with gigantic ropes.
These are very heavy, too,
by the way, they're also wet.
Don't be so rigid.
Have a little confidence.
No, never grab a line like that.
That's now
you lose your fingers.
Just so you do know...
Yeah.
the next time you put a fuckin'
wire on a bit --
With my hands?
And you're holding
the fucking eye like that --
All right. That's a no?
Like --
Believe, I'm gonna slap you.
Because that'll take off
my fingers, won't it?
It'll rip the bones right apart.
Right, right, right.
No, that is the fastest way
of losing your fucking hands.
Okay, always the line.
- Always the line.
- Okay.
If something goes wrong,
and you drop it, it's fine.
We can get it back.
Don't get hurt.
All right,
the minute you get hurt,
that's it, it's for life.
- Yeah, yeah.
- No, don't do that.
- I will fuckin' hit you, though.
- Okay.
You notice I have gloves on.
- Right.
- You know why I have gloves on?
Check out my fingers.
I want you to see something.
Look at that, see 'em all?
- Yeah.
- Mikey, come here.
Show him your fingers, Mike.
- Like mine?
- Something's different.
- Cockeyed, ain't it?
- Yeah.
What about this one?
They're short.
Yeah.
Why are they short?
We was moving barges one day,
and my hand was
like this underneath.
- When that line came tight...
- Yeah.
...it crushed my fingers.
It literally pulled
so tight, they slid right off.
Oy. So was it just bone
you were looking at?
Oh, yeah,
you know them pirate movies?
Yeah.
Where you see the pirate
sitting there,
and you see that pointy
little bone
sticking out, like,
towards the treasure?
- Yeah,
- They really do look like that.
- Jesus.
- They really do.
But we put you through this
so you understand
what it is you're doing
and why you're doing it.
And we'll keep
repeating ourselves
until we make sure
you understand what it is we do.
We try to go home in one piece.
Get the job done and go home
in one piece, happy.
'Cause there's always somebody
at home that wants to see you.
They may not love you a lot,
but they do want
to see you once in a while.
[ Birds squawking ]
Lay down.
**
JOHN: Get on with the fingers,
watch the fingers, Mike!
Got fingers again!
Right there, watch his fingers!
Use the fucking line.
- Only the line.
- Go.
Okay.
How far off that ship, Tom?
You're about 2-5-0.
All right, I'd say more like 75,
but keep going with it.
I keep thinking
I've kind of got the tricks
down to throwing ropes
and coiling them
and tying the right figure
8s and shit like that.
Whoa.
It's either, they keep doing
things that are different,
or I keep misremembering things.
It takes a lot of practice.
**
Hey.
What's your ETA to launch?
Oh.
Okay, you gonna take
Mike Karlick,
or am I putting Mike Karlick
on the Samantha?
You just said Mike Karlick,
or no?
You were going to get on
the Susan to go and get Marty.
My job is, one,
cultivating new clients
and taking care of our old ones.
You're sales, then.
That's part of it.
Ray, you on here?
They'll tell me
when they want to boat,
or when they want a barge,
or whatever it is
that they need.
And then I have to figure out
who would be best
to be able to take the barge
or materials or whatever.
Are you gonna go
with him on the Samantha?
No, 'cause you never
told me nothing about it.
When did you tell me
anything about it?
I don't have to tell you.
[ Laughs ]
I map it out.
Ray!
So I then --
I'm now a dispatcher.
Do we have everything
for the Samantha to go up?
Every day is fun.
Every day is new.
Every day is different.
- It's pretty cool.
- Now, what's the --
what are the dots on your board?
TERRY: These are all one type
of vessel or another.
So, I know exactly where
they are at any given moment.
Pan out, and you'll see
how busy this harbor is.
- Man.
- Yeah.
That's a lot of stuff going on.
Mm-hmm.
THOMAS: The Catherine Miller
is part of a tugboat fleet
owned by Glen Miller,
whose ships are all named
for members
of the Miller family.
**
The shipwreck
that we're salvaging today
is down there
under this kind
of circle of boom.
Um, I think it's
a pretty small boat.
If I could only hear you.
If I -- Come on up here.
No, come here,
come here, sit down here.
Talk to 'em.
Go ahead, talk to 'em.
"How you doing?"
- You understand that?
- I thought you were saying --
Right, get the fuck out.
You gonna run this?
Uh, I'll pop up and watch you.
See, I can't hear him, either.
No?
Who's the main contractor?
Who's running this thing?
- Uh, it's my brother's company.
- Ah.
It's called
Miller Environmental.
Oh, okay.
And the guy who's hiring us
is the Coast Guard.
The reason for removing this is,
it's, uh,
an environmental reason,
because it probably
has fuel on board.
- Yeah.
- So, the Coast Guard
wants to step in and prevent
an oil spill from happening.
How long ago did it wreck?
- I understand two years ago.
- Okay.
And it's kind of a mystery.
Nobody knows who owns it.
Just scoot it out of town?
There are not gonna be, like,
skeletons in there, are there?
Is it upside down?
Ask him, what the fuck
is he doing down there?
Let's go, man.
Does he think he can get
a hook on it?
Do you have a hammer?
THOMAS: What do boaters
make of salvagers?
Is that like humans think of
vultures kind of thing?
Is there,
like, bad blood there or...
No, not at all.
I mean, salvage is --
Or sal-wars are a necessary
part of the industry.
Okay.
So, I am a salver myself,
and the whole business,
from its inception,
was actually started by my dad.
His story goes way back
to a very famous disaster
out in Montauk, something
known as the Pelican.
Booming down.
The Pelican was a charter boat
that rolled over
and killed 40 people.
They hired a 16-year-old kid
go swimming underneath
and recovering
all the dead guys.
- That was my dad.
- Oh, man, Jesus.
- That's a horror movie.
- It's a horror movie.
And his father sailed
his whole life,
so I would be
the third generation.
- Oh, shit, here it comes.
- There it is.
Okay, let's see what we got.
THOMAS: It's a boat.
Fucked-up-looking boat.
Spent about ten hours rescuing
a completely rusted out,
20-foot -- I don't even know
what type of boat.
I guess some sort of tug,
not much of one.
What do you think the odds are
it's full of gold doubloons?
GLENN: Coming down easy.
[ Thud ]
[ Laughs ]
MAN: That's all she wrote.
**
THOMAS: So, today,
we're working over
in Port Newark in New Jersey.
Newark was one
of the first container ports
and is now, I think, the biggest
on the East Coast
and third biggest in America.
As the ports
of New York started to decline
and got turned into, like, parks
and soccer fields, oyster bars,
Newark's taken up the slack
and is now, I think,
the biggest port
on the East Coast.
There's tons
of stacks behind me.
It's basically
container land here.
And this is pretty much
where any good
you buy in New York
or pretty much anywhere
in the tri-state area,
if it's coming in by boat,
it's gonna come here.
MIKE: So, commodities
relocation.
That's all we are, relocators,
and waterways is the easiest way
to move large quantities
of commodities.
You can move more on a barge
than you can do in
a caravan of tractor trailers.
They don't make planes
the size of these ships, either.
Oh, even what you see,
there's how much more
down below.
JOHN: You know
there's a hierarchy.
The deckhand does what
the captain tells them to do,
but oftentimes,
since your deckhand
is the eyes and ears
of the captain,
the captain has to do
what the deckhand tells him.
Your captain is no better
than your deckhand.
Your deckhand is no better
than your captain.
He's your proxy on the barge.
- Very much so.
- Good morning!
You'll hear him say at times,
"I need to put my barge here,
and this is
what I want you to do."
Okay, go ahead.
It gets the job done.
There's no ego involved.
You can't have that.
MIKE:
[ Laughs ] A hemorrhoid.
[ Laughter ]
[ Birds squawking ]
Been wondering, with the hours
these guys keep,
when they go, you know,
and see their families.
I'm starting to guess
they kind of don't.
I think Mikey stays here.
Don maybe drives home,
but it kind of feels
like they've formed
their own sort of family.
You have Mikey as
obviously a grandfather figure.
Captain John is sort of
like a wacky uncle,
and you've got Terry who's
on the phone all the times,
kind of like their mom.
And then Glen,
who runs the whole place,
the boss,
is kind of like
a very dadly disposition.
So it's like a weird sort
of dysfunctional sea family.
Whatever consolation that is.
[ Sighs ] Long day.
Now you see
what our days are like.
Yeah.
This is what they are.
Hello.
This dinner?
Yep.
- My wife's on the way.
- [ Laughs ]
- That's not funny.
- [ Laughs ]
- I know.
- [ Laughs ]
THOMAS:
This is the commute?
MIKE: This is
the illustrious commute,
and this is the famous box.
Two on each wall,
four in each room, two rooms.
- Mattress is nice and comfy.
- Yeah?
- Oh, yeah.
- Is somebody sleeping in there?
- Nobody's in there.
- No, okay.
- Nope.
- I just want to be quiet.
If there was, they'd have been
whining already.
Yeah.
MAN: Do you mind going
and getting stuck
by the coffee maker?
Got to get up at 4:00
in the morning.
Of course, of course.
Oh, 4:00 in the morning.
Come on, son.
You already
got nine hours sleep.
Damn. You only need
three hours' sleep,
come on, now.
- Come on, now.
- All right, sorry, thanks.
He don't like giggles.
[ Laughs ]
How many grandkids
do you have again?
- 18.
- 18.
Any of them work on boats, too,
or are you the only seaman?
Actually, believe it or not,
that's how I actually
started here.
Yeah.
Uh, one of my sons
was working here.
Because before that,
you were doing --
- I turned wrenches.
- Yeah, you were a mechanic?
Yeah. I came down
to help out,
and I been here since.
Yep. Oh. Are you gonna
retire ever, you think or...
- Retire?
- Yeah.
What is that?
Nah.
Unh-unh, no.
See, my grandkids,
they make sure
Pops is never gonna get old.
It ain't gonna happen.
I'm gonna get dead one day,
but I'm not gonna get old.
GLENN: All right, I'm gonna have
you do this, okay?
I'm gonna walk you through it.
Okay, come up on the load.
- No, pull them up.
- Up?
Don't stop.
If you stop, it'll come down.
Okay.
**
[ Grunts ] Um...
[ Grunts ] Shit.
I might need a hand.
I'm sorry.
[ Grunts ]
Just right there.
This is your steering implement.
We don't have a wheel.
Look at your radar, okay?
That's a barge
anchor, that's a barge
and boat anchor, that's a buoy.
Current's coming this way,
it's gonna be deflected off
this land mass out here,
and at times, there's
a slight rotary current.
MIKE: Hey!
Go under!
Under the ear!
Take it off, put it under!
Lead it under the horn,
lead it under the horn?
Yeah.
GLENN: Don't lift anymore.
Break in, break up.
You have to swing
to your left, boom down,
cable up at the same time.
It's a lot to keep in mind
at the same time.
**
Westbound
with the crane, C on one.
Westbound
with the crane, C on one.
Wow.
I've never been called captain.
**
That's the idea.
[ Grunting ]
JOHN: We'll make a real captain
out of you.
Oh.
Now put your feet up,
there you go.
GLENN: Slower.
Keep on coming down.
MAN: Keep coming.
All right, get ready, big heave.
One, two, three.
Nice.
Well done, good job.
I have the autopilot on.
So, you're doing great,
keep up the good work.
[ Horn blaring ]
So, today is
the New York tugboat race.
This happens once a year
on Labor Day Sunday.
All the tugs from
New York harbor get together,
and they race for, like...
like a fifth of a mile, maybe.
But it's a big family day.
[ Cheering ]
[ Horn honks ]
**
Here we go!
3, 2, 1!
[ Horns blare ]
Check out the jet skiers
coming our way.
That's gonna be a problem.
[ Horn honking ]
They're going crazy.
WOMAN: All right,
next up, the line toss.
CROWD: Oh!
Oh!
JOHN: This is Tom.
He's brand-new on the boat.
He's been doing this
for three days.
WOMAN: All right, everybody,
give Tom a warm welcome
to tugboat life.
I got a really
bad feeling right now.
**
WOMAN:
Yeah, make it rain!
[ Laughs ]
[ Cheering ]
Whoo! Whoo!
**
You know, it's kind of crazy
that, in 2015, with all our
technological advancements,
the way we get most of our goods
from one place to another
is still to literally ship them.
The craft of shipping
itself is still very
much feels
like an ancient trade.
You're still learning
the same secrets of ropes
and reading the waves
and leading tides
as people did when they first
discovered the Americas.
A lot of hands-on work.
It's very dangerous,
but your reward is being at sea,
which is an enchanting
proposition.
As Brian Eno described it,
there's no more magical
substance on earth than water.
And we create these vessels
that we can enjoy
its wondrous properties.
* I just want to be
your tugboat captain *
Working on a tugboat is almost
like taking a vacation
while working, while doing
some of the hardest work
there is to do.
I think I finally understand
why Sterling Morrison
left the Velvet Underground
to pursue life
as a tugboat captain.
It's the place he wanted to be.
It's the place
he could be happy.
[ Birds squawking ]
[ Horn blares ]
[ Wind whistles ]
**
[ Horn honks ]
There's perhaps
no boat more classically
boaty than the tugboat.
What 5-year-old alive
hasn't dreamt
of either piloting a tugboat
or being a tugboat?
But most people's experience
of tugboats is kind of like
Ed Norton's in "25th Hour."
It's just a,
you know, pleasant thing
you see passing on the water
that makes you think, "Huh,
wouldn't that be the life?"
But would it,
in fact, be the life?
The Catherine Miller is one
of the 100-plus tugs
in New York harbor
pushing, pulling,
and towing the various barges
and container ships
that bring in the products
that make New York City a place
where 8 million people can live.
The Catherine is moored down
in Staten Island,
where Wu-Tang is from,
and run by the two-man team
of Captain John Cadamuro
and Mike "Mikey" Karlick.
Hello!
Since I don't have a captain's
license for Tugboat U,
I'll be joining Mikey
as a deckhand,
learning the ropes,
both figurative and literal,
of life on these plucky
little boats.
Tugboats.
[ Horn blaring ]
I'm not sure.
Something with ropes.
You got some serious
learning to do.
Straighten that filter out.
Straighten that filter
out because if you give me
coffee with grinds in it,
I'm gonna dog you all day,
you give me grinds.
I don't like
weak coffee, either.
Ten cups only.
Ten cups.
Taking entirely too long.
I want my coffee this morning,
not this afternoon.
How many deckhands do
you guys usually have on a boat?
It depends how many can survive.
Close enough now, let's go.
- We want coffee today.
- Does the captain want some?
Call up and ask him if he wants.
You want coffee, Captain?
MAN: 1400, fueling operations
alongside the Queen Mary, too.
All right, here's where you got.
Stand right here.
- Okay.
- Look straight, what do you see?
- The crane.
- Yeah.
What do you see on the water
in front of you?
- Nothing.
- That's right.
We have our barge,
which is 160 feet.
We have our crane boom
hanging 60 feet over the bow.
- Okay.
- Then we have our boat,
we'll call 65 feet.
So, you're steering
a 200-foot vessel,
and you can't see where you are.
Nope.
So, how do we suppose
that's gonna work out?
I would assume
I would use things,
like, devices.
- No?
- Nope.
You wait for your deckhand
to tell you where you are.
That's what you're
doing up there.
You're the eyes
and ears of the captain.
Say, "Mikey,
what do you see?"
What do you see out there?
That's a good sign, right?
Stay there for right now.
He's the --
he's the deckhand in training.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[ Laughter ]
So, Mike's basically
the dictionary definition
of, like, an old Jersey salt.
I'm kind of curious how long
he's been working on tugs
in the harbor.
Wind it up.
* There is a flash packet
and a packet of fame *
Now use the handle.
* And a dreadnought's her name
JOHN: Thomas, bring it home,
you can do it.
All the way, make it real
tight, part of the rock.
* All away to the westward
* In the dreadnought we'll go
* Derry down, down,
down derry down *
Oh!
Walk it.
No slack.
Whip it, give it direction,
give it direction.
There we go.
So now we're gonna get
the buckley
and put it in place of the scow.
Roger that.
Bakin', Mikey.
Shakin' and bakin',
lock it down.
So far, the bulk of tug work
seems to be barge rearrangement.
Move several barges
out of the way this morning.
- Let's go.
- To move another barge
into one of their places,
move the other barges back.
- Cool.
- Basically, like, kind
of a play on aquatic "Tetris."
JOHN: Still need five port.
Five port, five port.
Give me five port, come on.
Five port.
Then there's like
a lariat component, too.
The two basic skill sets
of a tugboat deckhand.
Good at "Tetris" and can lasso
with gigantic ropes.
These are very heavy, too,
by the way, they're also wet.
Don't be so rigid.
Have a little confidence.
No, never grab a line like that.
That's now
you lose your fingers.
Just so you do know...
Yeah.
the next time you put a fuckin'
wire on a bit --
With my hands?
And you're holding
the fucking eye like that --
All right. That's a no?
Like --
Believe, I'm gonna slap you.
Because that'll take off
my fingers, won't it?
It'll rip the bones right apart.
Right, right, right.
No, that is the fastest way
of losing your fucking hands.
Okay, always the line.
- Always the line.
- Okay.
If something goes wrong,
and you drop it, it's fine.
We can get it back.
Don't get hurt.
All right,
the minute you get hurt,
that's it, it's for life.
- Yeah, yeah.
- No, don't do that.
- I will fuckin' hit you, though.
- Okay.
You notice I have gloves on.
- Right.
- You know why I have gloves on?
Check out my fingers.
I want you to see something.
Look at that, see 'em all?
- Yeah.
- Mikey, come here.
Show him your fingers, Mike.
- Like mine?
- Something's different.
- Cockeyed, ain't it?
- Yeah.
What about this one?
They're short.
Yeah.
Why are they short?
We was moving barges one day,
and my hand was
like this underneath.
- When that line came tight...
- Yeah.
...it crushed my fingers.
It literally pulled
so tight, they slid right off.
Oy. So was it just bone
you were looking at?
Oh, yeah,
you know them pirate movies?
Yeah.
Where you see the pirate
sitting there,
and you see that pointy
little bone
sticking out, like,
towards the treasure?
- Yeah,
- They really do look like that.
- Jesus.
- They really do.
But we put you through this
so you understand
what it is you're doing
and why you're doing it.
And we'll keep
repeating ourselves
until we make sure
you understand what it is we do.
We try to go home in one piece.
Get the job done and go home
in one piece, happy.
'Cause there's always somebody
at home that wants to see you.
They may not love you a lot,
but they do want
to see you once in a while.
[ Birds squawking ]
Lay down.
**
JOHN: Get on with the fingers,
watch the fingers, Mike!
Got fingers again!
Right there, watch his fingers!
Use the fucking line.
- Only the line.
- Go.
Okay.
How far off that ship, Tom?
You're about 2-5-0.
All right, I'd say more like 75,
but keep going with it.
I keep thinking
I've kind of got the tricks
down to throwing ropes
and coiling them
and tying the right figure
8s and shit like that.
Whoa.
It's either, they keep doing
things that are different,
or I keep misremembering things.
It takes a lot of practice.
**
Hey.
What's your ETA to launch?
Oh.
Okay, you gonna take
Mike Karlick,
or am I putting Mike Karlick
on the Samantha?
You just said Mike Karlick,
or no?
You were going to get on
the Susan to go and get Marty.
My job is, one,
cultivating new clients
and taking care of our old ones.
You're sales, then.
That's part of it.
Ray, you on here?
They'll tell me
when they want to boat,
or when they want a barge,
or whatever it is
that they need.
And then I have to figure out
who would be best
to be able to take the barge
or materials or whatever.
Are you gonna go
with him on the Samantha?
No, 'cause you never
told me nothing about it.
When did you tell me
anything about it?
I don't have to tell you.
[ Laughs ]
I map it out.
Ray!
So I then --
I'm now a dispatcher.
Do we have everything
for the Samantha to go up?
Every day is fun.
Every day is new.
Every day is different.
- It's pretty cool.
- Now, what's the --
what are the dots on your board?
TERRY: These are all one type
of vessel or another.
So, I know exactly where
they are at any given moment.
Pan out, and you'll see
how busy this harbor is.
- Man.
- Yeah.
That's a lot of stuff going on.
Mm-hmm.
THOMAS: The Catherine Miller
is part of a tugboat fleet
owned by Glen Miller,
whose ships are all named
for members
of the Miller family.
**
The shipwreck
that we're salvaging today
is down there
under this kind
of circle of boom.
Um, I think it's
a pretty small boat.
If I could only hear you.
If I -- Come on up here.
No, come here,
come here, sit down here.
Talk to 'em.
Go ahead, talk to 'em.
"How you doing?"
- You understand that?
- I thought you were saying --
Right, get the fuck out.
You gonna run this?
Uh, I'll pop up and watch you.
See, I can't hear him, either.
No?
Who's the main contractor?
Who's running this thing?
- Uh, it's my brother's company.
- Ah.
It's called
Miller Environmental.
Oh, okay.
And the guy who's hiring us
is the Coast Guard.
The reason for removing this is,
it's, uh,
an environmental reason,
because it probably
has fuel on board.
- Yeah.
- So, the Coast Guard
wants to step in and prevent
an oil spill from happening.
How long ago did it wreck?
- I understand two years ago.
- Okay.
And it's kind of a mystery.
Nobody knows who owns it.
Just scoot it out of town?
There are not gonna be, like,
skeletons in there, are there?
Is it upside down?
Ask him, what the fuck
is he doing down there?
Let's go, man.
Does he think he can get
a hook on it?
Do you have a hammer?
THOMAS: What do boaters
make of salvagers?
Is that like humans think of
vultures kind of thing?
Is there,
like, bad blood there or...
No, not at all.
I mean, salvage is --
Or sal-wars are a necessary
part of the industry.
Okay.
So, I am a salver myself,
and the whole business,
from its inception,
was actually started by my dad.
His story goes way back
to a very famous disaster
out in Montauk, something
known as the Pelican.
Booming down.
The Pelican was a charter boat
that rolled over
and killed 40 people.
They hired a 16-year-old kid
go swimming underneath
and recovering
all the dead guys.
- That was my dad.
- Oh, man, Jesus.
- That's a horror movie.
- It's a horror movie.
And his father sailed
his whole life,
so I would be
the third generation.
- Oh, shit, here it comes.
- There it is.
Okay, let's see what we got.
THOMAS: It's a boat.
Fucked-up-looking boat.
Spent about ten hours rescuing
a completely rusted out,
20-foot -- I don't even know
what type of boat.
I guess some sort of tug,
not much of one.
What do you think the odds are
it's full of gold doubloons?
GLENN: Coming down easy.
[ Thud ]
[ Laughs ]
MAN: That's all she wrote.
**
THOMAS: So, today,
we're working over
in Port Newark in New Jersey.
Newark was one
of the first container ports
and is now, I think, the biggest
on the East Coast
and third biggest in America.
As the ports
of New York started to decline
and got turned into, like, parks
and soccer fields, oyster bars,
Newark's taken up the slack
and is now, I think,
the biggest port
on the East Coast.
There's tons
of stacks behind me.
It's basically
container land here.
And this is pretty much
where any good
you buy in New York
or pretty much anywhere
in the tri-state area,
if it's coming in by boat,
it's gonna come here.
MIKE: So, commodities
relocation.
That's all we are, relocators,
and waterways is the easiest way
to move large quantities
of commodities.
You can move more on a barge
than you can do in
a caravan of tractor trailers.
They don't make planes
the size of these ships, either.
Oh, even what you see,
there's how much more
down below.
JOHN: You know
there's a hierarchy.
The deckhand does what
the captain tells them to do,
but oftentimes,
since your deckhand
is the eyes and ears
of the captain,
the captain has to do
what the deckhand tells him.
Your captain is no better
than your deckhand.
Your deckhand is no better
than your captain.
He's your proxy on the barge.
- Very much so.
- Good morning!
You'll hear him say at times,
"I need to put my barge here,
and this is
what I want you to do."
Okay, go ahead.
It gets the job done.
There's no ego involved.
You can't have that.
MIKE:
[ Laughs ] A hemorrhoid.
[ Laughter ]
[ Birds squawking ]
Been wondering, with the hours
these guys keep,
when they go, you know,
and see their families.
I'm starting to guess
they kind of don't.
I think Mikey stays here.
Don maybe drives home,
but it kind of feels
like they've formed
their own sort of family.
You have Mikey as
obviously a grandfather figure.
Captain John is sort of
like a wacky uncle,
and you've got Terry who's
on the phone all the times,
kind of like their mom.
And then Glen,
who runs the whole place,
the boss,
is kind of like
a very dadly disposition.
So it's like a weird sort
of dysfunctional sea family.
Whatever consolation that is.
[ Sighs ] Long day.
Now you see
what our days are like.
Yeah.
This is what they are.
Hello.
This dinner?
Yep.
- My wife's on the way.
- [ Laughs ]
- That's not funny.
- [ Laughs ]
- I know.
- [ Laughs ]
THOMAS:
This is the commute?
MIKE: This is
the illustrious commute,
and this is the famous box.
Two on each wall,
four in each room, two rooms.
- Mattress is nice and comfy.
- Yeah?
- Oh, yeah.
- Is somebody sleeping in there?
- Nobody's in there.
- No, okay.
- Nope.
- I just want to be quiet.
If there was, they'd have been
whining already.
Yeah.
MAN: Do you mind going
and getting stuck
by the coffee maker?
Got to get up at 4:00
in the morning.
Of course, of course.
Oh, 4:00 in the morning.
Come on, son.
You already
got nine hours sleep.
Damn. You only need
three hours' sleep,
come on, now.
- Come on, now.
- All right, sorry, thanks.
He don't like giggles.
[ Laughs ]
How many grandkids
do you have again?
- 18.
- 18.
Any of them work on boats, too,
or are you the only seaman?
Actually, believe it or not,
that's how I actually
started here.
Yeah.
Uh, one of my sons
was working here.
Because before that,
you were doing --
- I turned wrenches.
- Yeah, you were a mechanic?
Yeah. I came down
to help out,
and I been here since.
Yep. Oh. Are you gonna
retire ever, you think or...
- Retire?
- Yeah.
What is that?
Nah.
Unh-unh, no.
See, my grandkids,
they make sure
Pops is never gonna get old.
It ain't gonna happen.
I'm gonna get dead one day,
but I'm not gonna get old.
GLENN: All right, I'm gonna have
you do this, okay?
I'm gonna walk you through it.
Okay, come up on the load.
- No, pull them up.
- Up?
Don't stop.
If you stop, it'll come down.
Okay.
**
[ Grunts ] Um...
[ Grunts ] Shit.
I might need a hand.
I'm sorry.
[ Grunts ]
Just right there.
This is your steering implement.
We don't have a wheel.
Look at your radar, okay?
That's a barge
anchor, that's a barge
and boat anchor, that's a buoy.
Current's coming this way,
it's gonna be deflected off
this land mass out here,
and at times, there's
a slight rotary current.
MIKE: Hey!
Go under!
Under the ear!
Take it off, put it under!
Lead it under the horn,
lead it under the horn?
Yeah.
GLENN: Don't lift anymore.
Break in, break up.
You have to swing
to your left, boom down,
cable up at the same time.
It's a lot to keep in mind
at the same time.
**
Westbound
with the crane, C on one.
Westbound
with the crane, C on one.
Wow.
I've never been called captain.
**
That's the idea.
[ Grunting ]
JOHN: We'll make a real captain
out of you.
Oh.
Now put your feet up,
there you go.
GLENN: Slower.
Keep on coming down.
MAN: Keep coming.
All right, get ready, big heave.
One, two, three.
Nice.
Well done, good job.
I have the autopilot on.
So, you're doing great,
keep up the good work.
[ Horn blaring ]
So, today is
the New York tugboat race.
This happens once a year
on Labor Day Sunday.
All the tugs from
New York harbor get together,
and they race for, like...
like a fifth of a mile, maybe.
But it's a big family day.
[ Cheering ]
[ Horn honks ]
**
Here we go!
3, 2, 1!
[ Horns blare ]
Check out the jet skiers
coming our way.
That's gonna be a problem.
[ Horn honking ]
They're going crazy.
WOMAN: All right,
next up, the line toss.
CROWD: Oh!
Oh!
JOHN: This is Tom.
He's brand-new on the boat.
He's been doing this
for three days.
WOMAN: All right, everybody,
give Tom a warm welcome
to tugboat life.
I got a really
bad feeling right now.
**
WOMAN:
Yeah, make it rain!
[ Laughs ]
[ Cheering ]
Whoo! Whoo!
**
You know, it's kind of crazy
that, in 2015, with all our
technological advancements,
the way we get most of our goods
from one place to another
is still to literally ship them.
The craft of shipping
itself is still very
much feels
like an ancient trade.
You're still learning
the same secrets of ropes
and reading the waves
and leading tides
as people did when they first
discovered the Americas.
A lot of hands-on work.
It's very dangerous,
but your reward is being at sea,
which is an enchanting
proposition.
As Brian Eno described it,
there's no more magical
substance on earth than water.
And we create these vessels
that we can enjoy
its wondrous properties.
* I just want to be
your tugboat captain *
Working on a tugboat is almost
like taking a vacation
while working, while doing
some of the hardest work
there is to do.
I think I finally understand
why Sterling Morrison
left the Velvet Underground
to pursue life
as a tugboat captain.
It's the place he wanted to be.
It's the place
he could be happy.
[ Birds squawking ]
[ Horn blares ]